Christchurch earthquake 22 February 2011 - One year later

In a few hours it will be one year since the devastating Canterbury earthquake hit Christchurch and surrounding towns and countryside. One of my best friends Brian Taylor was killed that day when the CTV building collapsed. This evening I got an message from my daughter in Christchurch saying " tomorrow evening I am catching up with Brian's running crew. We are doing a twilight run followed by desert on the port hills. Thinking of you and Brian's loved ones. Love Aroha."

Brian was a reknowned New Zealand athletics coach and trained many athletes, including myself as a teenager, and 35 years later, my daughter Aroha.

The photo on the left I took two years ago in Christchurch with Brian Taylor at QE II in Christchurch with a crop of his athletes in 2009.

"I will be thinking of you Brian, and on Saturday our close friend and fellow athlete, Jim (James] Williamson is flying in from Spain to meet me in Geneva, and we will honour you and toast to your memory with the best red wine we can find. We will also offer a prayer to you wonderful wife Prue, and your two sons. You were a great friend Brian."

I often mull over the fact that Brian should been with me in Sri Lanka on 22 February 2011 working with Colonel Madugalle, Vice President of the Sri Lanka Amateur Athletics Association. We had been planning to bring Brian over to train Sri Lankan athletic coaches in preparation for the next Coimmonwealth Games to be held in Sri Lanka. Brian was really excited about this visit and so was I. I had spoken to my boys about Brian being able to analyze their running style and coach them a little.

Brian Taylor, right, with Bob McKerrow. Good to see the Speight's beer label there as we were one of their greatest customers in our younger day.

This is what I wrote shortly after Brian was assumed trapped in the building, but not declared dead..


"Tonight the little light blue box beside Brian's name on SKYPE has a cross beside it and strangely, for the last few mornings, I have missed seeing brianwtaylor pop up on screen showing me he is on SKYPE. I never bothered enquiring about him because 'Tails' was invincible and indestructable, or at least, that's what I thought.

Here is the SKYPE message Brian sent me on 31 December last year.

[31-Dec-10 10:38:13] Brianwtaylor: Hi Bob, Happy new year to you too. I can work on a date for the middle of Feb. I will try and check flights as well. We go camping on Jan 4 for 2 weeks. I will try to get flights sorted either while I am away or before I leave on the 4th. I will not have easy computer access, but cell texting is good, if you can send me your cell phone number. Brian

Sadly, we had to postpone his visit until March as the mid- February dates clashed with the Cricket World Cup being held in Sri Lanka and neighbouring countries. We should have stuck to that 10 day period starting 15 February 2011.

I will keep looking every day on SKYPE, hoping for the miracle, for the cross to change to a tick. Usually we chatted a few times a week, about his pending trip, and what we were up to in our lives. Often it was a quick "good morning, how are you."

Brian and Prue invited me to their home on New Year's eve 2008-09 and a few days later in January 2009 I spent time with Brian at QE II Park , where the 1974 Commonwealth Games were held, watching him coach his athletic squad. I wrote at the time: "

It was a joy to meet again with my former athletics coach, Brian Taylor, who lives in Christchurch and coaches some of New Zealand's leading athletes. Brian coached me from the age of 14 to 20, and as a group, including James Williamson, we did some revoluntionary training, an expanded version of Arthur Lydiard's methods. In those days we ran more than 130 miles a week with often a 26 mile run over the hills of Dunedin on a Sunday. Unknowingly at the time, this endurance conditioning prepared me for exploration in later life and I owe a lot to Brian. Forty-seven years after he started coaching, Brian Taylor is still putting in hundred of voluntary hours a month coaching young people. It is role models like this that produce great sportspeople in New Zealand. They are New Zealand's unsung heroes.


Here is an article I posted a year ago on the Christchurch earthquake.

:Rescuers  battled over night trying to find up to 200 people believed to be trapped in buildings in Christchurch. Another survivor is found.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY 23 February

LATEST: A temporary mortuary to deal with Christchurch earthquake victims has been moved to the Burnham Military Camp "for capacity reasons", Cabinet Ministers have just been told.

The development comes as Christchurch people have woken to a scene of absolute carnage, with bodies lying throughout the central business district. The living, trapped in many buildings, are fighting for their lives after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck at a shallow depth 10km southeast of the city at 1pm yesterday.

