Rural NZ epicentre deals with quake losses

Updated September 9, 2010 08:58:44

It might have been five days since the big earthquake that shook New Zealand's Christchurch but the aftershocks have not abated. In fact, they have intensified.

Locals are on-edge and the continuing tremors are causing more damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Prime Minister John Key has been visiting rural areas and he is considering a relief package for those doing it tough near the epicentre of the quake.

Presenter: Philippa McDonald in Christchurch
Speaker: Andrew Blackwell, owner of store in Kaiapoi; Kate Oakley, farmer and mother; Hannah Oakley, daughter of Kate

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: The rural village of Kaiapoi is not used to getting a visit from prime minister John Key, but it's made the news as one of the areas most devastated by Saturday's earthquake and locals are making the most of the opportunity to explain their plight.

ANDREW BLACKWELL (to John Key): It's like a sort of war zone through the middle of town and the trick here is to get the place up and running again as soon as possible.

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: Andrew Blackwell is standing outside his family's department store. It's been here since the 1920s but the earthquake has gouged a huge hole in the front of the building.

ANDREW BLACKWELL: We've got huge problems here as well. Not quite on the same scale as Christchurch but there's probably a bigger percentage of the central business area here has been affected than in Christchurch.

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: And how would you describe the state of the building?

ANDREW BLACKWELL: It's not looking too good is it (laughs). Being one of those old triple brick buildings they seem to be the ones that have taken the hammering from the earthquake.

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: A triple brick building's taken a hammering?

ANDREW BLACKWELL: Yeah. Yeah.

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: How would you rate your challenge to get going again?

ANDREW BLACKWELL: We're determined to keep going. We've been here a long time and we're determined as a family to carry on.

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: You're a fifth generation Blackwell.

ANDREW BLACKWELL: I'm a fifth generation Blackwell yeah. We've got to think of the sixth generation.

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: Near Darfield, the epicentre of the seven magnitude quake, residents have left what was a grand old home. Windows are smashed, curtains are blowing in the breeze, walls have been ripped away and the rain is falling on an exposed bed. It's hard to believe no one was killed here.

Neighbour Kate Oakley, who's a farmer with her husband Michael is coming to terms with their daughter Hannah's narrow escape, although they're paying a heavy price financially for this earthquake; tonnes of their potatoes are likely to be lost.

KATE OAKLEY: As far as the farm's concerned there's been quite a bit of destruction. The spud boxes just went down like dominoes really and the potato shed we've got about four different varieties of potatoes all different generations and the boxes have just collapsed and tumbled over. So it's just trying to sort out which potato goes where, which is a bit of a hard task really. We've had a silo break, a water tank come down and the first day we had barley everywhere but we were fortunate that a neighbour had an empty silo and we managed to get that all cleaned out. We've had a huge amount of support from family and friends which has been great.

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: What did it feel like at the time?

KATE OAKLEY: Incredibly frightening. The noise was just so intense that you weren't actually aware that things were falling around you. Our bed literally moved out from the wall and across to the side. Our poor daughter Hannah, who's 13, her bookcase fell down in between the bed and the door and it was just pitch dark and all the shaking and she was like "I can't get out of my room".

HANNAH OAKLEY: It missed my bed by about five inches probably.

PHILIPPA MCDONALD: Thirteen year old Hannah Oakley looks okay but like so many here, the aftershocks are taking a toll. Kate Oakley says it's hard to relax when you're wondering if there's going to be another quake.

KATE OAKLEY: Hannah particularly, every night she's been sleeping on the floor in our room and then when things start rumbling she bails out and she's in the bed between us. It's really terrifying. You just don't know what's going to happen. You're not getting good night sleeps because it's just continuously rumbling through the night. You wake up some mornings and hop in the shower and you just burst into tears because the whole impact of the whole thing and then it's like "okay, now let's just start getting things sorted" and it's just one thing at a time.