From NZ rubble, haunting texts to Mom beg for help

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AP – Search and recovery operation personnel work at the destroyed CTV building in Christchurch, New Zealand, …

By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press – Fri Feb 25, 6:30 am ET

The first text message said: "Mommy, I got buried." About 40 minutes later: "Mommy, I can't move my right hand." Then, a brief call from New Zealand's earthquake rubble to parents in the Philippines pleading to send help.

After another harrowing hour in a crumpled building, when she sent a half-dozen more texts about increasing pain, continued shaking and overwhelming smoke, came the final one: "Please make it quick."

That was the last the Amantillo family heard from 23-year-old student Louise Amantillo, who is among dozens of foreigners missing after their language school disintegrated in Tuesday's collapse of the prominent CTV building in Christchurch.

"Her voice was shaking, like she was really scared. I know she was in pain," her mother, Linda Amantillo, told The Associated Press from her hometown in the central Philippines. Three days after receiving the last text, she was desperately hoping that her daughter was still alive.

Officials have said they are virtually certain no one was still surviving in the ruins of the CTV building, and that up to 120 bodies are entombed there.

The King's Education language school catered to students from Japan, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Korea. The building's collapse in the 6.3-magnitude quake has pulled an international group of anguished relatives into an agonizing vigil awaiting conclusive word on the victims.

Many of the relatives arrived Friday at the Christchurch airport, including about 20 from Japan who were whisked onto a bus by embassy officials. Police later held a meeting with school officials and parents at a community center for a briefing on rescue and recovery efforts.

"There will be families receiving the worst kind of news in the next few days," Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Friday. "This is not just New Zealand's tragedy, it's a tragedy that will touch many families around the world."

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker sought to reassure foreign relatives that everything possible was being done.

Click image to see photos of the quake in New Zealand

AP/Mark Baker

"We think that your children are our children — there is no difference," he said. "We are taking full responsibility to do everything we can to assist those families ... and in the rescue operation."

The Amantillos are a medical family, from Iloilo province in the central Philippines where they speak the Ilonggo dialect.

Linda Amantillo is a nurse and her husband, Alexander, is a doctor. Their daughter followed suit and studied to become a nurse. She set her sights on working abroad and went to New Zealand to immerse herself in English.

"The nurses here don't have jobs, and she wanted to strive," Alexander Amantillo said.

The family has a sister-in-law who works in New Zealand, and she has gone around to check hospitals in Christchurch, but there has been no sign of Louise, he said Friday. The family also plans to send a son and niece to Christchurch to monitor the search.

It has been a painful three days for the Amantillos since that first text came across in the Ilonggo dialect: "Ma, naambakan ako," or "Mommy, I got buried," as dictated by Linda Amantillo in telephone interviews on Thursday.

"We told her, `You can make it, you can make it. Be strong and pray,' " Alexander Amantillo said.

But Louise's texts, sent every five to seven minutes, were getting increasingly desperate. "I have not yet been rescued. It's painful already," she wrote at 2.45 p.m. Then, "There is no rescue in my area." Two minutes later: "The smoke is overwhelming."

At 3.32 p.m. the family received Louise's last message, giving her location — corner of Madras Street and Chassel Street — and ending it with the final plea, "Please make it quick."

Overwhelmed by worry, Linda Amantillo tried to call her daughter. But all she heard was a recorded response asking the caller to leave a message.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110225/ap_on_re_as/as_new_zealand_plea_from_the_rubble

At NZ quake epicenter, screams and flying boulders

Play VideoAP – Raw Video: NZ earthquake toll at 98 dead

• Slideshow:Strong earthquake hits New Zealand
• Play VideoVideo:NZ quake toll climbs to 98 dead, 226 missing AP

AP – Tony Keown stands on his earthquake damaged deck in Lyttelton on the outskirts of Christchurch, New Zealand, …

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press – 15 mins ago

LYTTELTON, New Zealand – At the epicenter, children in the school playground screamed as the earth rattled and cracked. Elderly residents toppled to the floor in the nursing home. Cliff faces fell, spitting truck-sized boulders across lawns and through houses.

When this week's massive earthquake flattened office towers and killed at least 113 people in New Zealand's city of Christchurch, the tiny harborside village of Lyttelton, just to the south, found itself straddling the epicenter.

"I thought the devil was coming up out of the earth," said Kevin Fitzgerald, a 63-year-old teacher's aide who yanked a student under a desk and sheltered him as the school rocked menacingly, sending everything crashing to the floor.