Rescuers are still hearing signs of life from the two worst hit buildings - Canterbury Television in Madras St and Pyne Gould Guiness in Cambridge Tce - both of which collapsed. Three people had this morning been rescued from the CTV building and eight from the PGG building.

The number of bodies formally identified stands at 39 but that number is expected to soar today. Prime Minister John Key said the 65 death toll quoted yesterday "remains an accurate prediction".

Key has ordered that the flags on all Government building fly at half mast until further notice as a mark of respect for people killed in the quake.

Police had deployed a large disaster identification team and there had been offers from Australia for more teams.

"The challenges are very, very real. In the health area, a lot of extra resource is being deployed," Wevers told ministers.

Christchurch Hospital seemed to be managing the load, however. Schools would be used as local water distribution points.

A lot of offers of support from the private sector would be marshalled by civil defence in Christchurch.

"The key point is the co-ordination from the Wellington end and at the Canterbury end. It's working reasonably well."

RESCUES FROM WRECKED BUILDINGS

Rescue efforts by hundreds of search and rescue workers from around New Zealand today focuses on the collapsed Canterbury Television and Pyne Gould Guiness buildings.

Shane Cole, a Fire Service station officer and an member of the urban search and rescue team, said rescuers had heard banging in buildings and one person had managed to send a text message this morning while trapped on the first floor of the CTV building.


They had rescued eight people from the PGG building overnight and three people from CTV. No one had been rescued so far this morning.

He did not know how many were still trapped but estimated there were up to 20 in the PGG building and "a lot more" in the CTV building.

Cole said rescue staff were were operating in "perilous" conditions with aftershocks further destabilising buildings.

Hesaid their focus from the start had been to extract those still alive and they had been forced to work around fatalities.

"we just had to give up (on them) and concentrate on the live people."

They had started the recovery by breaking holes in the collapsed roof then had moved to the rear of the building which was less damaged, where they had carried out more rescues.

He said they had been "reasonably successful" so far and were hopeful of finding more people alive.

Some of those rescued had suffered serious injuries, with one trapped up to the waist, and others with trapped limbs.

Cole said the work was painstaking and the building perilous with persistent aftershocks but "we just keep going. We've still got people trapped.

"it's tough working in the building with aftershocks - it's quite scary."

Those trapped were overwhelmed to be rescued, he said.

"they're really ecstatic that we've got them out. Some of the people that we've found they're trapped in half a metre ... Space surrounded by furniture and everything.

"I guess the most sobering thought for them is when they get out and see the condition of their building

22 February


It's been a traumatic day for so many people living in Christchurch as a second major earthquake struck within six months. I got the news at 7 a.m. this morning  Sri Lanka time and the first thing I did was phone my daughter Ruia, who lives in my house in Christchurch. She works in a medical centre and when the quake struck, the ceiling of the clinic fell in, and fortunately no one was injured. She and her colleagues treated people who were injured in the area but were sent home as aftershocks were causing more falling debris. But on the other side of Christchurch, nearer the epi-centre, the situation was tragic. In the centre of the city where tourists and lunch time workers gather, people were crushed by falling debris and trapped in buildings that collapsed.

It's just after midnight in Christchurch, 12 hours after the quake, and rescue workers toil through the night  burying into collapsed buildings, hoping to find people alive

Everyone whether in Christchurch or who had relatives there, experienced extremes of emotion. Some of the New Zealanders who worked in Indonesia after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed over 150,000 people in Indonesia, received a message from the former Minister for Tsunami, and now the Prime Minister in Indonesia, Mangkusubroto. His message was sent especially to David Hopkins; Noel Trustrum and myself for the various forms of work we did in the psot Tsunami operation. New Zealand specialists assisted Indonesia, now Indonesia is expressing solidarity. the message read:

My heart is with you in this difficult time. Hope all your love ones are safemfrom the earthquake. If theres anything that we can help, I am at your disposal. I pray to God for your safety, Kuntoro.-


Here is the latest from various New Zealand websites

Construction workers and search and rescue specialists toiled under floodlights to dig out survivors and the dead from buildings flattened by the earthquake that ripped the city apart.

Dozens of search and rescue and medical staff have arrived to continue with the frantic recovery effort.

Yesterday's earthquake has claimed at least 65 lives and scores more are injured in what Prime Minister John Key says "may well be New Zealand's darkest day".

