Krissys Blog

One year ago since I last saw you
One year ago since I last held you in my arms
One year ago since I last kissed your nose
One year ago since I last looked into your wonderful eyes...



One year ago, the worst nightmare of my life begun
One year ago, I still can't belive it happend
One year ago, It doesn't feel like one year has passed...

Now I'll tell you all what happend one year ago.


Me and my family (myself, my 2 year older sister, my mother and my father), together with the showjumping association we lead, were gonna arrange the swedish championship in Bunny ShowJumping in Rosvalla tennis hall (on Rosvalla Event Center) 19-21 of February.

Tursday the 18'th of February:
After several months of planning, buying prizes and trophys, getting sponsors, and much other work, my family and I arrived to Rosvalla tennis hall allready 18th of February (Thursday) to build the course, set up the trophy table and make everything ready for the competitions.
With us we had 10 of our 17 bunnies. 1 of them were gonna compete in the Exhibition, 8 of them we're gonna compete in the showjumping competitions, and the last one was gonna compete in them both.

The track

and 1 of our 2 trophy tables.

That night, we went back to our hotel, all happy and smiling, thinking: This will be the best Show jumping championship in sweden so far...

Friday the 19th of February:
My family arrived to the Tennis hall in the morning. We had a good nights sleep on the hotel we stayed on. Now it finally was the day for the competitions to start.
A woman from a radiostation came to the tennis hall and wanted a live interview from us about the competitions and how we felt about them and all.
Still I can listen to that interview.. how happy and thrilled my family is, not knowing of what would happen not even 24 hours later.

And finally it was time for the competitions to begin.
The real championship was planned for the saturday and sunday so this day we only had some minor competitions for bunnies who still wasnt qualified for the Championship.
Most bunnies went fabulous this day, included one of my own bunnies, named Aveo, who ended up on 2'nd place.
When the competitions of the day was finished, I personally rebuilt the track for the Championship. Meanwhile my sister and my mother gave our bunnies food and water and said good night to them since they were gonna stay in the tennis hall together with most other bunnies, while the owners stayed at nearby hotels.
After that, we went back to our hotel, still happy and thrilled about everything, ate or dinner, spent some time with 2 other showjumpers; Karin and Linnea, and their moms, and finally went to bed.
I have hard to sleep if it's quiet so I fell asleep listening to my MP3 player, and the last song and the last scentence I can remember I heard before I fell asleep was "Cause when the roof caved in" from the song 'Whatcha Say' by Jason Derulo. A scentence which kept repeating itself inside my head several weeks later.

Saturday 20'th of February

01.30 (Swedish time) My moms cellphone rings. Dazed with sleep she stepped up and went to the table where she had her phone and answerd.
The volume on the phone was quite loud so the whole family could hear the words:
"Im sorry for calling so late, but Smadar (a woman who also was competing with her bunnies) just called me.. Rosvalla tennis hall has caved in.. there's nothing left."
It was Karin who made the call. She's 'chairwoman' in one of the 2 major rabbit associations here in sweden, and she also has many great bunnies when it comes to showjumping, and has been the championshipwinner in all 4 branches of showjumping (long jump, high jump, straight track and the 'winding' track) for the past 3 years.

I dont think it even took us 5 minutes to quickly pull some clothes on (we didnt take the time to take of our pyjamas so we just pulled clothes on above them) and started to make our way to the hotel lobby still newly awakened. Down in the lobby we noticed it was snowstorm outside.
We met up with Karin and Linnea and their mums and started to make our way through the snowstorm to the parkinglot where we had 2 of our 4 cars parked.
That 30 minute ride from the hotel to the tennishall I remember so well. It felt like hours... It snowed so much you barely could see the road infront of you. Me and my sister sat and held eachothers hands. Everything was silent, noone said a word, everyone tried to figure out how it would look like, how big the damage was and so on.. and most of all, worrying for our 10 furry beloved familymembers who were inside the hall..
As we got close to the Tennis Hall we saw and realized how big the damage was...

