ID :
204795
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 16:46
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/204795
The shortlink copeid
Mother and baby trapped under quake rubble
A harrowing account of a mother and her young baby crushed under falling rubble has raised emotions during an inquest into Christchurch's killer earthquake.
Eighteen-year-old Kelsey Moore was carrying her five-week-old daughter Taneysha in her arms along a busy footpath when the 6.3-magnitude quake struck the New Zealand city at lunchtime on February 22, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Her partner, Taneysha's father Glen Prattley, was walking beside his new family when a building frontage collapsed, trapping Ms Moore and Taneysha underneath. Mr Prattley was injured but not buried, and he was rescued by medics.
It was four days before their bodies were pulled from the rubble.
On Thursday, six months on, the mother and baby were officially registered as dead, killed by "multiple skull fractures" that Coroner Gordon Matenga ruled were "simply not survivable".
A visibly-emotional Jason Moore, Ms Moore's father, asked the inquest for details about the incident, including whether his granddaughter was pushed in a pram or carried, and appeared comforted to learn it was the latter.
Such painful particulars have emerged throughout the week-long inquest, which is hearing evidence in the deaths of 18 people who died in the doomed Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC) building and 41 from other city and suburban locations.
It also completes evidence from an earlier inquest into 88 victims from the Canterbury Television (CTV) building.
The CTV inquest was halted in June after massive aftershocks shook the city.
The inquest also heard the story of a young English backpacker Gregory Tobin, who ran from the cafe he was working in only to be felled by debris in front of a co-worker.
"Lewis Watson saw Gregory run from the building and as he got a couple of metres out the door, he saw him struck by falling rubble," the New Zealand Herald reported the coroner as saying.
"Lewis Watson told police in a statement that when the dust settled, he could no longer see Gregory Tobin."
He said the 25-year-old's death "would have been almost instantaneous".
In another emotional account, the inquest was told on Wednesday of 46-year-old Carey Bird, who survived the initial collapse of the PGC building, Television New Zealand reported.
Mr Bird was found conscious by a member of the public who sat with him throughout the afternoon after trying unsuccessfully to free him.
The weight of the rubble became too much and Mr Bird died.
Mother-of-two Kelly Maynard died in the same building. Her husband Mark told the coroner on Wednesday he wanted to know explicit details, however painful.
"I think it just gives the whole, answers... Plus one day my kids might want to know what happened," TVNZ reported him saying.
Also among the cases was Owen Wright, who survived the quake, rescued several people and then was killed by boulders in aftershocks just metres from his front door.
Eighteen-year-old Kelsey Moore was carrying her five-week-old daughter Taneysha in her arms along a busy footpath when the 6.3-magnitude quake struck the New Zealand city at lunchtime on February 22, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Her partner, Taneysha's father Glen Prattley, was walking beside his new family when a building frontage collapsed, trapping Ms Moore and Taneysha underneath. Mr Prattley was injured but not buried, and he was rescued by medics.
It was four days before their bodies were pulled from the rubble.
On Thursday, six months on, the mother and baby were officially registered as dead, killed by "multiple skull fractures" that Coroner Gordon Matenga ruled were "simply not survivable".
A visibly-emotional Jason Moore, Ms Moore's father, asked the inquest for details about the incident, including whether his granddaughter was pushed in a pram or carried, and appeared comforted to learn it was the latter.
Such painful particulars have emerged throughout the week-long inquest, which is hearing evidence in the deaths of 18 people who died in the doomed Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC) building and 41 from other city and suburban locations.
It also completes evidence from an earlier inquest into 88 victims from the Canterbury Television (CTV) building.
The CTV inquest was halted in June after massive aftershocks shook the city.
The inquest also heard the story of a young English backpacker Gregory Tobin, who ran from the cafe he was working in only to be felled by debris in front of a co-worker.
"Lewis Watson saw Gregory run from the building and as he got a couple of metres out the door, he saw him struck by falling rubble," the New Zealand Herald reported the coroner as saying.
"Lewis Watson told police in a statement that when the dust settled, he could no longer see Gregory Tobin."
He said the 25-year-old's death "would have been almost instantaneous".
In another emotional account, the inquest was told on Wednesday of 46-year-old Carey Bird, who survived the initial collapse of the PGC building, Television New Zealand reported.
Mr Bird was found conscious by a member of the public who sat with him throughout the afternoon after trying unsuccessfully to free him.
The weight of the rubble became too much and Mr Bird died.
Mother-of-two Kelly Maynard died in the same building. Her husband Mark told the coroner on Wednesday he wanted to know explicit details, however painful.
"I think it just gives the whole, answers... Plus one day my kids might want to know what happened," TVNZ reported him saying.
Also among the cases was Owen Wright, who survived the quake, rescued several people and then was killed by boulders in aftershocks just metres from his front door.
