Those are the words a Chinese father heard from his daughter who was trapped in the destroyed CTV Building in Christchurch. Then he heard no more.
Cantonese student Chang Lai, a nurse from a hospital in Guangzhou, was one of the English language students in the building and the Yangcheng evening newspaper reported she called her father soon after the quake and said: "I'm dying dad."
Then the phone cut off. Lai's grieving colleagues have donated money to help her husband to come to New Zealand.
The couple married last year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/...
While that is hard to read, it is nothing compared to what the families of the missing and lost are going through.
The death toll stands at 145 and is expected to go much higher as there is at least another 200 missing, feared dead. Hopes are fading that any will be found alive as there has been no rescue of alive people for getting on to three days now.
70 people were rescued alive in the first two days.
Below is a photo of the Canterbury Television Building, which also hosted a foreign language school. There are believed to be between 60-120 trapped inside. You can see from the photo why the officials believe noone is alive
A team of heavy-duty rescue experts from the LA County Fire Dept have arrived in Christchurch:
About a quarter of the cbd buildings are likely to be demolished with the result that the entire center could be closed for months.
And lets not forget the outer suburbs, where a large number of houses have been destroyed either by the quake itself or the luqidfication afterwards.
Most people (who have houses that are liveable) now have power and water but almost oone has sewage as the system is fucked and will be for quite some time.
There have been numerous welfare centers set up around Christchurch and a few hundred people are in them at the moment. Thousands have left the city itself.. either to go to friends or just to get the hell out.
Some will not likely come back but most will at some point.
And as usual I will update as the day progresses.
Updated by GlowNZ at Sat Feb 26, 2011, 03:23:37 PM
You can donate online to the red cross New Zealand's fund here:
http://www.redcross.org.nz/...
Updated by GlowNZ at Sat Feb 26, 2011, 03:41:30 PM
"Operation Suburb" started a couple of days ago, with 45 teams of building consent officers, EQC staff, welfare support and engineers today visiting the worst affected areas - New Brighton, Dallington, Avonside, Parklands, Queenspark, St Martins, Opawa, Lyttelton.
The teams will assess the condition of properties house-by-house and whether welfare support is required.
Updated by GlowNZ at Sat Feb 26, 2011, 04:40:26 PM
Terrified dad Nathan Pilkington could think of only one thing after Tuesday's earthquake – finding his little girl.
He had a physio appointment in Armagh St while his six-year-old daughter Nevada was at school on the top floor of a building in nearby Colombo St.
"I just jumped up and started running, running with the blinkers on, because the only thing I could think of was getting to the building and getting to her. It was just go, go, go."
Pilkington had to climb up a stairwell littered with scaffolding to reach Nevada – the school was still being repaired after the September quake. "I just held her and ran as fast as I could. There were just people lying on the ground, limbs sticking out of rubble."
The pair were about to run through Cashel Mall when Pilkington had second thoughts.
"I stopped and thought: 'Is this the right choice?' Then the whole mall just imploded, all the buildings came down and we just saw people get completely covered with rubble. It was one of those things – do you stop and help?
"I just thought I've got to get my daughter out of here, and I've got to get home and check on my wife and baby." Nevada, his wife and their three-month-old daughter have left Christchurch for Wellington. "I just couldn't function with them here, worrying about their safety. Every time there is an aftershock Nevada and my youngest just start shaking, they're getting no sleep."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/...
Updated by GlowNZ at Sat Feb 26, 2011, 04:48:09 PM
Death toll has risen by one to 146 but will continue to rise during the day
This is John Key, New Zealand PM. The look on his face says it all.