Hello Olaf
Thanks for the report about the terrible explosion.
I am glad to hear that you and your family (and your house) are all well,
and I hope that those you know in the area are well, too.
Lars
----------
> Fra: Greve, Olaf (Olaf) <ogreve@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Til: Greve, Olaf (Olaf) <ogreve@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Emne: [OM] Reporting from the frontline: "warzone Enschede"...
> Dato: 15. maj 2000 11:48
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm sending this message to about everyone I know who is on my e-mail
> contacts list, as there is a major update to be told which has made its
way
> well into the European press, and possibly also across the oceans (not
sure
> about that). Bottomline: Gioconda, Karol, and I are fine, as are my
family
> members, and my house.
>
> So, what has happened then, you ask?
> Well, last Saturday started off quietly. It was a nice and sunny day and
I
> only had an appointment at the hairdresser in Oldenzaal at noon. As it
was a
> nice day, I decided to go by bicycle and to go shopping for a mother's
day
> present after that. So, I went to Oldenzaal and considered visiting my
> parents for an hour or 2. However, as my parents live on the other side
of
> Oldenzaal and I still needed to find 2 presents, I decided against doing
> that, and returned to Enschede straight after having gone to the
hairdresser
> (NOTE: for those of you who didn't know this yet, I now live in Enschede
and
> work for Lucent Technologies (new e-mail address: ogreve@xxxxxxxxxx)).
>
> Around 1 P.M. I entered Enschede again, and I went to a place where a lot
of
> furniture shops are located, as I knew there was a cabinet there that is
> much to Gioconda's liking. To do this most efficiently, I went straight
over
> a street called "Laaressingel" and passed a museum which is located in a
> really pretty old -but well maintained- building, and of which I thought
> "Gee, I should take some pictures of this building". Nevertheless, with a
> "mission" ahead, I continued along my way to the shops. Along the way,
> without taking notice of it, I crossed a certain street called
> "Tollenstraat". This sounds insignificant now, maybe, but it will all
become
> clear in a little bit.
>
> 2 'o clock P.M. came, and I had managed to "secure" Gioconda's present,
so I
> proceeded to the centre of Enschede to find a present for my own mother.
> Around 2:30 or so, my mission was about completed, having in my
possession a
> hair-curler, so I went home, to work a bit on my computer.
>
> Around 2:50 P.M. I arrived at home, opened most of the windows, and went
> upstairs. At around 3 'o clock I heard several fire engines passing by
with
> screaming engines (as had been the case already 3 or 4 times over the
course
> of one week). They passed by over one of the main streets of Enschede
(i.e.
> "Oliemolensingel"), which is right next to my house. I didn't pay
particular
> attention to it, made some coffee, and went upstair again. I was working
for
> some 10 minutes, when I went down to pour myself a cup of coffee. I went
up
> (around 3:10 P.M.), and set the coffee next to the computer to let it
cool
> down, so I could drink it. But... I never got around to drinking it...
>
> At about 3:20 P.M. there all of a sudden was this very loud "popping"
sound,
> the whole house was shaking and I felt a shockwave shooting through the
> house. I put one and one together, and knew that wherever the fire
brigade
> was going, something massive must have exploded. The sound/effect of the
> explosion was comparable to what you experience when a jet plane breaks
> through the sound barrier (a thing which the shockwave of the explosion
> effectively does!), but it was so much stronger than what I had ever
> experienced in such an occassion. I looked out through the window which
is
> located on the south side of the house, as somehow the explosion appeared
to
> have taken place there. I didn't see anything. A bit surprised, I went up
on
> the attic, to look out of the windows over there. Again I opened a window
on
> the south side and looked out of it. Nothing. The all of a sudden a
second
> shockwave came thundering through the house. The sound of this second
> explosion was much stronger than the first one, and the whole house
again,
> was shaking like a leave in the wind. The window escaped from my grasp
but
> did not break. This was a scray situation as it was clear that the
> explosions were not far away, and who knows what to expect next? I went
out
> of the room on the attic, and noticed from the corner of my eyes that
there
> was this big black cloud on the north side of the house. I stood a second
or
> two in awe, when it dawned upon me that the explosion was on the other
side
> than where I had expected it to be. I quickly ran down the stairs, and
> grabbed my photo bag [for the Olympus list members: it contained my
> light-weight action pack; the OM-4Ti + 28/2 + 100/2 + T32]. When I came
> down, I noticed the curtain rail and the curtains in the kitchen had been
> blown off the wall and had fallen down. I very quickly put them up (in a
bad
> way) and hurried outside.