"The whole building was just undulating — that noise, that NOISE!" he said Thursday, shaking his head at the memory. "I thought, 'Well, I'm going to die.'"

The rumbling started at 12:51 p.m. Tuesday. When it stopped, Fitzgerald ran to join the students on the school's playground, most of whom were sobbing hysterically. He saw a giant, mushroom-shaped cloud of dust hovering over the town. The community's usual hum was replaced by silence, punctuated by screams, dog barks and seagull calls.

Two days later, dazed residents of the close-knit village of 3,000 wandered through dusty, brick- and glass-covered streets, pausing when they passed each other to offer hugs, shed a few tears and ask the question on everyone's mind: "How's your house?"

The answer was generally grim. Most homes bore at least some quake-induced scars. The popular Ground deli was in ruins, windows were blown out of shop fronts and the stone steeple on the Union Parish Church had toppled to the ground.

Though there was a report of one man crushed by a boulder, so far there are no confirmed deaths in Lyttelton. By contrast, the death toll in Christchurch, just seven miles (11 kilometers) to the north, stood at more than 100 in what could end up being New Zealand's worst natural disaster. No one has been pulled out alive since Wednesday afternoon.

Police superintendent David Cliff said Friday morning the latest count of bodies at a special morgue set up to deal with the dead was 113. With 228 people listed as missing, the toll of fatalities was still expected to rise.

Water supplies to Lyttelton were cut, and residents gathered Thursday at a fresh water station set up near the town center, filling as many watering cans, plastic buckets and bottles as they could carry home. The pavement under their feet wobbled during relentless aftershocks, but residents said they were nothing compared with Tuesday's nightmare.

Lloyd Millar, 50, was walking up one of the community's steep hills when he felt the road shift under his feet.

"It was like standing on a swinging bridge and somebody on the end jumping up and down," he said.

Millar was filling buckets with water to haul back to his restaurant, which was covered in a greasy layer of spilled oil and sauce. His house was a wreck. The driveway had been lifted from the ground and slid downward and the brick walls crumbled in places, exposing foundation and wires.

Jean Smith's eyes filled with tears as she recalled the dread she felt Tuesday when the road beneath her car began to tilt. The 64-year-old clutched the steering wheel as the vehicle was thrown back and forth across the street.

"NO! NO! NO!" she screamed as a church crumbled in front of her and shrieking children streamed from the school across the road.

She was terrified. Was her husband Tom all right back at the house? She'd forgotten her cell phone and had no way to contact him.

The giant boulders and massive piles of rubble that littered the streets turned her normally five-minute drive home into a six-hour journey from hell. When she finally arrived, her heart sank — the house was a mess, and Tom nowhere to be found.

The home they'd built together nearly 40 years ago had shifted several inches off its foundation, and parts of the outer wall had collapsed, exposing pink insulation. Her precious crystal had tumbled out of a living room cabinet and shattered. A beloved antique clock that belonged to her mother was smashed, and a toppled bottle of sambuca left a sticky mess on a blue carpet.

She sat on a dining room chair and sobbed. Tom arrived minutes later and they clutched each other. "I'm glad you're safe," she told him. "They're only breakable things."

Nearby, Jackie Crawford, 66, ran to check on her 89-year-old mother, Shirley Smith, at the Lyttelton nursing home. When she arrived, elderly patients were sprawled across the floor, and TVs had tumbled from their stands. She and staff members rushed to help the residents to their feet.

"Everyone was in shock, looking stunned," she said.

Miraculously, she found her mother safe in her room, bustling around — and proudly pointing out the vase of flowers she'd managed to grab before it crashed to the floor.

The quake unleashed huge boulders from surrounding hills, sending them hurtling toward the village. One monstrous rock, around 16 feet (5 meters) wide and 10 feet (3 meters) tall, bounced twice as it crossed a main road, gouging deep holes in the pavement, then rocketed into the front yard of a one-story white brick home. The boulder smashed into the front door and exited out the back — taking out everything in between.

Despite the devastation, few here said they would consider leaving. They would shake it off, clean up and move on with their lives.

On Thursday, Jean Smith stood in her shattered living room staring out at the turquoise harbor, a sea-filled crater from an ancient volcanic eruption that serves as the main deep-water port for the Christchurch region.

"We're going to rebuild, but it's going to take a long time," she said. "A long, long time."

