Tidal wave hits Madang coast 70 years ago
By Patrick Matbob
ON Christmas eve, 70 years ago the people of Sapara village along the
North coast of Madang were preparing for a major celebration for the festive
season. The occasion was also special because of the opening of a new church
building for which many of the surrounding villagers were to attend. The
celebrations never happened. A huge tidal wave hit Sapara coast the day before
Christmas destroying the new church, the station, the villages and killing many
people. One of the survivors of that tidal wave disaster was the late Rev Engel
Mundus van Baar, a Catholic priest at the mission station at Sapara. This story
is based on his autobiography, which tells of this tragedy.
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| Kids play peacefully at Sapra beach today. |
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Suddenly, Father heard a noise and looked out to sea. He saw a huge
wave rush up the shore towards the church and the house. It was unusual.
Nothing like this ever happened before.
“I saw the water retreating, but it was more than that; the sea was
pulled back with such a noise, with such force as one cannot imagine, the whole
harbour was half-empty.
The noise was so terrible; Fr van Baar called the boys who had rushed
out to catch the fish, which were being washed on to the reefs, to come back.
His voice was however, drowned by the roar of the sea.
“The yellow water churned and boiled through the holes in the reef. I
shouted again to the children to come back . . . it was nearly too late! The
whole sea turned and with all its strength rushed shorewards.
“Then I saw a gigantic wave crashing into my house and the church, I
saw them breaking up - and I ran for my life.”
“I ran and ran towards the road, towards the village Meriman nearby.
The village was empty; all had escaped into the bush. Frightened of the
thunderous noise and seeing the place full of water, I raced onto the road into
the bush; but already I was up to my knees in seawater. Thanks to God, although
the whole road was under water, I went in the middle of it and so I just missed
a big waterhole were the natives usually fetch their water for cooking. If I had fallen into the well, I would have
drowned.”
Father ran on hoping to find some people but sadly, the only person he
met was the dying wife of his catechist Werner, who was in her last days of
pregnancy.
“I spoke a few words to her, gave her absolution . . . and she was
dead.”
Knowing he could not help her any more, Father dashed back looking for
others. However, he was alone.
He made his way back to the coast but heard the sea still pounding and
was afraid.
“It could happen again,” he thought, the sea could come back again and
the water could sweep still further inland.
Eventually Father located some people and told them to find Werner, the
catechist whose wife had died with her baby in her womb. Werner was found and
told the sad news. His wife was brought to the village to be buried.
The station was totally destroyed. Not one house or anything on the
station was spared, amongst them the new church and the priest house. The
pieces were lying everywhere in the garden. The wife of another catechist was
carried into the garden where all survivors had gathered. The old school church
had fallen on her when she was busy polishing the chalice - there had been no
warning. She may have broken her spine as she was in dreadful pain and had no
strength in her body. There was no doctor, no hospital, absolutely nothing to
help her. Her husband did his best to comfort her.
The search began for survivors and for bodies. A collapsing house
killed a boy and a girl. Their bodies were so mutilated they had to be buried
at once.
Someone reported a missing baby but the body was never found. A wife of
one of the catechist was also missing but the search was abandoned when light
failed.
The next morning was Christmas Day. The previous night was spent in the
gardens, the villagers too scared to return to the villages. On the Christmas
morning the wife of the catechist who had a broken spine was carried to another
mission station, four hours walk away. There she died.
“Christmas morning . . . no mass, no people, no Christmas for us . . .
there was nothing, only sorrow,” wrote Fr Van Bar.
That morning the search continued. This time the people moved the great
piles of debris lying around and under the debris they found the missing wife
of the catechist, lying dead covered with blood.
“She had been swept by the debris of the house and smashed against a
coconut tree. She must have been killed instantly. Philomena, she was now the
third one, the wife of my good catechist, Alois from Tumleo. And one should not
weep?” wrote an emotional Fr Van Bar.
“My dearest people had been taken away under such tragic circumstances!
And this was Christmas day, when all should feel the greatest joy, but we were
clothed in deepest sorrow.”
Two native messengers were dispatched immediately to the Catholic Church
headquarters at Alexishafen with the message about the disaster. The messengers
arrived at Alexishafen at midday just when the missionaries were preparing to
enjoy their Christmas lunch. The boys passed a short note about the disaster to
the Bishop. Everyone was deeply shocked.
There had been so many deaths (no figures recorded) because people were
taken by surprise and the tidal wave had swept them away with the houses and
buried them under the debris.
“I’ll never forget that Christmas,” Fr Van Bar wrote.
Assistance was sent from Alexishafen on the 100 tons mission steamer Stella Maris. A government officer
accompanied the missionaries to investigate the disaster.
After the disaster, the mission station was moved from Sapara to
Ulingan where it is situated today.
Although, the disaster happened more than 70 years ago, today many old
people in the villages along the north coast of Madang still remember the story
of the tidal wave that hit Sapara.
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