NI couple recall earthquake drama

24 February 2011 Last updated at 10:52 GMT A statue lies where it fell in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, after the earthquake A NI couple have described how they were lucky to survive the New Zealand earthquake which has claimed the lives of more than 90 people.

Tony and Rosemary Irwin from Dungannon, were due to visit Christchurch Cathedral on Tuesday when it struck.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs has "strong concerns" for the safety of two Irish people following the quake which killed an Irishman.

Mrs Irwin said her husband had saved her and was a "hero".

She said he had pushed her into a shop doorway in a bid to escape the devastation

"On that very morning we had decided to go up to visit the lovely cathedral and have a tour," she said.

"We were at the very top of the street when the most incredible quake happened, the ground both rolling and rising.

"My husband is a hero in this because it was his quick thinking that saved us both."

Around 20 people are believed to have died after the spire collapsed at the cathedral. Police are still searching for more than 200 people in the city.

Mr Irwin described the situation which they encountered as the earthquake started to take effect.

"It was a choice between going out onto the street or getting under a doorway into a building that might collapse," he added.

"There is really not very much time to think about it, but I could see the bricks coming down and I just grabbed Rosemary and rolled her into a shop doorway and we just stayed there huddled in the corner until it was over.

"There were bricks raining down and the shaking was astonishing.

"When it all stopped there was absolute silence.

Owen McKenna

"The noise must have been horrendous, but I don't remember hearing any of it."

Meanwhile, tributes are being paid to the Irishman who died in the New Zealand earthquake. He was 41-year-old Owen McKenna, originally from Emyvale in County Monaghan.

He was married to a woman from NZ and had two children of primary school age. He trained as a nurse in London but moved to NZ after meeting his wife.

His car was crushed under falling debris during the quake in Christchurch.

His mother and wider family circle still live in the Emyvale area.

Rescue teams in Christchurch have been searching the rubble for survivors and the government has declared a national state of emergency.

An emergency number has been issued for those concerned about friends and family in Christchurch.

The number to contact in New Zealand is 00 64 78 50 21 99.

The NZ police website is www.police.govt.nz

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin has also issued a contact number for anyone with concerns about family or friends in the Christchurch area. The number is 003531 4180222

The Foreign Office is also offering assistance to British citizens who have been caught up in the earthquake in New Zealand. The number to call 020 7008 8765.

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NI woman caught in NZ earthquake

22 February 2011 Last updated at 08:49 GMT Dungiven woman Cathy Harris who has been caught up in the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand A Dungiven woman caught up in the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, has said it was the "most terrifying experience" of her life.

A state of emergency was declared after the earthquake struck at lunchtime.

At least 65 people are known to have died and more are trapped under rubble.

Cathy Harris, a former BBC Radio Foyle employee, emigrated to the suburb of Ashburton, just south of Christchurch with her young son Thomas and husband Richard in 2009.

She said the situation in Christchurch is "pretty horrendous."

"I was at home making some lunch when the earthquake hit and I just got under a table," she said.

"I know it was a much smaller earthquake than hit in September but it was a much more violent. I just knew straightaway that there was going to be catastrophic damage.

Continue reading the main story

There are still colleagues of mine I haven't been able to get it touch with, I'm hoping they are okay but it's terrible not knowing”

End Quote Cathy Harris Dungiven woman caught up in the eathquake in New Zealand "The worst thing was my son was at school so as soon as the quake finished we went straight there. Thankfully it was lunchtime and the children were all out in the playground which is where they would have been had they been evacuated to if they had been indoors.

"There were a lot of very distressed children but our boy Thomas was remarkably calm about the whole thing.

"There are still colleagues of mine I haven't been able to get it touch with, I'm hoping they are okay but it's terrible not knowing.

"When the quake hit I was just looking at the carpet watching the ground moving. It's just the most awful thing, you feel so powerless.

"It's the most terrifying experience. It's a whole new level of absolute fear.

"We are just dreading the next one. We are just trying to keep things normal for Thomas' sake and trying not transfer our fear to him, which isn't easy to do."

Rescuers are searching the debris for trapped people

The Foreign Office is offering consular assistance for anyone with concerns regarding family or friends who may be in the Christchurch area. They can be contacted on 0207 008 1500.

The Government in the Republic of Ireland has also issued a number. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin can be contacted on 00 353 1 478 0822.

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New Zealand earthquake kills 65

22 February 2011 Last updated at 11:56 GMT Eyewitness Tania Galbraith: "The whole building began to shake and it just wouldn't stop"

New Zealand's prime minister says at least 65 people have died after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch.

John Key said the toll was expected to rise further, adding: "We may be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day."

The tremor caused widespread damage as it occurred at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) during lunchtime when Christchurch was at its busiest.

The mayor of New Zealand's second-biggest city says 120 people have been rescued from the ruins.

The country's deadliest natural disaster in 80 years struck at 1251 (2351 GMT on Monday), 10km (6.2 miles) south-east of the city.

Screams from rubble

The damage is said to be far worse than after the 7.1-magnitude quake on 4 September, which left two people seriously injured but no fatalities.

