Caravans dip into craters in earthquake-hit motor camp

A shot of the Woodend Beach Holiday Park, Kaiapoi.

Craters opened up at a Kaiapoi motorcamp during this morning's earthquake, with caravans sinking in the earth up to their axles.

Jan Reid, manager of the council owned Woodend Beach Holiday Park, said the earthquake had cut a diagonal line across the property - leaving one half untouched, while craters, holes and cracks opened up in the other half.

Heavy, road-building machinery would be needed in the camp to repair the damage, said Reid.

"We haven't got any water, pipes have burst, some of our camp is quite devastated."

Motel and cabins were fine, but there was severe damage to the ground. "We've got big craters and the roads have been ripped up," she said. "The water table is really high, so all the sand has bubbled up from underneath. So we've got big holes and a lot of soft spots."

"You're not really game to put your feet into them," said Reid, when asked how deep the holes were. "Where the cracks in the road are, they're quite deep. When you look down there, there is water in them, because the water table is so high."

"Half of our camp was untouched - which was the amazing thing. It has come in sort of a line - a diagonal through the camp. We've got 55 acres - half of the camp is fine, and most of our ablutions blocks are fine, but where we store the caravans is not good. "

Reid said power had recently been restored to the camp. "The worst part is that we don't have any water."

The local council, which owns the motor camp, was expected to soon deliver a port-a-loo to the camp and its 30 guests.

"It's only one, but it's better than what we've got," said Reid.

Some of the motorcamp's 30 guests had a terrifying experience during the quake, particularly those staying in caravans.

"People were coming out of their caravans, frightened. It's actually quite frightening being in a caravan during an earthquake. It's not so bad in a house - you can get under a doorway, but in a caravan - it's pretty scary," said Reid.

"Some of them have sunken down into the ground. Where we've had these little geysers come up, they've sunken down quite a long way into the ground - some of them up to their axles."

Holes had now formed under the cars in the soft earth, with some sinking down up to their headlights.

"We are just hoping our insurance will come to the party quickly, especially with Christmas coming up."