This is what we saw... (but from ground level) There was nothing.. no roof, no wall... nothing. It was like a scene taken from a movie.
After we got out of our cars, we just stood there, trying to take it all in.. realizing it all.. We heard the alarmbells ringing loudly and a mechanical voice who kept on repeating: "The event center must be evacuated immediately" over and over again. Police-cars, Firetrucks... It really was a nightmare.
We talked to a policeman just to get as much information as possible, and then we got told to go back to our hotel, and that we should come back at 9.00 again.
Back at the hotel there was no though about going back to sleep. The 8 of us who 'held together' during this weekend (My family, Karin, Linnea and their moms) met up on the second floor of the lobby, and sat down either in a couch or on a chair.

We were all freezing from the snowstorm, the shock, and the pain we all felt inside. The hotel staff brought us hot coffee and tea, and we picked up quilts from our rooms, we still had our winterclothes on but nothing helped against the intense cold we felt... it took weeks before we could feel some heat at all...

Noone said much on the whole night.. everyone tried to work with the pain in their own way.
My sister cried the whole night, Karin lied down and just stared up in the roof crying silent tears, Linnea constantly writing on her laptop, the rest of us mostly just sat all quiet.
The only dialogue I can remember was between my sister and my mother:
My sister: Mom... you always say that everything has a purpose... So whats the purpose with this?
Mom: This time I cant answer you hun, cause I dont know the answer myself"

This was the first time ever I saw my father cry.
For my family, it wasnt just 10 beloved familymembers that was under the roof. It also were our lifetime 'achievement' under that roof.. We've been competing and taken a really active interest in Showjumping for 20 years, and everything our association owned was under that roof...
That night my family made a vow to eachother. That no matter how great damage this would show up to be, we wouldnt stop doing what we love; take care of the association, and compete and everything we had done till this day.

Though, I had allready made a silent promise to myself earlier the same night: "If all my wonderful bunnies that are in there is dead... I'll quit."

at 3.00 it started to show up on the news-sites on the internet and on the radios about the cave-in.

The night passed by minute by minute, and when the time striked 06.00 we had to start calling everyone who was gonna compete in the showjumping and inform them about what had happend.
We got many sms from 'showjumping people' who sent us their thoughts, or telling that they were there for us.

Finally the time showed 8.30 and we could start making our way towards Rosvalla again.
It was still a heavy snowstorm outside and nearly 30 minus degrees celcius outside. The road was nearly gone from all snow and we had to drive really slow to stay on it.
My sister, Karin and Linnea didnt want to go back to Rosvalla so they stayed at the hotel. But I followed mom and dad together with Karin and Linneas moms back to the tragic scene as I've always needed to see stuff to really belive it.

We got back to Rosvalla a few minutes after 9.00. Other people who had their bunnies under the roof had gotten there, standing in the big entrance-hall of the event center, comforting eachother and praying silent prayers.
We stood by the police tape that they had set up around the hall, looking inside two big doors that was open. The first thing I could see was the showjumping trophy table standing there intact in the snowstorm. Even the small giftcards made of paper were lying on their places on the table. Almost felt as it was grinning at everyone who saw it.