At least 65 people are dead after the shallow 6.3 earthquake hit 10km southeast of the city, just before 1pm. There have been constant aftershocks, as powerful as magnitude 5.7. The latest significant aftershock measured magnitude 5.0 and hit at 7.43pm.

The death toll is already the second highest from a New Zealand earthquake - outranked only by the 256 people killed in the violent 7.9 1931 Hawke's Bay quake, whose 70th anniversary was marked earlier this month.

Police have reported "multiple fatalities" at several locations in the downtown area, including in buses crushed by falling buildings.

Buildings have been destroyed with at least 100 people believed to be trapped inside. Rescuers warned some people remained trapped overnight.

More bodies were likely to be pulled from the rubble of the Canterbury Television building which collapsed in the earthquake, a man involved in assisting rescue teams in their hunt for survivors said tonight.

Rescue workers frantically try to find those trapped inside the Pyne Gould Corporation building.

The Southern Demolition employee, who did not want to be named, told NZPA rescue personnel pulled bodies from the rubble while he was assisting in the recovery effort.

"We were working on one side of the building and on that side we managed to pull one person alive but we also pulled out a body. On the other side they pulled out four or five - I don't know if they were dead or alive.

"It was awful," he said.

The New Zealand Red Cross Response 

"NZRC is not currently requiring or accepting donations of goods or volunteers at this time. NZRC are currently focusing on roles supporting the CDEM response. Urgent email enquiries can be referred to our National Emergency Operating Centre at nzrceoc@redcross.org.nz.

"For welfare related enquiries and requirements for affected persons please call the Government help line on 0800 7799977 (NZ number)."

"To lodge an enquiry in relation to missing relatives please call the NZ Red Cross National Enquiry Centre on 0800 REDCROSS (0800 733 276) (note this line may be overloaded)"

"International restoring family links enquiries from Red Cross or Red Crescent national societies can be sent to familylinks@redcross.org.nz further information will be pending."

The Australian Red Cross, through their bilateral agreement with the New Zealand Red Cross, will be sending emergency support staff to assist with the operation.

A bus crushed by falling debris.

TOLL COULD RISE

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has told TVNZ the death toll could double.

It could be later this morning before the number of missing is known.

The next official update is expected at 5.30am today when Civil Defence will hold a press conference in the Beehive bunker.

Up to 31 Japanese students from a foreign-language school are believed to among those trapped under collapsed buildings in the city.  The students, from Toyama city, were eating lunch when the earthquake struck. There are reports three of the students have been taken to hospital, one in a serious condition.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun's online Japanese edition, responses have been heard from nine of the trapped students.

The Pyne Gould Guinness building has tilted at an awkward angle and slumped to the ground with 30 people thought to be inside, while people are trapped under desks in the Christchurch Press building opposite Christ Church Cathedral.

Fatalities have been reported in the Canterbury TV building, while the Forsyth Barr Tower has lost its stairs, so those trapped high above ground had to be lifted out by crane.

People are also feared trapped in hotels, Civil Defence Minister John Carter said.

"What we don't know is whether they were out looking around the town or were in their rooms."

Christchurch Hospital is operational but people are being asked to keep the Emergency Department for major casualties only.

A generator has been brought in to maintain power supply at Christchurch Hospital Riverside Block. "If power is not fully restored this evening patients at Christchurch Hospital's Riverside Block may need to be evacuated," a statement said.

SUPPORT ARRIVES FOR LONG NIGHT

A Royal New Air Force Boeing 757 was due to land in Christchurch from Whenuapai Air Force Base at 10.30pm last night carrying 54 search and rescue staff, plus 20 St John's medical staff.

More than 200 soldiers are assisting NZ Police with cordon duties and the Navy's vessel Canterbury docked in Lyttelton has offloaded around 160 persons for cordon support duties.

Two Iroquois helicopters from Ohakea have arrived to assist with rescue efforts in the city. Other Navy ships are also on the way.

The NZ Army's medical teams are at four different locations around Christchurch with military officers working with the Police. NZ Defence Force firefighters are working with local fire brigades.

DEVASTATING FORCE
English said the force of the earthquake was above the limit modern buildings were designed to withstand.

An estimated 1200 people sheltered in Addington overnight, while nurses with specialist intensive care skills are being flown to the city.

