Two-and-a-half weeks after saying goodbye to friends and family in Tauranga, a young couple's new life in Christchurch has come crashing down.
Andrew Jones and Laura Dunstan, in their mid-20s, moved to Christchurch after Miss Dunstan secured a graduate role at a central city hotel.
Meanwhile, Mr Jones started a graphic designcourse at NatColl Design Technology.
Both were in the central city when the quake struck just before 1pm on Tuesday. Miss Dunstan was in the Christchurch City Library in Glouscester St while Mr Jones was two streets away seated at a computer in a ground-floor classroom at the design school in Hereford St. He barely remembers diving under his desk to shelter from falling debris.
"I just remember looking out from under the desk and seeing the roof panels falling into the room," he said.
Once outside he described the scene as "an absolute warzone", with a fire burning in the building he had just escaped from.
"It was absolutely frightening.
"I don't ever want to go through anything like that again, it was so horrible." He estimated every second building on the street was damaged and every fifth had collapsed. It had taken about half an hour to reach Miss Dunstan via cellphone and it wasn't until 7pm that they were reunited in the Christchurch suburb of Riccarton.
During that time, Mr Jones had returned to the couple's inner-city flat in Worchester St where his car, parked in the driveway, sat crushed by rubble from a neighbour's home.
"I got there and my car's crushed and our bedroom is just turned upside-down," he said.
He had packed a bag of clothes and left his home, which he said was secure. The area, about four blocks east of Cathedral Square, has since been cordoned off.
Mr Jones said in deciding to move to Canterbury the two had braced themselves to face aftershocks from the September quake.
"I had experienced one little one about 7.30am last Thursday that sort of came and went and I went back to sleep.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would experience one more devastating than September's."
Having left the city on Tuesday evening to stay with a friend in Blenheim, Mr Jones said the couple's future in the Christchurch was uncertain.
"We really just have to wait and see what happens.
"I know we're both afraid of being in the city again."