As we stood there in the snowstorm, we saw two rescuers walking on the other side of the building where the showjumpers had their bunnies, and where once a wall stood, but now lied down under the roofwreckage. They walked downwardsbent peering in under the piles of rubble. Suddenly, one of the rescuers quickly bent even more downwards and dissappeared from our sight for a few seconds. And when he finally stood up again we saw that he held a furry struggling creature in his arms.
On less then a second we gained so much hope! They had found a living bunny, maybe they'll find more...
As the rescuer got abit closer with the bunny we saw that it had white fur, and instantly I thought it was my sisters white dwarfen lop named Cumulus, but as the rescuer placed the struggling bunny in a Karins mothers arms, we saw that it was a japan white/black signed dwarven lop, and we instantly knew who it was. His name was Pelle and belonged to a girl in our association named Hanna.
Mom pulled up her cellphone to call Hanna and tell her that they had found Pelle, but even before she had managed to find Hannas number, the other rescuer shows up with a broken transportation-cage with a black/brown zobel dwarven lop in it. It was Joel, who also did belong to Hanna.
As mom tell Hanna the news over the phone I can hear her scream of happiness and she told that she'd start make her way towards Rosvalla.
Mom, dad, Annelie and Lena (Karin and Linneas mothers) rushed their way to the entrance hall with Joel and Pelle to get them away from the snowstorm. I stayed at the police tape thinking: They've found Pelle and Joel alive, they can find more.
And just a few minutes later, a rescuer camed with a intact cage with a living bunny in it... I've never been so happy when I realized that it was my beloved Aveo! He was coverd in snow, and looked quite shocked, but HE WAS ALIVE!
I almost slit the cage from the rescuers hands and started to quickly walk towards the entrance, and just inside the big doors I yelled: "Mom! Mom! It's Aveo! He's alive!!!"
Then I turned around... and I saw people coming with more cages that had been rescues from the roof... I couldnt belive my eyes..
There came our Cumulus.. then Lucky, then Disco and Sprite, Xavi, Fabel and Loa! all belonging to my family. 8 out of 10 of our bunnies were rescued, all alive. Really shocked, but otherwise healthy and in intact cages.
Mom called my sister and told the great news, and it didnt take long 'till both my sister, Karin and Linnea arrived.

Our 8 bunnies, together with Pelle and Joel were the first 10 jumpers who got rescued that morning. Then the rescuers had to wait for excavators and loaders to be able to continue their work.
My family decided that we should drive our 8 survivors home, so me and my dad loaded them up in my sisters car and started our long way home.
Usually its not that long, only about 56 miles (90 kilometers) but in that heavy snowstorm, it took twice the time that it usually takes to drive that distance.
Finally home we saw that our yard were filled with snow. So the first thing we had to do was to shovel away drifts of snow that was nearly 1 meter deep so we could get to the bunnys cages.
While my dad went over to our neighbours, who took care and fed our other bunnies while we were away, to tell them what had happend and that they had to keep a close eye to our 8 survivors, I bedded their cages with loads of straw so they could get warm in it, and gave them food and warm water to drink. They all looked soo relieved to be at home again.
I felt really bad for leaving them, but we had to get back to Rosvalla, so we stuffed the car filled with hay (all hay and food at Rosvalla was stuck under the roof and the bunnys needed something to eat) and then made our way back again.

When we got back, we first got told that another part of the walls had started to fall, so the rescueprocess had been delayed even more.

Then they also told, that a woman named Lena Tysk had arrived. She had helped identify bodies in the Tsunami catastrophy in Thailand 2004, and now she helped out organizing the rescueprocess. She decided that EVERY rabbit should be identified, wether it was dead or alive.
People came from allover Nyköping (Where Rosvalla event-center is located) and tried to help as much as they could. They came with freshly baked cinnamon rolls and thermoses with tea and coffee and gave to the ones who wanted it, stores donated sandwiches, hotdogs and other stuff to eat. Some companies donated cardboard boxes where rabbits could be kept in, as most transportation-cages were stuck, or crushed, under the roof.

At 16.30 the rescue-process was on again, and wow what a oragnized group of people that was... First they carefully lifted a piece of the roof with a crane. 2-4 people were standing beside watching every move, and if one of them raised his hand, the crane instantly stopped, as it did mean that they had seen a living creature. Then they carefully walked/crept in under the roof to try capture they bunnies they found. They treated our furry little friends as if they were humans.

Around 21.00 the rescue process ended for the day. It was still snowstorm outside and it was dark so they said it would be risky for the rescuers to continue, and we got told to go back to our hotels.
By that time 46 out of 48 showjumping bunnies had been found. 44 out of 46 was alive and 2 had passed away.
Our family still missed 2 of our dwarven lops, Troy and FBI, but as they had been under that part of the roof that they still hadnt gotten to in the rescue process we still kept hope of that they could still be alive in there somewhere.

We managed to get some hours of sleep that night, but everyone of us kept the fear and thought about: What if the entrance hall where they keep the rescued bunnies colapses tonight? And I think all of us had nightmares.