>
> Sure enough the big black cloud was still there, it was massive and I
wanted
> to get a better view. So, I went in the direction of the explosion and
soon
> learned that there was this big mushroom like cloud (not to the extremes
as
> the ones seen in a nuclear explosion of course!) "standing" right above a
> rural area of the city! I shot several pictures, spoke to some people,
and
> saw some pieces of fireworks flying up into the thick black cloud. I
wanted
> to get a better view, and as people where moving towards the area of the
> explosion, I too followed in their wake. Of course this was a very stupid
> thing to do, but somehow it is what I automatically did. I got closer and
> started to get my first view of the destruction the blasts had caused, at
> some 50 - 100 metres distance from my house several windows were already
> shattered. I proceeded to "Oldenzaalsestraat" and noticed how whole shop
> windows had been completely blown away. There was glass everywhere and
> several pieces of concrete were laying on the street, on cars, and in
shops.
> I still could not see "ground zero" (i.e. the area the actual detonation
> took place) and proceeded further. Crying people, in a state of shock,
> started to make their appearance in the picture over there. Everyone was
> using their mobile to see if people were o.k., and hardly any
firefighters
> were at the scene yet. I went a street further and came across the museum
> building I had seen in full glory only some 2.5 hours before the blast.
It
> was destroyed! The windows were all shattered, pieces of the roof were
lying
> on the street, and whole parts from the side of the building had been
blown
> out, it was a mess! Now I started to get really near the area where the
> detonation had taken place.
>
> I proceeded even further, and came upon a street which was right next to
the
> storage area where there once was a... fireworks storage place, in the
> middle of rural area!!! Over here the destruction was really bad, whole
> fronts of house were dislocated, the street was one big collection of
glass,
> huge pieces of armoured concrete were pierced straight into the street,
the
> house, the cars, into everything. This was about 50 metres away from
where
> the explosions had taken place. I went a bit further still into a street
on
> the left (leading right up to "Tollenstraat" where I had only passed some
> 2.5 hours earlier!) over here the damage was complete. Even more severely
> so, houses were wrecked, some people were walking bere-feeted through the
> glass, in shock. From this street I could see whole house-block on fire,
> everything was on flames, and some fireworks were still going up. I did
take
> pictures, and I was over there for some 5 more minutes. There was no
further
> proceeding, as there were no streets left to go into: it was like a
warzone.
> Strangely enough, in the street I was standing, only a few wounded people
> were over there, just a few that had some glass-cuts, nothing that seemed
to
> seriously. Unfortunately, it was imminent that the people who once lived
in
> the streets that have now been completely leveled, and which were burning
to
> a crisp when I was near there, were not quite so fortunate. An early
arrived
> firefighter (probably one of the ones who were there to put out the
initial
> fire) came chasing us away. It was for the better as there were still
small
> explosions of firework to be heard. I made my way back, carrying my
bicycle
> over the glass-overladen streets, and noticed several huge pieces of
steel
> container lying all over the place.
