Photo: Reuters 4.10PM: GAY TOURISTS CAUGHT IN QUAKE A number of gay Australian tourists, in the country for Auckland's Bear Week, were traveling in the South Island when the huge quake hit Christchurch this afternoon but there are so far no reports of any casualties amongst them. Bear Week co-organiser Alan Granville says he has so far heard from a couple who were staying in Lyttelton, the epicentre of the quake and whose commercial buildings have been extensively damaged. "They managed to get out of their building ok," Granville says, "but they say the roads around Lyttelton are strewn with huge boulders." 3.35pm: "IT WAS HORRIBLE!" Phone and text messages are zapping around Christchurch's glbt community as friends seek reassurance that people are ok. GLBT community member Joe Wilson was at work in a warehouse and managed to get out safely. "It was horrible," he says. "My friends are all texting me saying 'are you ok', and yes, I guess, I'm alive." His flatmate works at Cruz and was in the venue when the quake struck. The building next to Cruz fell into the gay venue, causing massive destruction. "We think everyone's alright though," Wilson says hopefully. He and his flatmate are now standing on the street outside their house: "We don't really know what to do because we're still getting aftershocks, really big ones. So we're not really sure. We don't want to go in and try to pick anything up ... so we're wandering around outside." The pair has been helping elderly neighbours, "we are lucky we're on a hill so we could have got off a lot worse, but we're doing what we can." Their house is damaged, with Wilson saying "everything that could fall over has fallen over. There are a few big cracks in the garden and we can't find the pets." The flatmates are hoping that when their two cats get hungry they will come home. A large fire has broken out in the central city and helicopters with monsoon buckets are rushing to try to contain it. Just one of the hundreds of damaged buildings, before and after 3.25PM: MASSIVE VENUE DESTRUCTION Word has been received that the co-owners of Christchurch's Cruz glbt nightclub were in their building at the time of this afternoon's massively destructive earthquake but managed to get out of the building safely before it was crushed. It is understood the venue was closed and any people on site were there there to do admin and maintenance. Damage to both Cruz and Ministry is believed to be extensive. [Editor's note Thursday 24th: Bruce Williamson of Cruz has complained of factual inaccuracies in our reporting on the day relating to Cruz. We were unable on the day to contact him but received reports and messages from usually reliable intermediaries. Offered the opportunity to provide clarification he has posted a statement in the GayNZ.com Forum. Our live Tuesday coverage has been edited to reflect his concerns. His posting today in the Forum reads: "We have limited knowledge so far of the exact state of our buildings, but we know this much: We are surprised how strong the old front part of the Ministry and Cruz buildings have been, and in fact really pleased with how well the earthquake strengthening work that had been done over the years has performed. If people had been in Ministry or Cruz when the quake hit then they would have walked out! That’s what it is all about, after all. Damage has mainly been confined to the older front building and this has largely come from collapse of the unstrengthened Bains building next door, which has lost its entire 2nd floor, a lot of it obviously onto and through our roof. The main Ministry dance zone at the ground floor of the newer rear building appears undamaged. Ministry and Cruz are far from gone for good, and in fact this is now a great opportunity to perhaps redevelop the site around the much-loved main zone, a place for which hundreds of thousands of partygoers have fond memories of gigs dating back as far as 1992 Our glass is definitely half-full, and not half-empty!" 3.10pm: VENUES DAMAGED, STAFF OK Christchurch's two largest glbt venues are significantly damaged but there appear to be no injuries to staff or customers. Menfriends cruise club and sauna owner Stuart Yeatman says he and his staff managed to get customers out of their building without injury but their premises are severely damaged and it is difficult to imagine Menfriends ever being to be re-opened. He says Cruz glbt nightclub across the road from Menfriends is "buggered," massively damaged and crushed under the building next door which collapsed onto it. Yeatman says the streets surrounding Christchurch's glbt venues are strewn with rubble, streets are jammed with people trying to get away from the destruction and traffic, especially on routes out of the inner-city, is "gridlocked." 2.30PM: CHRISTCHURCH "A WAR ZOME" Mr Gay NZ Aaron Comis, a Christchurch resident, is safe and well but in a state of shock. He has told GayNZ.com Daily News the city is "like a warzone". Comis is a financial controller at a hospitality company and was at work when the substantial quake struck. He says staff have all been sent home. He says a five storey building, with people inside, has also collapsed. "And the Cathedral's come down. This place is like a war zone ... and it's still happening as well. They're still going on, the aftershocks." Police have confirmed there have been multiple fatalities at several locations in the central city, including two buses crushed by falling buildings. There is widespread injury, and massive damage to buildings and infrastructure. 2.00PM: NZAF STAFF OK, BUILDING DAMAGED All staff from the NZ AIDS Foundation's South/Te Toka premises in Christchurch are safe and unharmed following the huge earthquake which hit just prior to 1pm. However, it is understood that the Foundation's building, a converted wooden villa in inner-city Hereford Street, is damaged. The Foundation is continuing to try to ascertain the effect of the quake. Glbt venues and owners remain uncontactable. Severely injured people are being dragged from collapsed buildings and rescuers are frantically trying to search the rubble of dozens of inner-city businesses. Police have confirmed multiple fatalities. Meanwhile, gay Riccarton-Wigram Community Board member Sam Johnson, who led a massive clean-up effort after the first quake, was in Wellington at an emergency management conference when news of the quake broke. "The room just emptied," he says. "We were just having lunch and there was word that there was a big earthquake and a lot left straight for the airport and more are leaving now." He says friends in Christchurch have reported the Cathedral has been extensively damaged and people are crying hysterically in the middle of town. Johnson wants to get back to his city to help but believes flights into Christchurch are on hold. "My friends are just shaken up and distraught," he says. 1.45PM: FEARS HELD FOR GLBT VENUES was also felt as far south as Queenstown. Witnesses report it felt bigger than the original quake on 4 September which was 7.1 magnitude, but centred 40km west of Christchurch city and a depth of 10km. The central city, which was hit hard in the original quake, is said to be massively damaged once again. There are reports power and phone lines have been cut. Aftershocks are continuing. GayNZ.com Daily News will have full updates throughout the day on damage to glbt venues and accounts from community members in Christchurch.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 22nd February 2011 - 1:24pm