Outside, another aftershock rattled the earth. Inside, Tom and Jean continued to pick up the pieces.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110225/ap_on_bi_ge/as_new_zealand_earthquake

Rabu, 23/02/2011 14:56 WIB

Suara Gemuruh dan Getaran Juga Dirasakan Warga Nganjuk

Samsul Hadi - detikSurabaya

Ngawi - Suara dentuman disertai getaran di permukaan tanah tak hanya muncul di Trenggalek dan Ponorogo. Getaran dan dentuman yang masih misterius itu dirasakan warga di 2 Kecamatan Kabupaten Nganjuk, yaitu Ngetos dan Sawahan.

Kepala Bagian Humas Pemerintah Kabupaten Nganjuk, Djoko Wasisto membenarkan adanya suara dentuman dan getaran di Kecamatan Ngetos dan Sawahan. Bahkan kondisinya diakui lebih mengerikan, karena tak hanya dentuman melainkan gemuruh.

"Ya gluduk-gluduk begitu," kata Djoko membenarkan, saat dikonfiormasi detiksurabaya.com melalui sambungan telepon seluler, Rabu (23/2/2011).

Sejauh ini Pemkab Nganjuk belum dapat memastikan penyebab yang menjadi asal munculnya suara gemuruh tersebut. Dugaan sementara suara yang muncul sejak sepekan silam tersebut berasal dari aktivitas vulkanik di Gunung Wilis, karena Kecamatan Ngetos dan Sawahan merupakan sebagian wilayah di Kabupaten Nganjuk yang berada di lereng tersebut.

"Kalau saya menduga kok dari Gunung Wilis. Tapi benarnya bagaimana kami menunggu hasil penelitian saja, dan kami sudah menghubungi BMKG (Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika) untuk secepatnya melakukan penelitian," jelas Djoko.

Menyikapi kemunculan suara gemuruh tersebut, Djoko menambahkan, Pemkab Nganjuk sementara hanya bisa menyampaikan imbauan agar masyarakat tidak resah. Penempatan petugas jaga diakui akan dilakukan apabila terjadi bencana alam.

"Kalau nanti ada bencana, Tagana (Taruna Siaga Bencana) yang pertama kami kirim. Untuk sementara waktu ini cukup imbauan," sambungnya.

Djoko juga mengatakan, di lokasi munculnya suara gemuruh dilaporkan terjadi tanah longsor, tepatnya pada Selasa (22/2/2011). Namun karena intensitasnya yang kecil, dia menduga kejadian tersebut terlepas dari kemunculan suara tersebut.

"Sekali lagi saya baru sebatas menduga, kemungkinan longsor kemarin karena tanah yang memang labil di musim hujan. Kebetulan di sana daerahnya memang perbukitan," ujar Djoko.

Sebelumnya, dalam 2 pekan terakhir masyarakat di 4 kecamatan Kabupaten Trenggalek, masing-masing Watulimo, Munjungan, Kampak, dan Panggul, dikagetkan dengan munculnya suara dentuman menyerupai bom dan getaran ringan di permukaan tanah.

Kejadian yang sama juga dilaporkan terjadi di Kecamatan Ngebel, Kabupaten Ponorogo. Berdasarkan penelitian oleh Balai Besar wilayah III Stasiun Geofisika Kelas II BMKG Tretes, Pasuruan, dianggap sebagai gempa tektonik di kedalaman kurang dari 33 KM.

Meski demikian hasil penelitian tersebut dimentahkan oleh PVMBG Bandung, dengan menyebut kejadian tersebut sebagai dampak pergerakan tanah lambat. (bdh/bdh)

http://surabaya.detik.com/read/2011/02/23/145613/1577227/475/suara-gemuruh-dan-getaran-juga-dirasakan-warga-ngajuk?991101mainnews

Senin, 21/02/2011 15:44 WIB

Dentuman dan Getaran di Trenggalek Meluas, Mulai Terjadi Tanah Retak

Samsul Hadi - detikSurabaya

Trenggalek - Suara dentuman disertai getaran yang menggegerkan warga 4 kecamatan di Kabupaten Trenggalek sejak 2 pekan lalu, saat ini semakin meluas. Bahkan kerusakan sebagai akibat kejadian tersebut dilaporkan mulai muncul, ditandai dengan adanya tanah retak di sejumlah lokasi.

