TRAPPED - Remarkable stories of survival from the 2011 Canterbury earthquake

 “The raw emotion of thesepersonal stories makes for a moving and dramatic book. They provide afascinating perspective from survivors who cheated death, some only just, andcarried on.”

— Paul Rodwell, Christchurch Central Fire Station Officer, who rescuedsurvivors from the rubble.

On the afternoon of February 22, 2011 a massiveaftershock devastated the city of Christchurchand it’s people. That day many lives were lost as people went about theirnormal daily routine. The randomness of this event is almost unfathomable. Asit sunk it that we had lost 181 people in the earthquake there was anotherstatistic less well known — the number of those injured. Hospital recordsindicate that around 250 to 300 people were treated for serious physical traumain the hours following the quake. In Trapped, Martin van Beynen presents the stories of some of thosefor whom life can never return completely to normal.

Manypeople in Christchurchtalk about what might have been, but many did not have the sort of dangerouslynarrow escape most of the people in this book speak of. They are survivors whovery clearly cheated death. Most came very close to being killed by the firstjolt or needed to take quick action to improve their chances of survival. Thosewho weathered the initial carnage but were trapped then had to wait manyharrowing hours when they could have died at any minute under further collapsesof building rubble that were triggered by the waves of strong aftershocks thatfollowed the initial quake.

In somecases survivors lay trapped next to the dead and dying, and many now findthemselves dealing with memories of those, who for no other reason than randomchance or the arbitrariness of life, did not come home that day. It could soeasily have been them. Many of the survivors in this book lost friends, familyand loved ones. They have to cope with the huge gap in their lives and each daythe fact that they are still here serves as a reminder of who is not.

Survivorguilt is a well-known concept. Many of the survivors felt it – for a short timeanyway. Others continue to be wracked by it. A survivor in her sixties feelsterrible she survived when so many promising young people with their livesahead of them were cut down. A father struggles to understand why he is stillhere while his partner and baby died. Some look back on their actions andponder the awkward question of whether they could have done more or chosen abetter option. It has been hard to avoid the ‘what if’ questions.

For allthe difficulties and burdens survivors must carry and overcome, the survivorswho have been generous enough to provide their accounts for this book are, onthe whole, glad to be alive. They are testament to the resilience of the humanspirit.

AuthorMartin van Beynen is an award-winning journalist for The Press. In the2010 Qantas Media Awards he won the Story of the Year award for his feature onthe trial and acquittal of David Bain and in September 2011 was announcedFairfax Media Journalist of the Year 2010-2011.

Penguin Books - NZ$35.00

A portion of the royalties from Trappedwill be donated to the Burwood Spinal Unit in Christchurch

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