>
> I then went back into the city centre (also over there there was glass
> everywhere), to see if I could maybe find a newspaper headquarters to
gice
> them my rolls of film, but I did not succeed in finding one. Upon
returning
> towards my house, I came across Gioconda and Karol on the streets. They
had
> gone swimming in a swimming pool in the other side of Enschede (I knew
this,
> so I needn't fear for their safety), and had "just" found out about the
> location of the blast then (this was something like 4:30 P.M.) although
they
> did hear and feel the blasts of course. We quickly went back a bit to
where
> I had gone before, but we were stopped by the fire brigade, who urged us
to
> leave. We complied (not wanting to obstruct them) and left.
>
> Upon coming home again we turned on the television, waiting for special
> editions to be broadcasted. These editions were to come, but just some 10
> minutes before that (5:50 P.M.) there was talk of the big Grolsch brewery
> being on fire. This may not sound too bad, but when you consider the size
of
> the tanks that could potentially explode (we also found out later that
there
> was a 6,000 liter tank of ammonia right next to the fire), yielding far
> greater explosions than the ones caused by the fireworks detonation, we
> decided to get the h*ll out of there. We took out bicycles and just went
> straight into the opposite direction of the blast. Well out of th city we
> watched the news in a cantine on a campground, and at around 8:00 P.M. we
> heard that there was no risk anymore of anyhting exploding at the Grolsch
> brewery, so after the news we went home, still seeing the thick smoke
above
> the city.
>
> At home, we watched reports about the disaster until around midnight. It
was
> terrible, at least 20 people died (confirmed), some 520 were injured, of
> which 11 were still on intensive care, and a further 200 people are still
> missing when I am writing this, so not much good is to be expected for
them
> either... The pictures of the streets right next to one I was in (i.e.
the
> ones which I couldn't go into because _everything_ was one blaze of fire
> there) were terrible. Whole houses (some 200 in total) have almost
> completely dissappeared, cars were completely burnt to crisp, and it made
me
> think of the pictures we always see of the German cities at the end of
World
> War II. Apart from some walls nothing was standing anymore. We checked on
> the map just how far this had happened from our house, and it turns out
the
> distance is only (roughly) 1 KM!!!
>
> During the whole afternoon and evening help came from all over the
country,
> and also very noticeably so, from Germany. There were firefighter,
> ambulances, police cars, and rescue helicopters coming from as far as
> Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the south of the country, and Germany (Germany is
> actually rather nearby to Enschede, but still it's great to see them help
us
> to this extent!). The city was -and still is- a big mess. The whole blast
> area has been sealed off hermetically (starting very near to the place I
> live) to prevent the so called "disaster turism", and even now one still
> can't enter the area. The damage must be tremendous, and it will be a
long
> time before that area will look remotely close to what it looked like
only
> three days ago...
>
> I do hope the losses remain as small as possible, of course, but not a
lot
> of good is to be expected. On Sunday morning the queen and the prime
> minister (i.e. the "premier") came to inspect the scene. They looked
shocked
> too. I tried to anticipate where they would pass if they were to come by
> car, and I tried to get a glimpse of them. I didn't get to see them
though,
> as apparently they had come in by airplane, and hence must have entered
the
> city on the other side...
>
> Today I shall bring the pictures to the store to have them developed, and
I
> hope to have them this Wednesday. I will try to find the time to scan
some
> of them this weekend and put them up on a special webpage (don't worry, I
> didn't seek out any blood and guts - and even if I would have seen that I
> would have been respectful enough not to take pictures of that). If/when
I
> manage to get that done, I shall send the URL around...
>
> For now, Enschede is licking its wounds, and "normal life" is gradually
> starting up again. If anything special happens, I will inform you guys
> further. There are several people on the recipients list that live in
> Enschede too, please help me hope that they are all fine, and their
family
> too!
>
> Cheers!
> Olaf
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Olaf Greve Lucent Technologies
> Advanced Software Engineer Bell Labs (R&D Centre Twente)
> ogreve@xxxxxxxxxx Capitool 5
> Direct lines: +31-(0)53-4845706 7521 PL Enschede
> +31-(0)35-6875706 The Netherlands
> Personal e-mail: ogreve@xxxxxxxxxxx
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
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