Continue reading the main story

We've had friends in town call us and say there are just bodies lying around: lots of dead bodies outside shops just lying there just covered in bricks”

End Quote Jaydn Katene Christchurch resident The epicentre of that quake, which occurred in the middle of the night, was further away from the city and deeper underground, but it still caused an estimated $3bn (£1.9bn) in damage.

TV pictures of the aftermath of Tuesday's disaster showed scores of collapsed buildings in the South Island city of nearly 400,000 people.

Shocked survivors could be seen wandering the rubble-strewn streets, which cracked open as the ground beneath was liquefied by the tremor.

Police said that the dead included people on two buses which were crushed by falling buildings.

Helicopters plucked survivors to safety from rooftops, and dumped water on fires.

Officials said up to 30 people were feared still trapped inside the razed Pyne Gould Guinness building, where screams have been heard from the ruins.

Trapped under her desk inside the building, Anne Voss told Australia's Channel Seven by mobile phone: "I am hoping they will get me out soon because I have been here so long. And it's dark. And it's horrible."

Asked whether she was injured, she said: "I know I am bleeding and I can feel the ground is quite wet. I think it's blood."

Glacier smashed

A dozen visiting Japanese students are among those reported missing.

Bystanders have been using bare hands to try to free survivors trapped under debris.

Many injured people were carried out on blood-soaked stretchers or in the arms of shocked workmates and strangers.

Some escaped on ropes lowered from office towers. Others managed to crawl out of the rubble.

Continue reading the main story Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

By nature, earthquakes tend to cluster in space and time.

And Tuesday's tremor in Christchurch is almost certainly related to the much more energetic event that hit the region last September.

The critical difference on this occasion is the ground broke almost directly under the country's second city, and at shallow depth, 5km (3 miles) below the surface.

Contrast this with September's magnitude 7 quake: its epicentre occurred some 40km west of the city and at a depth of 10km, and it continued to rupture mainly away from the major built-up areas.

New Zealand lies on the notorious Ring of Fire, the line of frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions that circles virtually the entire Pacific rim.

The country straddles the boundary between two tectonic plates: the Pacific and Indo-Australian plates.

On South Island, the location of the latest quake, the plates rub past each other horizontally.

The tremor sent the spire of Christchurch Cathedral, a landmark in the centre of the city, toppling into the square below.

John Gurr, a camera technician, told Reuters news agency the area outside the cathedral was "like a warzone".

Power and telephone lines have been knocked out, while burst pipes have deluged streets with water.

The suburbs of Lyttelton and New Brighton are reportedly "unliveable".

Queen Elizabeth II said in a statement she had been "utterly shocked" by the news.

"My thoughts are with all those who have been affected by this dreadful event," the statement said.

The quake caused some 30m tons of ice to shear away from New Zealand's biggest glacier.

Witnesses say massive icebergs formed when the Tasman Glacier in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park broke, tossing a nearby lake with huge waves.

Back in Christchurch, emergency shelters were set up in the city's Hagley Park, a race course and schools as night approached.

City Mayor Bob Parker told the BBC: "This is a terrible, terrible toll on our city."

"There is no power in most of the city; there is no water in most of the city," he added.

PM John Key said: "It is just a scene of utter devastation. We have to work as fast as we can to get people out of environments where they are trapped.

Grant Beedie in Christchurch: "There was no time to run"

"This is a community that is absolutely in agony. We just need this community, as it has done before and as it will do again, to come together, to check and support one another," he added.

Aftershocks

The military has been deployed to help the rescue effort, and the government has accepted an offer of specialist help from Australia.

A series of aftershocks, some as big as magnitude 5, have already rattled the stricken city, and officials warned residents to brace for more.

One Christchurch resident, Jaydn Katene, told the New Zealand Herald: "We've had friends in town call us and say there are just bodies lying around; lots of dead bodies outside shops just lying there just covered in bricks."

A British backpacker said the city "looked like a bomb had hit it".

New Zealand experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude in excess of 5.0.

The last fatal earthquake was in 1968, when a 7.1-magnitude tremor killed three people on the South Island's western coast.

Tuesday's was the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in the North Island city of Napier killed 256 people.

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Indiana Earthquake: 3.8 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Central Indiana

A 3.8 magnitude earthquake rattled portions of Central Indiana Thursday morning--and was even felt by some Chicago residents.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially estimated the quake's strength was magnitude 4.2, but since lowered that number, according to the Associated Press.

Residents of Chicago, Naperville and Buffalo Grove, Illinois told NBC Chicago they felt their beds shaking and saw their ceiling fans move early Thursday. A geophysicist told the AP a 3.8 magnitude quake "would feel like a loaded truck passing by."

The Indiana Geological Survey had no records of a 3.8 magnitude earthquake in Central Indiana ever, according to the Indianapolis Star. The director of the IGS told the Star that the quakes location--about 3 miles below the ground--was "highly irregular" and "extremely rare."

Indiana's last major earthquake was on April 18, 2008. The 5.2 magnitude quake was the strongest to hit the state in 40 years, the Star reports.

No injuries or damage had been reported as of 9:30 a.m. CT.