Christchurch firefighters who were sent to the CTV and Pyne Gould Corporation buildings after Tuesday's massive earthquake share some remarkable stories of bravery and survival.
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In the hours after the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake, Chessie Henry's father Chris Henry, a Kaikoura-based doctor, crawled into makeshift tunnels in the collapsed CTV building to rescue the living and look for the dead. Six years later, Chessie interviewed Chris in an attempt to understand the trauma that lead her father to burnout. In her book just published, We Can Make A Life: A memoir of family, earthquakes and courage, Chessie Henry considers the psychological cost of heroism and unravels stories and memories from her family history.
As a three-year-old in China, Quin Tang's mother was shot in front of her and her father taken away. After moving to Christchurch 25 years ago, she walked out of an abusive marriage with two young children, no money and speaking little English. Tang then attended Canterbury University, teaching herself to read English from the text books there. She attained four degrees with an A+ average, and began working as a psychiatrist and counsellor. Quin was working in the CTV building when it collapsed. She took two weeks off work to recover, then came back and began counselling other victims of the Christchurch earthquakes. She has written and self-published the story of her life, called Half a Walnut Tree.