Sunday 21'st of February
Finally was the snowstorm over. It was still snowing but not as badly as before.
Allready on the morning we got the news that the last 2 missing 'jumpers' had been found alive!
We tried to eat some breakfust and then made our way back to Rosvalla once again. When we got there the rescue process had allready started up again. We saw how the rescuers shoveled away loads of snow from the parts of the roof that still lied flat to the ground.

This day just floated on slowly but steady. We just stood there, waiting and hoping for news about Troy and FBI who still was missing.
We also got told to write down a list of all the stuff that we had inside the Tennis hall. Everything from coffeecups and pencils to bigger stuff as the obstacles and the sound system.
They had allready carried out our trophytables and transported them to a family who lived nearby Rosvalla who also are in our showjumping association.

Early that evening, we got told to go home. There was nothing more we could do, and as it was most dead bunnies that camed out from the ruins now, the rescuers didnt want us to see it all. They also told that as soon as a living bunny is found, their owner will get notified by phone.
To see the casualties they had a list online wich got updated 2-3 times/day so you could look there for your bunnies.

So we packed us up into my sisters car and went home...
We had to leave mom and dads car behind, as it was parked just behind the tennis hall together with the trailer that we keep all obstacles and every other showjumping related item in. They were still unreachable thanks to the roof and the walls, and unfortunately the car had gotten some hits by the building when it fell. But by then we didnt know wether the car was badly broken or not.

The red trailer and the car infront of it is ours

This was the only damages that our car had.

On our way home, we stopped by a friend to the family and picked up my beloved dog who had stayed there while we were away. At first it was planned for him to come with us to the competitions, but, luckily, they had decided to forbid dogs in the tennis hall during the exhibition.
Our friend gave us a single candle, decorated with small flowers, and a card saying: "Because you still exist"
It was when I read that card that I realized, that if the roof had caved just 6-7 hours earlier, around 500 people had been inside the hall aswell, and that would have been devastating.

Finally at home we saw my 86 year old grandpa on our yard, shoveling snow. He had gathererd some friends of his earlier that day, told them of what had happend and they had all helped out shoveling away all the snow. And according to grandpa some of the drifts of snow was around 1.5 meters high!
Me and my sister instantly went up to the bunnies to check on them and made sure that they still were healthy. It was heartbreaking to see the empty cages of Troy and FBI, knowing that they still wasn't found.
We sat down in mom and dads kitchen, drinking coffee and hot chocolate and then we went to sleep.


Monday 22'nd of February
This day mostly passed by to car-rides.
We woke up early, since my dog had a vet-appointment for a castration early in the morning. So we went to Eskilstuna (town where my sister lives) and dropped him off at the vet, and got told to come back at 17.00 to pick him up.
After that we went to a cafe and drank tea and coffee while my mother called around to find a therapist that we could talk to about what we had been through.
We got an appointment to a psychologist in Eskilstuna at 13.00. as the time still was around 9.00 we decided to wait at my apartment in Malmköping (a town 30 kilometers away from Eskilstuna) and eat lunch there.
at 12.30 the psychologist called and said that he couldnt take us in as they had found out that we all lived in 3 different towns... (now afterwards we've heard that this was not an acceptable reason for not taking us in)
We decided to call to my personal psychologist to see if she could help us out, but because of the bad weather she was trapped in her hometown and all trains were cancelled.
We kept on calling around to different psychologists and curatorsm, and finally we got an appointment to a psychologist in Katrineholm (yet another town) at 15.00.

In the car on our way to the psychologist, I realized that we wouldnt make it in time to pick up my dog from the vets, so we called the vets to see if he could stay abit longer. But as they closed at 17.00 that couldnt be arranged, so we called our friend who had taken care of him during the weekend and she promised to pick him up.
So yeah we went to the psychologist and talked for a bit. Personally I didnt think it felt any better, he mostly pissed me off for not understanding.
He had the "It was all just bunnies, who cares" attitude, and he said that my mom and dad wasn't allowed to really show their feelings cause they had to be strong for my sister and me... Totally unfair if you ask me. My sister and me are grownups and can handle our parents feeling sad.
I dont really remember more of what was said, I mostly had to control myself not to burst out in anger on the psychologist.

