Despite receiving four emergency messages from CFS to evacuate and look for shelters, Julie Luqman and her husband Berry still did not leave their homes.
The couple, who live in Woodside in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, just decided to leave the house after witnessing the fire reached their house, engulfing the neighbour's house across. They can only pack passports and documents.
Julie Luqman received four messages from CFS to evacuate but still not leaving her house, up until she saw her neighbour's house burnt down. Source: Supplied
Parts of their front yard and linens hung on the clotheslines were burned.
Julie shares this dreadful and traumatic experience with SBS Indonesian, including how then the fire disaster haunts her in her dreams.
"After that incident, for two weeks I was still traumatised, every night I still woke up dreaming there was a fire or a feeling of burning smell... because I witnessed my neighbour's house burnt down," says Julie.
(Courtesy of Julie Luqman)
The researcher, who serves as Vice President of the AIA-SA (Australian Indonesian Association of South Australia), also speaks about fundraising event organised by AIA together with Human Appeal aims at those affected by the disaster on 19 January.
