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Couple marry in Christchurch as bride survives earthquake
Source: Agencies |
February 26, 2011, Saturday
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A WOMAN plucked from a building that collapsed in this week's earthquake in New Zealand went ahead with her wedding yesterday - a bright spot in Christchurch as the death toll rose to 113 and relatives fretted over the missing.
Emma Howard told local media she was determined not to let Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude quake derail her plans for the wedding, even after she spent more than five hours trapped in a tiny cavity between the collapsed floors of an office building that was destroyed.
She managed to text fiance Chris Greenslade, who was outside his office across town when the disaster struck and raced to find her. He dug through the debris of her building, pulling others free as he tried to reach Howard, then helped direct the rescue crews that eventually found her, the New Zealand Herald reported.
The couple were all smiles as they exited the Christ of the King Church yesterday, posing briefly for photographs before jumping in a car and heading off.
"I'm fortunate that everybody who we invited will be there," Howard told Radio New Zealand. In fact, extra colleagues and friends were coming from around the country to join the party, she said.
In contrast, the mood was grim at a meeting of the local coroner, victim identification experts and relatives of some of the 228 people officially listed as missing.
Police Superintendent Derek Erasmus told reporters afterward that the families had asked many questions about the identification process of those killed, and the release of bodies.
When the families emerged from the meeting, many looking somber and shaken, one man shouted angrily at news crews standing nearby. A police officer told -journalists the meeting had grown increasingly intense, and that the relatives were extremely upset.
Officials say 70 people were pulled from the wreckage in the first 25 hours after the magnitude 6.3 temblor hit, but that no one had made it out alive since.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the rescue phase of an operation involving hundreds of police, soldiers and others was drawing to a conclusion, and he was -preparing to give families from several countries "the worst type of news."
An English language school was in one of the hardest-hit buildings, the CTV office block. Students from China, Japan and other nations are believed to be among those inside when it collapsed. Police say up to 120 bodies are inside and that no one is expected to have survived.
More than 700 specialist teams from a host of countries and armed with acoustic equipment, high-tech cameras and sniffer dogs are taking part in the recovery operation. Heavy machinery is also being used.
"We are still hopeful that there still may be people rescued but it's getting less and less likely," Civil Defense Minister John Carter said.
Emma Howard told local media she was determined not to let Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude quake derail her plans for the wedding, even after she spent more than five hours trapped in a tiny cavity between the collapsed floors of an office building that was destroyed.
She managed to text fiance Chris Greenslade, who was outside his office across town when the disaster struck and raced to find her. He dug through the debris of her building, pulling others free as he tried to reach Howard, then helped direct the rescue crews that eventually found her, the New Zealand Herald reported.
The couple were all smiles as they exited the Christ of the King Church yesterday, posing briefly for photographs before jumping in a car and heading off.
"I'm fortunate that everybody who we invited will be there," Howard told Radio New Zealand. In fact, extra colleagues and friends were coming from around the country to join the party, she said.
In contrast, the mood was grim at a meeting of the local coroner, victim identification experts and relatives of some of the 228 people officially listed as missing.
Police Superintendent Derek Erasmus told reporters afterward that the families had asked many questions about the identification process of those killed, and the release of bodies.
When the families emerged from the meeting, many looking somber and shaken, one man shouted angrily at news crews standing nearby. A police officer told -journalists the meeting had grown increasingly intense, and that the relatives were extremely upset.
Officials say 70 people were pulled from the wreckage in the first 25 hours after the magnitude 6.3 temblor hit, but that no one had made it out alive since.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the rescue phase of an operation involving hundreds of police, soldiers and others was drawing to a conclusion, and he was -preparing to give families from several countries "the worst type of news."
An English language school was in one of the hardest-hit buildings, the CTV office block. Students from China, Japan and other nations are believed to be among those inside when it collapsed. Police say up to 120 bodies are inside and that no one is expected to have survived.
More than 700 specialist teams from a host of countries and armed with acoustic equipment, high-tech cameras and sniffer dogs are taking part in the recovery operation. Heavy machinery is also being used.
"We are still hopeful that there still may be people rescued but it's getting less and less likely," Civil Defense Minister John Carter said.
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