Tahuna a welcome refuge

TIME OUT: Christchurch family Craig Yates, Kim Blazey and children Kass, 8 months, and Sonny, 2, relax in the playground at Tahuna Beach Holiday Park as they recover from the trauma of Saturday's earthquake. Photo: COLIN SMITH

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If Kim Blazey and her family had stayed in Canterbury, there is no way she would have been able to get that sound out of her head – the sound of her home ripping apart from underneath her feet.

It is quieter at Tahuna Beach Holiday Park.

The wider South Island is welcoming distraught Canterbury families fleeing the region to escape nerve-jangling aftershocks, including a clutch of five overnight.

At 4.35am last Saturday, Ms Blazey and her fiance, Craig Yates, were thrown from their beds in Kaiapoi.

Their eight-month-old son, Cas, was being thrown around like a rag doll in his cot. Their other son, Sonny, two, was in the next room. A picture frame had fallen on his head.

"The next thing we heard was this crack, crack, crack."

It was the floorboards breaking in half.

"That noise will never leave me."

She looked at Craig and said: "Let's get out of here."

Ms Blazey said she could not put her children at risk.

"A house is just a house. It's the kids and the baby that I am just so fearful for."

But now they are safe after packing their car to the brim and driving north.

The family have joined others looking for respite from the effects of the earthquake that has continued with regular aftershocks.

Lynette Jefferies, of Atomic Shuttles, said yesterday's aftershocks prompted calls from some people who were desperate to get out of the city.

"There's definitely [a large number] leaving. There's more people wanting to leave than come."

There were five sizeable shocks between midnight and 7am, ranging between magnitudes 3.5 and 4.5.

Ms Blazey has suffered from anxiety attacks since Saturday morning and said she would have been a "screaming wreck" if she was still in Kaiapoi. She has even booked in counselling sessions in Nelson. The family will reassess their plans on Saturday. "Until then we will try and relax a bit."

Holiday park manager Ann Cumpstone said the aftershocks had knocked a lot of people's confidence. "People are just scared."

They had offered shelter to several Canterbury families and fielded inquiries from the IHC, which was looking for places to house its clients.

"It's starting to grip people. They are fed up with it."

Administration staff member Sue Pyrah had already fielded calls from a woman who was in tears looking to get away. She had six children. "You just tell them, `Don't worry, we will find something for you'."

The park has about 230 beds.

It has put on earthquake deals, where if you pay for three nights you can stay for four or pay for five nights and stay for seven.

Maitai Valley Motor camp manager Carol Wood said she had an inquiry from a Christchurch family yesterday. "They are just looking for a break and to get some sleep."

She said there would possibly be more, including her own family who are from Kaiapoi. "I'm really worried about it down there. I'm trying to encourage them to come up at least until it dies down."

Nelson's Century Park Motor Lodge manager Brendon Grant manager said half his rooms were filled with families from Christchurch, but others had cut their holidays short to go back and bring back other family members.

Chelsea Park Motor Lodge owner Heather Reilly said several families were staying with them. "It's just a bit of respite. They just want to get out of Christchurch."

- © Fairfax NZ News