Sarah is a fire fighter based at the Kilmore St Fire Station in Christchurch and has been in the thick of the rescue efforts. She came to our class because her son, Taylor, has joined our class while his mother has been so busy with here work and while his school has been closed. She wanted to thank us for looking after Taylor for her and so she gave us all an ice block.
She told us about how she was off duty when the earthquake struck and was able to go to Redcliff's School to pick up Taylor. Their home was undamaged and so was safe to be in. The person Sarah was most worried about once she had Taylor safe was his grandmother. She had been shopping at East Gate Mall and it had been badly hit. All was well with Sarah and Taylor's family.
When she went on duty later that night she was in the team that was helping at the CTV building. She said that the trauma for her was not the earthquake itself but the fact that they knew there were people trapped under the rubble but couldn't find them. She found it extremely hard to walk passed a husband who had been talking to his wife in the cellphone but she hadn't been rescued as the rescuers couldn't locate which part of the building she was in.
The subject eventually came around to hygiene and toilets. She told us that people were being very creative and inventive about building 'comfortable', private makeshift toilets.
Looters were discussed and we were all disgusted that people would steal from others - even worse that they were stealing things they did not need.
Travelling around Christchurch you see a lot of stickers on houses so Sarah told us what they meant.
Red stickers means a house is condemned
Yellow stickers mean limited access
Green sticker means fine, people can live in
It was great to hear Sarah's first hand report and to know that the fundraising we are going to be doing is a really worthwhile cause.
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