Schools are closed until further notice.

Residents have been told to stay at home and save any safe water for drinking, including rain water which could be collected as rain falls tonight as the city's reservoirs have been shut down. Toilets should not be flushed and water should be boiled as sewage systems have failed, Parker said.

Parker said up to 25 buildings of significant size in the city were probably damaged beyond repair.

Hospitals around the South Island were being cleared to take the hundreds of casualties expected, while makeshift hospitals were being set up in parts of Christchurch.

Emergency triage centres for the injured are operating at Latimer Square, Canterbury University and the Sanitarium Building in Papanui - not South City or the Spotlight Mall, Sydenham, police said.

"This is a big problem. Far worse in casualties than the 4th of September, largely because it happened at a different time of the day," Civil Defence director John Hamilton said.

SCREAMS FROM COLLAPSED BUILDING

Pyne Gould Corporation has confirmed that staff from the building are missing, but would not say how many. The company was working to account for each staff member.

People died when buses were crushed under falling building facades, Radio NZ reported.

At the building's cordon, Labour Party leader Phil Goff said earlier this evening that at least 30 people were feared trapped inside and at least one person was killed. Families were congregating at the cordon, he said.

Parker said: "There are people fighting for their lives at the moment but there are also people fighting for them."

"We're in the middle of an extremely serious situation. We're preparing ourselves for what I think will be a really sad, bleak day for our city but be reassured everybody is doing what they can."

Parker said there were currently people still trapped in cars and buildings, with some being able to phone to say they're trapped.

An aerial view of the  Pyne Gould Corporation building.



Defence Forces have been called in to assist with the earthquake recovery and were going door to door checking on residents.

The airport was closed to all but emergency flights and Lyttelton tunnel was shut.

Christchurch Hospital remained open but was also damaged. It asked that only seriously injured people come to the emergency department. It had a full emergency plan in operation.

Power should return to half of Christchurch tonight, with most of the city back on in the next three to four days, lines company Orion said.

St John's Ambulance had run out of ambulances and was using four wheel drives to get the injured out.

The New Zealand Blood Service has been flooded with calls from people wanting to donate blood.

The service said it presently had adequate blood stock, but would advise through its Facebook page and website if that changed.

COLD, WET NIGHT FOR RESIDENTS

Thousands of homeless Christchurch residents are tonight bracing for a long, cold, wet and worrying night in welfare centres.

The Christchurch City Council said a welfare centre at Addington Raceway had closed due to high umbers, believed to be about 1200.

People were instead asked to go to Burnside School, Papanui High School, the Lyttelton Recreation Centre, Brooklands Community Centre or Akaroa Senior School.

WeatherWatch.co.nz said the temperature was expected to fall to 9-10degC overnight, compounded by light rain. Many more aftershocks were also expected.

However, the showers should clear in the morning and a high of 18degC was expected.

An Urban Search and Rescue team (SAR) from Australia would arrive after midnight.

Two New Zealand SAR teams were on their way as well as ambulances from around the South Island.

Some critical patients had been flown from Christchurch to other hospitals around the South Island.

Military personnel were being coordinated to make areas safe.


CATHEDRAL, HOTELS DAMAGED

The spire of Christchurch Cathedral, the heart of the city, has collapsed.

Dean of Cathedral Peter Beck said they tried to get out who they could but it was now in the hands of emergency services. "It doesn't look good".

He had "no idea" of how many people were inside.

Power was out in a significant portion of the city. While some parts will have power restored overnight it could be fours days till power was restored across the city.

A significant number of hotels have collapsed and it was not known how many people were inside, the Civil Defence Minister said earlier this afternoon.

Bodies were seen being taken out of the damaged YHA hostel in the city.

On the corner of Lichfield and High Streets, a block of shops had completely collapsed and rescue services believed four or five people are trapped in the rubble.

One body had been pulled from the wreckage.

People trapped in the CBD have put signs up at the windows saying 'HELP'.

Helicopters were being used to put out fires in the central city.

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS

Amber Armitage said people were wandering around central Christchurch trying to get out but all exits from the city were blocked.

There was a strong smell of gas and clouds of dust.

A bus on Colombo St was "completely trapped under bricks" and people were working to free passengers trapped in it.

She said the quake felt much stronger than the 7.1 quake on September 4, 2010 and believed the city was "irreparable".