After that meeting we went back to Eskilstuna to pick up my sisters boyfriend, and then we went back to my parents place and met up with our friend so I could get my dog. I decided it was time for me to go home. I wanted to be alone, and just talk it all off with my best friend, trying to find my own way to feel better.
As I dont have a drivers licence myself, my parents promised to give me a ride, and my sister and her boyfriend decided to come along aswell.

On our way to my place my sisters cellphone did ring. She answerd and we hear her say: "Really? Is it true? Is he alive!? HES ALIVE?!?" They had found her wonderful Troy! All healthy and well.

They had allready arranged a transport for him so we could pick him up at a nearby place the very same evening.
There were still no sign of my beloved FBI though.

Not much more happend this day really. During the night, as I couldnt sleep, I created a video to try to ease some of the pain I felt inside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-AgEhDdZgU

Whats happend after the 22'nd of February?
The 23'rd of February, the rescueprocess ended for good. The roof and the walls had all been transported away and there was no more bunnies to be found on the sight.

For a month I kept a candle lit in my window for my sweet FBI, who never got found, before I realized that he was never coming back.

As noone really know how many rabbits that actually were inside the tennis hall when it caved, no final numbers were given. There were the exhibithion-rabbits and the jumpers, but there were also rabbits who was just there cause of transportations to new owners. Those were never registrated anywhere so noone can tell how many 'transport-bunnies' there were.

But this is what I know:
There were 48 jumpers, 46 came out alive, 2 were dead.
For the exhibition rabbits, theese was the latest numbers I heard:
Found alive: 1138, found deceased: 240, Never found: 74.


The 2'nd of march my family was invited to Rosvalla again for a meeting where all the organizers met up and talked about things that had been done during the nightmare weekend, what people did good, and what could have been done different and such. My family handed over paintings to the rescures where we had taken pictures of our bunnies who got saved, a picture of the tragic happening and we had written; Thanks for the great job you did rescuing the bunnies. Once a hero always a hero" on them.
We also could bring home our car and our trailer, and the few items they could save of the stuff we had inside the hall (1 obstacle, 3 pieces of our fence, a chair and a swedish flag)
We also got allowed to walk inside the fences and get a closer look on the remaining parts of the tennis hall.

the 20'th of May, 3 months after the cave in, they buried the ashes of the dead rabbits on the pet cemetery in Nyköping.

A memorial plaque with the inscription: (translated) In memory of the rabbits that died during LU2010.


When it comes to our showjumping association we've gotten so much support and help from different people. We lost basically everything in the Cave-in, but now we have gotten obstacles and items donated to us so we can hold competitions again. What we most miss is our beautiful fence that my father had built. He dont have the time to build a new one sadly enough.

In August we've planned a Rosvalla memorial competition where we've specially invited all who were gonna enter the championship contest, but of corse everyone who wants to come is invited.

I guess I even have to mention that there were many unwanted matings as many rabbits ran loose that nightmare weekend. And a month later, the Rosvalla-babies arrived. There are no exact number of how many litters that arrived, and I'll let the guessing-part over to you, but 1184 living bunnies, I can tell that it's probably alot.
And to quote one of the rescuers that worked on the scene: "It's almost a lovenest under that roof... They are mating everywhere"

Our own bunnies are all back to normal again. You can barely notice any difference from before the roof-accident and after. Only difference is that they're more cuddly now. Our wonderful survivors, I dont know what I'd do without them.


So why did the Tennis hall cave in you can wonder?
Well they say it was for many reasons.
First of all, a big reason was the loads ammount of snow on the roof, together with heavy winds. Sweden havent had a winter like this long for a really long time so our buildings arent really built for this ammount of snow. There were many roof caveings during this winter.
Another reason though was a massive "construction-error". I dont know much about it really so wont go into details.
A third reason might be that when they looked at the part of the roof that never caved, they saw that some of the roof-beams had started to detach from their brackets.

However the police investigation was discontinued, and no one has been blamed for what happened.

---

That's my story of what happend one year ago....
Now I just feel so empty inside.
Tonight I painted a picture of my beloved FBI who was never found.

Rest in peace my angel. I'll always miss you.