Kepala Sub Bagian Humas Pemkab Trenggalek, Yoso Mihardi mengatakan, lokasi terbaru yang juga merasakan dentuman dan getaran adalah Kecamatan Gandusari, setelah sebelumnya hanya terjadi di Kecamatan Watulimo, Munjungan, Kampak, dan Panggul. Intensitas dentuman juga dilaporkan meningkat, yaitu lebih dari 25 kali dalam sehari.

"Padi tadi saja, setelah Subuh saya sudah mendengar lebih dari 10 kali. Padahal sebelumnya kan maksimal 25 kali dalam sehari," ungkap Yoso kepada detiksurabaya.com melalui sambungan telepon, Senin (21/2/2011).

Dentuman dan getaran yang berdasarkan analisa Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigas Bencana Geologi (PVMBG) Bandung, adalah pergerakan tanah lambat tersebut, saat ini juga dilaporkan sudah mengakibatkan kerusakan. Salah satunya yaitu tanah retak di sekitar rumah warga, tepatnya di Desa Timahan, Kecamatan Kampak.

"Untuk tanah retak di (Desa) Timahan, tadi pagi dilaporkan oleh Camat Kampak. Tapi seperti apa dan seberapa tingkat keparahannya masih dilakukan pengecekan lapangan," sambung Yoso.

Menghadapi semakin meluasnya dentuman dan getaran di permukaan tanah tersebut, Yoso menambahkan, pihaknya saat ini terus mensosialisasikan ke masyarakat untuk tidak resah, namun juga meminta agar kewaspadaan terus ditingkatkan. "Camat kami minta menjadi yang terdepan dalam sosialisasi ke masyarakat. Intinya kami terus mewaspadai kemungkinan buruk dari kejadian itu," imbuhnya.

Selain itu Pemkab Trenggalek juga telah menghubungi PVMBG Bandung, untuk meminta melakukan penelitian lebih lanjut atas kejadian dentuman dan getaran tersebut. Langkah ini diambil sebagai tindak lanjut atas masukan Balai Besar wilayah III Stasiun Geofisika Kelas II BMKG Tretes, agar dilakukan penelitian Geologi dan Mitigasi atas peristiwa tersebut.

"Surat ke PVMBG hari ini kami layangkan dan kami berharap bisa mendapatkan respon. Kami serius menghadapi peristiwa ini, dan semoga tidak semakin meresahkan masyarakat," tandas Yoso.

Sebelumnya, dalam 2 pekan terakhir masyarakat di 4 kecamatan di Kabupaten Trenggalek, masing-masing Watulimo, Munjungan, Kampak, dan Panggul, dikagetkan dengan munculnya suara dentuman menyerupai bom dan getaran ringan di permukaan tanah.

Kejadian yang sama juga dilaporkan terjadi di Kecamatan Ngebel, Kabupaten Ponorogo. Berdasarkan penelitian oleh Balai Besar wilayah III Stasiun Geofisika Kelas II BMKG Tretes, Pasuruan, dianggap sebagai gempa tektonik di kedalaman kurang dari 33 Km.

Meski demikian hasil penelitian tersebut dimentahkan oleh PVMBG Bandung, dengan menyebut kejadian tersebut sebagai dampak pergerakan tanah lambat.
(bdh/bdh)

http://surabaya.detik.com/read/2011/02/21/154427/1575282/475/dentuman-dan-getaran-di-trenggalek-meluas-mulai-terjadi-tanah-retak

NZ earthquake toll at 75 dead, 300 missing

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• Slideshow:Strong earthquake hits New Zealand
• Play VideoVideo:Christchurch devastated as quake slams NZ AP

AP – Rescue workers climb onto the collapsed Pyne Gould Guinness Building in central Christchurch, New Zealand, …

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press – 2 hrs 1 min ago

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Cheers erupted Wednesday as rescuers pulled a woman from a major building shattered in New Zealand's devastating earthquake, while the mood was dismal at another wreckage where police said all hopes of survivors were finished.

The confirmed death toll from Tuesday's magnitude-6.3 quake near the city of Christchurch rose to 75, and officials said it was almost sure to climb further. Some 300 people were listed as missing, as rescuers raced to find trapped survivors and imposed a strict nighttime curfew on the worst-hit areas.

An emergency team reunited Ann Bodkin with her husband after a painstaking rescue from the twisted metal and concrete remains of the Pyne Gould Guinness building. Coincidentally, giant sunbeams burst through the city's grey, drizzly weather as she emerged.

"They got Ann out of the building and God turned on the lights," Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said.

