Colwyn Bay man helps out at heart of earthquake disaster zone

Sep 23 2010 by Rayyan Parry, North Wales Weekly News

A POLICEMAN from Colwyn Bay helped to secure an area at the heart of a devastating earthquake.

Raph Preston, originally from Colwyn Bay but who now lives in New Zealand, helped to tackle the damage caused by the earthquake in Christchurch on September 5.

The the 43-year-old dad-of-two, who lives in the city of Timaru, was given the phone call to respond to the 7.0 Richter earthquake that shook Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island.

Back home, Raph’s family were notified of the incident before it made major news headlines.

“We were initially worried when we found out,” said brother Peter, a firefighter with North Wales Fire and Rescue who is more than used to tackling emergency situations.

“It was a shock at the time. We didn’t know how bad it was,” he added.

Luckily, other friends who lived closer to the earthquake felt the tremor, but were safe.

The tremor was felt by Raph at home in Timaru, 160km from Christchurch, but luckily the family were untouched by the damage he was about to witness.

Working for 14 hours a day, the policeman helped to guard buildings that had been damaged in the disaster.

He was also helping to direct traffic in a city that had been cordoned off due to the fear of falling buildings and broken glass.

“He was keeping the area secure to prevent people from going into unsafe areas,” said Peter.

“A lot of people wanted to take pictures, but they had to deny access.

“They also had to deny some residents access. One of the main reasons was to avoid distress. Their work was humanitarian as well.

“We’re very proud of him. I guess me being a fireman helped us not to panic when we got the information.”

Peter added that the fact the earthquake had struck early morning had helped to save lives.

After five days in the disaster zone, Raph was able to return to his worried wife and two daughters back home in Timaru.

Over 100,000 buildings were damaged in the earthquake when it struck New Zealand’s second largest city, early on September 4.

Two people were seriously injured by the disaster and many more were treated for minor injuries.

But luckily there were no fatalities caused directly by the earthquake.

Damage costs to the city have amounted to £1.4 billion.

Raph was a care worker when he lived in Colwyn Bay.

rayyan.sabet