Nelson soldier helps rally troops

BY LAURA BASHAM

Rescuing 23,000 chickens was one of the unexpected tasks a Nelson territorial army officer faced in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Major Phil Bellamy of 3 Land Force Group, who is a Nelson lawyer with Duncan Cotterill, has been in the midst of helping co-ordinate territorial army soldiers from Burnham military camp.

Yesterday 30 soldiers were helping a poultry farmer rescue 23,000 chickens after the building they were housed in at Weedons, about 20 kilometres southwest of Christchurch, collapsed in several places.

Mr Bellamy was on duty as liaison officer at Burnham from 9pm last night until 9am today in case the territorial army soldiers were needed in the central city.

When the quake struck he was asleep in the barracks but woke to find the whole building shaking.

The light fittings dropped to the ground and it was pitch black.

He said the quake was violent, knocking him to the ground several times. He waited under the door frame for five minutes, then, when there was a gap in the tremors, he and others went outside.

He described the experience as unnerving.

Nelson staff sergeant Lance Williams, who was at Burnham military camp when the quake hit, said the earthquake came with a big rumble.

He was lying in bed when he heard it. "It was a huge, violent shock. It started as a rumble like train coming then rolled over the top. It was amazing."

His room-mate was thrown from his bed.

Mr Williams, who is in the Nelson Marlborough West Coast Company of the 2nd Canterbury Battalion Group, was at the camp for a weekend conference on soldier training, which was cancelled because of the quake.

Mr Williams said he was used to quakes having been brought up on the West Coast, but none was as severe as what he experienced in Canterbury on Saturday. "It was incredible."

Bernie and Suzie Kelly, of Golden Bay, were in staying in Arthurs Pass when the quake struck. They arrived at Nelson Airport yesterday.

"It was heart-pumping stuff, I wasn't breathing for a while," Mrs Kelly said.

She said the quake was so powerful she had to hold herself up in the door frame so she wouldn't fall over.

However, the only damage Mr Kelly saw when they travelled from Darfield to the airport was a few chimneys knocked over.

"Other than that it was business as usual really," he said.

Enner Glynn resident Neville Claughton was staying at a friend's place in Cashmere.

He had gone to bed at midnight but was woken by the sound of birds chirping shortly before 4.30am.

He thought it was a bit early for that.

"Then it went completely quiet. It just sounded like wind was coming up or a large truck coming up the thill. Then the shaking started."

Mr Claughton, also known as Mr Music, said everything that he was supposed to do during an earthquake went through his mind but by the time he got to his senses the major shaking had stopped.

The aftershocks were the really scary part, he said.

"Just not knowing if there was a bigger one on the way."

The friend's house he was staying in had no serious damage but Mr Claughton said the pictures coming from the media were as bad as it looked in Christchurch.

"I grew up in Christchurch and it was just staggering to see all those old buildings like they were."

- © Fairfax NZ News