Many sections of the city of 350,000 people lay in ruins, and all corners of it were suffering cuts to water supplies, power and phones. Police announced their curfew in a cordoned-off area of downtown, saying buildings were at risk of crumbling in the aftershocks still rumbling through the city.

Anyone on the streets after 6:30 p.m. would be arrested, police said.

"The place is highly unstable," said Superintendent Dave Cliff, the regional police commander.

Prime Minister John Key declared a national state of emergency as hundreds of soldiers, police and other emergency workers — including specialist teams from the U.S. and other countries — rushed to Christchurch.

Near the smoldering remains of the Canterbury Television building, brother and sister Kent and Lizzy Manning sat on a rain-sodden patch of grass Wednesday waiting for news of their mother, Donna, a television presenter who they hadn't heard from since the quake.

"My mum is superwoman, she'd do anything," said Lizzy Manning, 18, with tears running down her face.

At that moment, a police official knelt down beside the pair.

"I have some horrible news ...," the officer began, before telling the siblings that there was no hope for anyone left trapped inside the building.

The siblings bowed their heads and wept. Their father rushed over and enclosed them in an embrace.

One of the city's tallest buildings, the 27-floor Hotel Grand Chancellor, was in imminent danger of collapsing, with one corner sinking lower in the ground and the facade showing major buckling, Fire Service commander Mike Hall said.

Authorities emptied the building and evacuated a two-block radius, holding back residents with a police rope. Real estate salesman David Rankin, 50, stood gazing at the hotel where he said he was supposed to be having a lunch meeting.

Rankin said he was amazed by the ubiquitous ruins and dust unleashed by the quake, "like a war zone, like a bomb had gone off."

The immediate focus was on about a dozen buildings downtown where finding survivors was still a possibility. In other places, rubble was being left untouched — even if bodies were thought buried there — until the urgency of the survivor search passes.

Officials pointed thermal cameras into the wreckage, and sniffer dogs clambered on top looking for signs of life. Officials at one point said they believed they had found a pocket of at least 15 people buried alive in one building — but the report turned out to be false.

Parker, the Christchurch mayor, said early Wednesday that 120 people were rescued from wrecked buildings as teams worked through the night, while more bodies were also recovered. About 300 people were still unaccounted for, but this did not mean they were all still trapped, he said.

Some survivors emerged without a scratch, while others had to have a limb amputated before they could be freed.

"There are bodies littering the streets, they are trapped in cars, crushed under rubble and where they are clearly deceased our focus ... has turned to the living," police Superintendent Russell Gibson said.

Military units patrolled near-empty streets disfigured by the huge cracks and canyons created in Tuesday's earthquake, the second powerful temblor to hit the city in five months. The quake toppled the spire of the city's historic stone cathedral and flattened tall buildings.

Parker said an unknown number of people, possibly 20 or more, were believed to have been inside the cathedral tower — climbing it was a popular activity for tourists.

The quake struck just before 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday, when the city was thronging with workers, tourists, and shoppers. The quake was not as powerful as a magnitude 7.1 temblor that struck before dawn on Sept. 4 that damaged buildings but killed no one. Experts said Tuesday's quake was deadlier because it was closer to the city and because more people were about.

Mall worker Tom Brittenden told of how he had helped pull victims from the rubble in the immediate aftermath of the quake, including a woman who died cradling her baby in her arms.

"There was a lady outside we tried to free with a child," Brittenden told National Radio. "A big bit of concrete or brick had fallen on her and she was holding her child. She was gone. The baby was taken away."

Christchurch's airport reopened for domestic flights Wednesday, and military planes were brought in to fly tourists to other cities.

Thousands of people in the city, including tourists who had abandoned their hotels, spent the night in temporary shelters at schools and community halls.

Officials told people to avoid showering or even flushing toilets, saying the damaged sewer system was at risk of failing. All schools in the city were closed until further notice.

Denis Torrey, president of the city's junior school principals' association, said there were no reports of students or teachers being harmed in the quake, though some schools were badly shaken.

"It was very scary, there were some staff thrown to the ground," she told National Radio. "The teachers very calmly gathered children into groups. There were lots of group hugs and lots of comforting going on."

More than 400 rescue workers were joining the search, including teams from Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, the United States and Britain.

New Zealand's worst earthquake struck in 1931 at Hawke's Bay on the country's North Island, killing at least 256 people.

___

Associated Press videojournalist Joe Morgan in Christchurch, and writers Steve McMorran and Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110223/ap_on_bi_ge/as_new_zealand_earthquake