ATROCITY TEARS HEART OUT OF TOWN
Atrocity has torn the heart out of a town
From Lindy McDowell
in Omagh
THEY are the faces of innocence and decency.
The smiling faces of the young and old lost for ever to the horror of Omagh.
The bomb which wiped out 28 lives grievously injured scores, ripped families apart and shattered lives for ever has torn the very heart from this Co Tyrone town.
This morning in Omagh the sun rose again. The birds were even singing in the trees. But nothing, nothing can convey the raw hurt and sense of loss of the people here.
All of Northern Ireland, all of Ireland, has been shocked by the atrocity. But in the streets where people talk of neighbours, friends and family lost to barbarity the pain is palpable.
The scene itself is still cordoned off. An air of almost religious hush hangs over it. The Prime Minister is expected.
In the distance beyond the white tape which cordons it off, the only sense of movement is the traffic lights changing eternally from red to green.
In the distance at the top of High Street you can see the Courthouse where the police were told the bomb had been planted. Further down the broken, battered remnants of the shops beside which so many had sought safety.
From the distance the devastation is an image horrifyingly familiar to Northern Ireland.
Roofs have been ripped off. Shop fronts blown into the street. Blackened debris lies everywhere.
But structural destruction does nothing to convey the enormity of what has happened here.
Instead you glimpse it in the stunned sombre faces of those who come to lay flowers or simply to gaze at the spot which on Saturday became a scene from hell itself.
Those who survived, those who rushed to help, tell stories of horror beyond belief
Of human beings, many of little children, hideously injured. Of bodies being clawed from the rubble. Of the injured being
stretchered away on road signs and shop shelves, Of shirts from the dry cleaners and sheets from the linen shops being used to staunch the terrible flow of blood.
There are stories of outstanding heroism. Of policemen themselves injured, desperately fighting to save other lives. Of firefighters, ambulance workers and medical staff dealing with human suffering for which no training could have ever prepared them. Of ordinary people rushing
o help, trying to cope, trying to comfort.
Above all there are stories of the injured themselves refusing aid until others more terribly hurt were treated.
The sights so many of these people saw will live with them for ever.
There were scenes which cannot even be recorded in print.
The pain, the loss is compounded by the fact that so many of the dead and injured are so young.
It had been a normal sunny Saturday. Mothers were shopping for the back-to-school uniforms. Teenagers hanging around with their friends. There was to have been a carnival in the town. There was to have been laughter and fun.
In one terrible incident the lives of hundreds were changed for ever. Families from Madrid to Buncrana, from Beragh to Donemena have been plunged into misery.
As the town's Leisure Centre transformed so swiftly and so impressively into a major incident centre on Saturday bringing together support agencies, social services, were preparing to transfer their information and help operations to a new office in the town centre where it will operate for some time to come.
Today the relatives and friends who had yesterday thronged the leisure centre were gone.
Tired staff who had been on duty throughout the night were clearing up after what had been a Herculean effort to provide people with immediate access to information.
Today the support effort moves into a new phase as, in the aftermath of the most terrible weekend in its history, Omagh braces itself for a harrowing week of funerals.
One health worker pointed out that "reality is only beginning to set in now with many people. And it is very, very difficult for them to even begin to deal with it."
Throughout Omagh and surrounding areas people have come together to comfort each other and to offer what support they can to those who have suffered the most.
But all of Omagh is suffering in a very real sense today.
It is in the tear-filled eyes of a voluntary medical worker who has spent the weekend helping the bereaved. And in her quiet words.
"It is just getting worse".
From Lindy McDowell
in Omagh
THEY are the faces of innocence and decency.
The smiling faces of the young and old lost for ever to the horror of Omagh.
The bomb which wiped out 28 lives grievously injured scores, ripped families apart and shattered lives for ever has torn the very heart from this Co Tyrone town.
This morning in Omagh the sun rose again. The birds were even singing in the trees. But nothing, nothing can convey the raw hurt and sense of loss of the people here.
All of Northern Ireland, all of Ireland, has been shocked by the atrocity. But in the streets where people talk of neighbours, friends and family lost to barbarity the pain is palpable.
The scene itself is still cordoned off. An air of almost religious hush hangs over it. The Prime Minister is expected.
In the distance beyond the white tape which cordons it off, the only sense of movement is the traffic lights changing eternally from red to green.
In the distance at the top of High Street you can see the Courthouse where the police were told the bomb had been planted. Further down the broken, battered remnants of the shops beside which so many had sought safety.
From the distance the devastation is an image horrifyingly familiar to Northern Ireland.
Roofs have been ripped off. Shop fronts blown into the street. Blackened debris lies everywhere.
But structural destruction does nothing to convey the enormity of what has happened here.
Instead you glimpse it in the stunned sombre faces of those who come to lay flowers or simply to gaze at the spot which on Saturday became a scene from hell itself.
Those who survived, those who rushed to help, tell stories of horror beyond belief
Of human beings, many of little children, hideously injured. Of bodies being clawed from the rubble. Of the injured being
stretchered away on road signs and shop shelves, Of shirts from the dry cleaners and sheets from the linen shops being used to staunch the terrible flow of blood.
There are stories of outstanding heroism. Of policemen themselves injured, desperately fighting to save other lives. Of firefighters, ambulance workers and medical staff dealing with human suffering for which no training could have ever prepared them. Of ordinary people rushing
o help, trying to cope, trying to comfort.
Above all there are stories of the injured themselves refusing aid until others more terribly hurt were treated.
The sights so many of these people saw will live with them for ever.
There were scenes which cannot even be recorded in print.
The pain, the loss is compounded by the fact that so many of the dead and injured are so young.
It had been a normal sunny Saturday. Mothers were shopping for the back-to-school uniforms. Teenagers hanging around with their friends. There was to have been a carnival in the town. There was to have been laughter and fun.
In one terrible incident the lives of hundreds were changed for ever. Families from Madrid to Buncrana, from Beragh to Donemena have been plunged into misery.
As the town's Leisure Centre transformed so swiftly and so impressively into a major incident centre on Saturday bringing together support agencies, social services, were preparing to transfer their information and help operations to a new office in the town centre where it will operate for some time to come.
Today the relatives and friends who had yesterday thronged the leisure centre were gone.
Tired staff who had been on duty throughout the night were clearing up after what had been a Herculean effort to provide people with immediate access to information.
Today the support effort moves into a new phase as, in the aftermath of the most terrible weekend in its history, Omagh braces itself for a harrowing week of funerals.
One health worker pointed out that "reality is only beginning to set in now with many people. And it is very, very difficult for them to even begin to deal with it."
Throughout Omagh and surrounding areas people have come together to comfort each other and to offer what support they can to those who have suffered the most.
But all of Omagh is suffering in a very real sense today.
It is in the tear-filled eyes of a voluntary medical worker who has spent the weekend helping the bereaved. And in her quiet words.
"It is just getting worse".
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0029
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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