Re: WTF is going on in Norway?
Hello again and thank you again for thinking about us over here. As you can imagine, this is a difficult time and many are battling with their thoughts of the unjustice and cowardlyness of especially the attack on the teenagers at the youth camp.
Taking a quick look at international news-sites it is apparant that this event is covered in many countries. Some say that Norway has lost it's innocence this week as neither terrorist attacks or shootings are something we are used to dealing with.
It seems that someone claiming to operate on his own (yet the police are usure of the validity of this claim) first detonated a large car bomb (500+ kilos of explosives) in the government offices area of downtown Oslo CBD. The blast was powerful enough that the adjacent buildings may have to be torn down completely due to not being salveageable, you can see right through the closest building due to everything inside being blown away. Windows are being changed all the way down to the main train station which must be close to 10 blocks away. People were hurt and killed by both the main blast and by flying glass and debris. 7 people are confirmed killed by the explosion.
It is speculated that in the mind of the perpetrator this was more of a diversion for what he considered to be the main attack as he drove right out to catch a boat to the island where the youth camp was taking place. It is possible that this is the reason why he didn't pick a moment of time when the offices were full. You could of course argue that the streets would be full of people due to the work day just ending. Media reports of it being a national holiday here are not entirely correct: We have an unusual tradition here where big offices and businesses let as many people as possible take their summer vacation at once, meaning that everything is kinda on the back burner for a good two weeks every summer and this is right now. I personally think that this person knew very well that many would assume Middle-eastern terrorists after the initial boms, makeing it an horribly effective "diversion".
The youth camp was a summer camp for as many as 600 teenagers from age 14 and up that are members of the Labor Party's youth organisation AUF. This is a camp where kids interested in local politics spend their days participating in activities to teach them about democracy and and how modern politics function. They go here both to have fun with their peers but also to get som training to prepare them for local politics, and eventually national politics. Every party has a youth organisation similar to this and AUF is one of the major ones. One could easily and correctly claim that some of this country's leaders of tomorrow were at this camp. Also present only hours before to guest-speak was a retired major labout party politician who now works for the World Health Organization - judging by what the gunman has posted she is one of his objects of hate, along with anyone else promoting muticulturalism in Norway. 86 people were killed by the gunman. The majority were shot and some are believed to have drowned in their attempt to flee.
As of now we are usure of many details, but it seems that the gunman had at least two weapons, one pistol and one machine gun - and fired an extrordinary amount of ammunition. He is thought to have been out of ammunition when the police arrived at the island and the surrender happened without any shooting, etc. Not only did he shoot people kneeling, fleeing, swimming or laying down - he used his fake police uniform to lure people closer "to inform them about the bombing".
There are also being told stories of extrordinary courage in all of this: Civilian boatowners nearby headed for the island before the police arrived and picked many teenagers out of the water as well as from caves and cliffs where they were trying to hide from the gunman. Several were shot at - many times. Some teenagers unaided managed to swim all the way to shore, some of them with wounded friends on tow. Other teenagers hid underneath rocks or shrubbery in the small forest on the island, some of them among dead friends and managed to escape the gunfire that way.
My sister has given 20 years of her time to the Norwegian Labout Party, starting with the AUF (youth organization) and taking positions there, and then working her way into local politics and having had several important positions there on a county level, only to retire from politics this year to persue other interests. She is out of the country right now but we stay in touch on the phone, the names of the deceased are scheduled to be released today and I sympathize with her anxiety. Norway has a population of only 5 million and just about everyone is bound to know "someone".
It's hard to find things to be optimistic about in times like this but I will try:
First of all, the emergency services that responded to the initial bombing responded both quickly and effectively - setting up HQ and rescuing people right away. The communication between civilian rescue, Police and military is reported to have been very effective as well as the sharing of resources. We have a low threshold to engage the military for emergency tasks also when not at war, and soldiers were quickly brought in to help in basic guard duty at the CBD as well as probably cleanup - freeing up the police for more specialized tasks pertaining to things like CSI.
I will also post this link to the BBC online news services where the reporter sums up some of things I most enjoy about my home country, and I hope we will be able to enjoy these liberties in the future as well:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14256438
I am also glad that the main focus of our prime minister's speeches for now is aiding and comforting those hurting.
And I am glad to see so many people sharing thoughts of increased multiculturalism and understanding.
Lastly, I have told my roomate, some of my friends and my parents about the condolences and interest offered here on soundforums.net and they were equally touched by your kind words - thank you.
