A RHUDDLAN COUPLE have told how they walked out of Christchurch Cathedral just minutes before the earthquake struck killing more than 20 people still inside.
Pat and Bill Roberts, from Rhuddlan, were on holiday in New Zealand's second largest city when they were caught up in the terrible events of February 22.
Mrs Roberts, 59, said: “We are still quite traumatised. We were there on holiday, and we were spending some time in the cathedral, in the little shop and the cafe, but my husband wanted to go to an internet cafe across the square.
“We went outside and then it hit. My first thought was that a tram had gone off the rails, and then that there had been a bomb.
“Bill was shouting: ‘get down, get down'. I looked up and the cathedral was coming down.”
The death toll in the city has reached more than 150. Remarkably the couple escaped without injury, and Pat, a former day nursery owner, put her first aid experience to work and tried to help the injured around the square.
She said: “We couldn’t believe how lucky we were, there was not a scratch on us.
But we saw some terrible things. We were shaken up, but grateful we were okay. There were children and old people hurting. It was like a war zone. The aftershocks kept coming which was very scary.”
The couple, who flew home days after the earthquake were grateful to the British Red Cross teams who were quickly on the scene helping victims of the disaster.
Mrs Roberts said: “I’d encourage people to give to them. Just imagine something like this happening to a city like Chester. It’s that kind of place. The Red Cross helped us out. We registered with them and a local family took us in.”
As well as providing first aid, Red Cross volunteers are staffing an evacuation centre for around 2,000 people and helping others find alternative accommodation.
n The Roberts are appealing to local people to send money to the earthquake appeal. To donate to the appeal visit www.redcross.org.uk/nzearthquake or call 0845 054 7200.