– Today it is quite heavy, says Odd Steinar Sørengen (49).
Exactly one year ago, he could literally see the earth collapse beneath him.
The landslide in Ask in Gjerdrum took ten lives. Among them were Odd Steinar’s cohabitant Ann-Mari Olsen-Næristorp (50), and her daughter Victoria Emilie Næristorp-Sørengen (13).
The two were right in front of him when they was torn away by the huge landslide, and disappeared.
Today, the tragedy is marked in the local community, but Odd Steinar has made an active choice in distancing himself as far as possible.
He knows it has been right for both him and his two surviving children.
Sad she never got to take us there
Two days before Christmas Eve, he took the two remaining children, Ida and Emil, to Spain to get away from it all. And the destination was not accidental.
– Then we went to Gran Canaria, me and the kids, to get away from the Norwegian Christmas which would be extra heavy, he says.
– NIGHTMARE: The widower Odd Steinar still remembers the dramatic minutes when everything collapsed. Photo: Tommy Storhaug / TV 2
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Instead, the family, which had so suddenly become three, should focus on each other on the Spanish tropical island – where Ann-Mari had long wanted to bring Odd Steinar and the children.
– It’s sad that she never got to take us there, and that we actually went there when she and Victoria are gone.
The nightmares come and go
From that fateful night he still remembers a lot. He remembers that the awakened wife came in and woke him up, and she and Victoria ran in front of him before disappearing.
– FOREVER: Odd Steinar’s three children will always be with him anyway. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
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– What has bothered me in retrospect is how scared Victoria was. The little whimpers as she ran down the stairs with her mother. It has bothered me a lot; that she was so scared before she disappeared, he says to TV 2:
– That there was such a fear in her before everything was over.
Now the nights are often marked by nightmares.
– I have many good dreams about the two, which makes me not want to wake up, but then I also have a lot of nightmares about what happened that night.
Therapy to see it
In addition to the rescue crew explaining to Odd Steinar about what happened during the landslide, he has visited the landslide area on several occasions.
There he has seen both where he himself was found, but also the place where Ann-Mari and Victoria were found – a full six weeks after the landslide had passed.
– For me it has been therapy, he says.
– CRUSHED: Enormous forces shattered the homes to sticks under the mudslide. Photo: Fredrik Hagen / NTB
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Odd Steinar also says that he has regained a number of assets that have been found in the landslide, but:
– I had a hard drive with several thousand pictures on it. It’s the only thing I wanted to get back from the landslide area, but it was not possible to save. It’s gone, he says.
He says that – naturally enough – it was especially the first times. The first encounter with the landslide was particularly special.
– I knew it was big, but I did not know it was so big.
– Natural to stay here
When TV 2 asks him how he wants to sum up the past year, he probably answers in cash:
– Definitely the worst year I have had in my life.
But there have also been some bright spots over the years, the family father points out, and says that he is grateful, among other things, that he can live on with his two remaining children.
– STAYS IN THE VILLAGE: Odd Steinar is looking forward to moving into a new apartment in Gjerdrum in the summer of 2022. Photo: Tommy Storhaug / TV 2
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In addition, Odd Steinar has decided to live in Gjerdrum, and has bought an apartment he looks forward to moving into. He highlights the unity in the local community in Gjerdrum, where both he and the kids have grown up, as something nice.
– This is the village for me, he says.
The words hang a little in the air before he adds:
– Even though this is the village that took so much from me.
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