Best regards,
Kristian Johnsen
Hello again and thank you again for thinking about us over here. As you can imagine, this is a difficult time and many are battling with their thoughts of the unjustice and cowardlyness of especially the attack on the teenagers at the youth camp.
Taking a quick look at international news-sites it is apparant that this event is covered in many countries. Some say that Norway has lost it's innocence this week as neither terrorist attacks or shootings are something we are used to dealing with.
It seems that someone claiming to operate on his own (yet the police are usure of the validity of this claim) first detonated a large car bomb (500+ kilos of explosives) in the government offices area of downtown Oslo CBD. The blast was powerful enough that the adjacent buildings may have to be torn down completely due to not being salveageable, you can see right through the closest building due to everything inside being blown away. Windows are being changed all the way down to the main train station which must be close to 10 blocks away. People were hurt and killed by both the main blast and by flying glass and debris. 7 people are confirmed killed by the explosion.
It is speculated that in the mind of the perpetrator this was more of a diversion for what he considered to be the main attack as he drove right out to catch a boat to the island where the youth camp was taking place. It is possible that this is the reason why he didn't pick a moment of time when the offices were full. You could of course argue that the streets would be full of people due to the work day just ending. Media reports of it being a national holiday here are not entirely correct: We have an unusual tradition here where big offices and businesses let as many people as possible take their summer vacation at once, meaning that everything is kinda on the back burner for a good two weeks every summer and this is right now. I personally think that this person knew very well that many would assume Middle-eastern terrorists after the initial boms, makeing it an horribly effective "diversion".
The youth camp was a summer camp for as many as 600 teenagers from age 14 and up that are members of the Labor Party's youth organisation AUF. This is a camp where kids interested in local politics spend their days participating in activities to teach them about democracy and and how modern politics function. They go here both to have fun with their peers but also to get som training to prepare them for local politics, and eventually national politics. Every party has a youth organisation similar to this and AUF is one of the major ones. One could easily and correctly claim that some of this country's leaders of tomorrow were at this camp. Also present only hours before to guest-speak was a retired major labout party politician who now works for the World Health Organization - judging by what the gunman has posted she is one of his objects of hate, along with anyone else promoting muticulturalism in Norway. 86 people were killed by the gunman. The majority were shot and some are believed to have drowned in their attempt to flee.
As of now we are usure of many details, but it seems that the gunman had at least two weapons, one pistol and one machine gun - and fired an extrordinary amount of ammunition. He is thought to have been out of ammunition when the police arrived at the island and the surrender happened without any shooting, etc. Not only did he shoot people kneeling, fleeing, swimming or laying down - he used his fake police uniform to lure people closer "to inform them about the bombing".
There are also being told stories of extrordinary courage in all of this: Civilian boatowners nearby headed for the island before the police arrived and picked many teenagers out of the water as well as from caves and cliffs where they were trying to hide from the gunman. Several were shot at - many times. Some teenagers unaided managed to swim all the way to shore, some of them with wounded friends on tow. Other teenagers hid underneath rocks or shrubbery in the small forest on the island, some of them among dead friends and managed to escape the gunfire that way.
My sister has given 20 years of her time to the Norwegian Labout Party, starting with the AUF (youth organization) and taking positions there, and then working her way into local politics and having had several important positions there on a county level, only to retire from politics this year to persue other interests. She is out of the country right now but we stay in touch on the phone, the names of the deceased are scheduled to be released today and I sympathize with her anxiety. Norway has a population of only 5 million and just about everyone is bound to know "someone".
It's hard to find things to be optimistic about in times like this but I will try:
First of all, the emergency services that responded to the initial bombing responded both quickly and effectively - setting up HQ and rescuing people right away. The communication between civilian rescue, Police and military is reported to have been very effective as well as the sharing of resources. We have a low threshold to engage the military for emergency tasks also when not at war, and soldiers were quickly brought in to help in basic guard duty at the CBD as well as probably cleanup - freeing up the police for more specialized tasks pertaining to things like CSI.
I will also post this link to the BBC online news services where the reporter sums up some of things I most enjoy about my home country, and I hope we will be able to enjoy these liberties in the future as well:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14256438
I am also glad that the main focus of our prime minister's speeches for now is aiding and comforting those hurting.
And I am glad to see so many people sharing thoughts of increased multiculturalism and understanding.
Lastly, I have told my roomate, some of my friends and my parents about the condolences and interest offered here on soundforums.net and they were equally touched by your kind words - thank you.
Best regards,
Kristian Johnsen
