On the day of the quake we were surprised by a big aftershock which knocked everything off my desk. After getting out of our building, which thankfully sustained minimal damage, I was relieved to hear my family were safe. Later I was to find just how lucky my father had been to survive rock falls that destroyed my brothers home.
I was called by the NZ Army and asked to get into the Civil Defence HQ in Kilmore St and commence response planning until Regular staff could get into the city. The photos below are some of the images that I captured as I walked into down town Christchurch at a time when most were trying desperately to get out. It was obvious many were killed and our city was in a crisis. It was also a time to walk in the middle of the road through building rubble and to assist the distraught.
There are also some more general photos from around our broken city that I have chosen to share. Some things that I came across;
- Walking with an upset woman who had been getting her hair cut and watched several buses get crushed. She was walking home to Oxford……about 50km just to get out of town.
- Having to get past downed buildings,
- Coming across people crowded silently around a car listening to the radio. Everyone in shock and disbelief as they heard the news and all complete strangers.
- Silence in the city.
- Having to assess whether the Copthorne Hotel was going to collapse on the civil defence bunker. I’m no engineer but it was leaning and 12 story buildings shouldn’t lean!
- Walking through Camner Square as the injured were being gathered and attended to.
- Hastily established cordons with Police and volunteers manning them.
- Members of the public on traffic duty at major intersections keeping traffic going.
- Mud and flooding everywhere.
- Cars buried in mud.
- Holes in the road.
- Buildings full of water.
- A real feeling of community…..people talking and helping each other everywhere.
- The Mayor and his staff standing outside the art gallery after being evacuated due to an aftershock.
- People crying and hugging one another.
- A group of builders discussing whether to head home or stay with their building site that had collapsed. They were concerned it was a danger to traffic. Legends!
- The initial briefings in the Civil Defence bunker and starting to get my head around what the emergency services were dealing with.
- Seeing the first TV images of the PGC building and damage around the city.
- Meeting my brother at his house on the way home and seeing it destroyed.
- Ringing my father and telling him how glad I was he was still with us and unhurt.
- The relief of getting home around 9pm to my family who had coped admirably.
- Standing on the back lawn and looking towards the sky as aftershocks rolled through and being thankful that my family and I had survived something that could have randomly ended our lives.
Leading from the front 