Former Blenheim woman Joh Bloomberg was working in Ballantynes department store in central Christchurch when the earthquake struck.

"I was clinging to this cupboard next to my desk. I thought it was going to be fine, but it got worse and worse, and went on for so long. It's the worst one I've felt."

She walked outside to nearby Lichfield St and saw a car flattened by a fallen section of building.

"I'm normally pretty calm with things like this but when I saw a huge concrete slab on top of that car ...

"It's squashed down to zero. You never think you'll see anything like that."

Everyone was screaming as they left the store.

A colleague of Miss Bloomberg's walked outside to Cashel St mall and saw people lying on the ground who she thought had been hit by falling rubble from a nearby cafe.

Kay Cowlishaw said there was destruction everywhere.

"There's just water pouring out and sewerage, the whole garage is filled with water. There are cracks in the road.

Sally Blundell lives in Opawa and said their whole house shifted on its piles.

"We have no water, no power. We are really shaken. Most of us do not know what has happened to the inner city. We are just hearing reports on the radio and it sounds really frightening. The ground is still like jelly, a low level shake all the time."

Malcolm, a policeman from Darfield, was driving in the city when the earthquake hit.

"I thought I had a flat tyre, then the place was shaking like hell."
He said oak trees in the Hagley Park had been uprooted and fallen across tents.

"I'm shaken, I'm at Christ College now and the school is a shambles - there's a lot of damage to the buildings.

"All of the water pipes are burst and it looks like a tsunami coming across the park."

"It's just unbelievable - just the sheer power."

His daughter was at Rangi Ruru school and she said students were running around screaming.

HOSPITAL INUNDATED WITH WOUNDED

A patient in Christchurch Hospital, who was in the riverside block when the first quake hit, said things were falling down and some elderly people were injured in the stairs.
"It was just a lot of panic. The nurses and doctors were quite calm but I think just like the first time, it was all quiet, then all of a sudden there was panic."

Christchurch Hospital is operational but people are being asked to keep the Emergency Department for major casualties only.
The hospital, along with most other hospitals in the region has suffered infrastructure damage, a Health Ministry statement said.

A generator has been brought in to maintain power supply at Christchurch Hospital Riverside Block. "If power is not fully restored this evening patients at Christchurch Hospital's Riverside Block may need to be evacuated."

Large volumes of patients are being triaged through the Christchurch Hospital ED, many with serious injuries. Patients with non-life threatening injuries are being assessed and treated in Christchurch Women's Hospital and the Outpatients Department. Patients from the top two floors of Christchurch Hospital have been evacuated to lower floors. There is some water damage throughout the hospital but staff are awaiting further assessments.

St John district commander Tony Dowell said they had been seeing a range of injuries from serious to minor.
Mostly of the injuries were from crushing. St John was mobilising resources from West Coast, Dunedin, Nelson and South Canterbury.

What a tragic earthquake. On a personal level I have contacted all my relatives and friends in Christchurch, and they are well. I am trying to contact my good friend Ed Cotter, veteran mountaineers, who climbed with sir Ed Hillary. Ed is 82 and lives on the cliffs overlooking Sumner. My daughter Ruia is trying to contact him. If you have come across Ed Cotter, please let me know.

Thanks. And may God bless those who are trapped and please rescue them, and may he comfort those who have lost loved ones.

Thanks to stuff nz.co and New Zealand Red Cross for use of material off their websites.


Earthquake causes glacier to calve

Glacier watchers on the Tasman Lake had an experience of a lifetime yesterday.

Two guides and 16 passengers were on two boats on the lake when the 6.3 magnitude Canterbury earthquake hit, triggering tsunamis and causing a massive ice calving off the glacier.

Aoraki-Mt Cook Alpine Village Ltd general manager tourism Denis Callesen said the guides were radioed from the village as soon as the earthquake was felt, so were able to prepare for the event.

Mr Callesen said the boats endured 30 minutes of tsunamis, up to 3.5 metres high.

Staff are trained for the event, knowing to turn the boats towards each tsunami and motor gently forwards.

About 30 million tonnes of ice calved – 1200 metres across the face, 30 metres above the lake and more than 250 metres below the surface to the bottom of the lake and back for about 75 metres.

Mr Callesen said it was either the third biggest, or second-equal biggest event in Tasman Lake's history.