Disaster in Paradise launches in Nelson
By Contributor
When two devastating landslides took homes and lives in the tiny, remote community of Johnson’s Landing in July of 2012, the story made headlines across the country. Closer to home, trauma and grief left residents as scarred as the landscape.
Disaster in Paradise (Harbour Publishing, 2015) by former Johnson’s Landing resident Mandy Bath paints an unforgettable before-and-after picture of a community faced with the unthinkable.
The book launches with a talk and slideshow on Thursday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Touchstones Nelson, Museum of Art and History, at 520 Vernon Street in Nelson.
A series of extreme weather events caused Gar Creek to become swollen and clogged with debris. The 320,000 cubic metres of soil, trees and rock that came down at speeds of up to 150 km per hour took out everything in its path, including the home of Bath and her husband Christopher.
Valentine Webber and his daughters, 22-year-old Diana and 17-year-old Rachel, and neighbour Petra Frehse were killed in the first slide. Returning the next day, Bath missed being killed in the second slide by seconds. The stories of Bath and other survivors are heart-wrenching and insightful.
“I had to write the book,” explains Bath, who saw it as a means to deal with the tragedy. Then, with the support and encouragement of Kaslo writer Holley Rubinsky, Bath began to reach out to her neighbours.
“I felt like a conduit,” she says.
“They wanted to tell their stories, and they told them so beautifully. It was something we needed to do.” Recounting deeply personal stories can be a difficult task, but the response has been “overwhelmingly positive,” says Bath
Elephant Mountain Literary Festival is pleased to sponsor the Nelson launch of Disaster in Paradise.
The annual festival, which happens July 10 – 12 this year, was in the midst of its inaugural opening event when news of the first slide rippled through the room.
Co-sponsors are Oxygen Art Centre, Touchstones Nelson, and the Nelson Public Library.
Admission is free.
