This article is from page 2 of the 2011-03-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THREE were lucky escapes for a number of Clare people based in New Zealand following last week’s devastating earthquake which shook the city of Christchurch – killing 145 people.
As hopes fade for the 200 people who are still unaccounted for fol lowing last Tuesday’s 6.3 magnitude earthquake, one north Clare woman is returning to Christchurch after miraculously avoiding being caught up in the devastating natural disaster.
Ennistymon woman Aoife Garrihy is currently living in Christchurch and had a lucky escape when she decided to leave the city and travel to visit a friend in Perth, Australia, hours before the quake hit New Zealand.
Aoife, who is a doctor in Christchurch Hospital, returned home to New Zealand city on Saturday last unsure of whether her belongings survived the earthquake or not. The Clare People spoke to Aoife before she returned to Christchurch who confirmed that she was okay and looking forward to getting back to work in Christchurch.
Christchurch Hospital escaped any serious damage during the earthquake but it has been inundated with a wide variety of serious injuries since the earthquake. The Clare People contacted a number of other Clare expats currently living in New Zealand to confirm that no-one from the county had been injured in the disaster.
The earthquake was felt as far away as Auckland on New Zealand’s north island where David Hanrahan from Lissycasey and Theresa Hassett from Tulla have been living for almost a year.
“We are okay, we are up her in Auckland so we’re away from the earthquake, thank God. It’s crazy down there,” said David.
“A mate of mine from Monaghan was working in a tunnel down in Christchurch, right beside where the quake struck. He had just come out of the tunnel a couple a minutes be- fore the quake hit – he is a lucky man but he is very shook up.”
The earthquake was also felt on Wellington and Lower Hutt on the north island, where Miltown Malbay brothers David and Declan Rynne are based.
“We’re all good here in Wellington,” David told The Clare People .
“We did feel the quake but it was quite minor here compared to Christchurch. They’ve had a pretty bad six months of it down there.”
This is the second earthquake to hit the city of Christchurch in recent months. On September 4 of last year a 7.1 magnitude quake struck outside the city, injuring two people and causing major power outages.