Anglicantaonga – the official web site of the Anglican Church reports
Peter Beck, the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, is bracing for grim news.
When Search and Rescue teams enter his cathedral, which was severely damaged by yesterday’s earthquake, he thinks they’ll find more victims.
Visitors from around the globe come to savour the cathedral’s architecture and atmosphere – and to climb its masonry tower.
The spire above that tower was toppled by the savage 12:51pm jolt.
Anyone climbing the tower when the quake struck – or standing beneath it – would almost certainly have perished.
“We are very fearful,” says Dean Beck, “that there are some people under that rubble.”
Dean Beck says all nine Cathedral staff are safe.
One of the Cathedral’s volunteers has been admitted to hospital with injuries, but he thinks all the volunteers – who include tour guides and guardians – are OK.
But Dean Beck fears the worst where cathedral visitors are concerned – and it’ll be some time before there’s certainty on that score.
The destruction wrought by yesterday’s jolt is so great that police and search and rescue teams aren’t focused on those who are beyond help.
They’re struggling to rescue those who may still be trapped alive within the ruins of the collapsed CBD buildings.
Superintendent Dave Cliff of the NZ Police says that overnight more than 100 people were pulled alive from the rubble of various buildings, and rescuers are still listening for taps from the wreckage, or texts from those still trapped.
Some were rescued without a scratch to their bodies, while others were rushed into surgery to have limbs amputated.
Those who are beyond help still lie where they’ve fallen.
A temporary mortuary has been set up in the headquarters of the Christchurch Police, and there are 38 identified bodies in there.
Dozens more corpses litter the streets, trapped in crushed cars, or crushed beneath rubble.
While the cathedral itself is severely damaged, Dean Beck says it’s far too soon to make guesses about whether it can be repaired.
#
Bishop Victoria Matthews says the situation across the city is far more grave than in the wake of the Sept 4 quake.
“In September,” she says, “there was a sense of pervasive hope.”
“This time there are high, high levels of anxiety, and a sense of despair.”
“We are facing an entirely different scene, a crisis of an entirely greater order of magnitude.”
“People are suffering terrible anxiety. There are still many people who have been unable to make contact with members of their family and with their closest friends.”
Last evening, Bishop Matthews was at the tent city set up in Hagley Park. She watched and talked with people as hundreds inched forward, in the rain, towards shelter.
Bishop Matthews says that one of her top priorities now is to find a church “preferably with running water” that is safe, and which can become the nerve centre for a diocesan relief and pastoral effort.
“I want to open that up 24/7 as place where people can come and pray and receive pastoral care – and a place which clergy can use as a base to go out into the highways and byways to offer pastoral care.”
#
It’s already clear, too, that churches across the city have suffered more widespread damage than in the 7.1 quake of September 4 last year.
Oxford St Baptist, Durham St Methodist and Knox Presbyterian – which were each being repaired under the supervision of heritage architects following the September quake – have now been destroyed.
On the Anglican scene, it’s too soon to form any clear picture of the extent of the damage – but it will be widespread.
The Anglican Centre – an multi-level office building in the CBD which houses the diocesan office – has been evacuated, and it’s known that all 14 diocesan staff were able to make their way to safety.
In the days immediately after the September 4 quake, Bishop Matthews called daily meetings of key diocesan staff in an office at the foot of the garden of her own home.
Her own home has suffered much greater damage this time around.
#
Planning is underway to hold an open-air ecumenical service in Hagley Park this weekend – and Archbishop David Moxon is planning to fly into Christchurch this evening.
He aims to offer “low-key” support where he can, and to offer ministry as a priest, as Bishop Victoria needs.
Lloyd Ashton, the provincial media officer, will fly to Christchurch with Archbishop David, and he will aim to file reports and photos from the city over the coming days.
Planning is also underway to set up a national Anglican appeal for any needs identified by The Diocese of Christchurch and Te Wai Pounamu hui amorangi.
#
The Editor of Anglican Taonga is Canon Brian Thomas, who is a long-time resident of Christchurch.
He’s another who says yesterday’s quake poses severe questions for his city.
“The September quake knocked us to the ground,” he says.
“This one has kicked us in the teeth.”