Catherine Smith/Supplied
On February 22, 2011 Monique Kimber-Bell was trapped in the PGC Building and felt certain her life was over. She recently became a new mum. For the 10th anniversary of the earthquake she returns to Christchurch to show Zooey the city and to catch-up with other survivors.
Christchurch earthquake survivor Monique Kimber-Bell kept the green body tag bearing her name as a reminder of the precious nature of life. She owes her life to the actions of Michael Harford, an everyday hero who bravely crawled into the wreckage to rescue seven people that day. A decade has passed. Kimber-Bell has achieved her pin-up model dreams, married the love of her life, Sam, bought a house and five months ago had her first child, Zooey. However, it doesn t feel like any time at all since the earthquake happened.
The PGC building after the February 22, 2011, earthquake. Earlier that day, at 12.51pm, the city was shaken sharply and violently by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake. After the shaking stopped, Richard Hooper, who worked south of the city, immediately headed to the daycare centre where his two young daughters – Aimee and Keily – were. After the September quake, Hooper and his wife, who worked as an account manager for Marac Finance, decided the daycare, near Bealey Ave, would be their meeting point if another quake happened.
Christchurch earthquake victim Amanda Hooper died in the PGC building, where she worked for Marac Finance. Hooper found his daughters safe, but his wife was not there. He had tried calling her as he headed into the city, but couldn t get through. Hooper put it down to an overloaded network.