A Christchurch woman has told how she survived today’s Christchurch earthquake.
Pip Ramby was was on the seventh floor of the Canterbury TV building, in Madras Street, when the massive earthquake struck at 12.51pm.
“We were in a meeting in one of the corner rooms when the quake started and it wasn’t long before it was phenomenally disorientating,” she told Radio New Zealand.
“There were about 10 of us in the room and no way of really getting out the door and after that it was … hard to tell what had happened.
“When it stopped and one of our number were able to look up, the building was near the ground. We were near the ground.
“We called out to people who were on the street watching and they came to help us out of the wreckage.”
Brave rescuers first saved a baby and her mother, before rescuing the others.
Ms Ranby praised the “incredibly brave rescuers”.
Those who had been in the meeting suffered only minor injuries, but two others in the building were injured, one of them critically.
The Canterbury TV building collapsed into rubble.
Meanwhile, Christchurch Hospital is expecting an increase in women going into premature labour as a result of the earthquake.
There was a dramatic rise in babies born after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake last September.
A nurse told NZPA that she had gone into work to help out on her day off because “last time everyone went into labour and it’s happening again”.
