Christchurch earthquake quotes

These are quotes from conversations I’ve had with family members following the Christchurch earthquake. They’re not verbatim but they’re as accurate as I can remember:

I lived through the War. I lived through air-raids and the Blitz but this is worse.
– Dowager Empress (mother)

 There was a woman running around screaming. She was completely out of control. She wouldn’t stop. I had to grab her arm really hard and yell at her to sit down because I was scared she’d run outside on to the road and be hit by something.
– Jo (sister)

We all made our way out of the buildings and crossed the road to Latimer Square. People were just milling around. Everyone was so quiet. You know how you can get large groups of people together, like at rugby matches, and you can feel that everyone’s a part of the excitement and they’ve all got it in common? Well, this was a large group of people and the thing that they all had in common was terror.
– Ciaran (brother)

I walked home and I saw a crowd of people down by the corner shops, so I thought I’d go over and see if I could help. The shops were all destroyed. When I got there, I heard someone yelling for anyone who knew first aid. I went to the front of the crowd and I saw some guys pulling a girl out from the rubble. I knew her. She worked at the fish shop and I used to talk to her sometimes when I went in there. She’d been crushed when the building collapsed. I tried to find a pulse but she was dead.
–Steve (brother)

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