Lillian Daniels-Witika died of a heart attack in Christchurch following the 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Photo / Supplied
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She was, perhaps, the forgotten victim of the Canterbury earthquake.
Yesterday, Lillian Daniels-Witika was laid to rest at her family marae in Auckland.
She had suffered a fatal heart attack just moments after the 7.1 magnitude tremor that reduced parts of Christchurch to rubble.
The 53-year-old grandmother was searching her
home in the darkness to find her grandchildren when she suffered the cardiac arrest.
Her son John Daniels tried in vain to revive her as family were unable to reach emergency services due to overloaded phone lines.
Daniels told how he searched for his mother, a security guard, in the pitch darkness after hearing her collapse.
"The whole house was shaking, electricity was cut, it took me took me about 10 seconds to find her. I rang through to the ambulance but I couldn't get through. It said they were overloaded. I did CPR on mum. At least I had the privilege of being there when she died."
Daniels, a part-owner of Dunedin firm Upfront Security, said he had only returned from a tangi for his stepfather - who split from his mother some years before - the day before his mother died.
"He brought us up and nurtured us through our teenage years. It's been a rough couple of days."
Daniels said the heart attack was brought on by the quake.
"It happened two minutes later."
Speaking at her tangi at the Ruapotaka Marae in Glen Innes, Auckland, yesterday, Daniels said: "Mum shook the earth when she was here. She shook the earth when she left and I know she will shake heaven when she arrives there."
Daniels-Witika's partner Dave Lei was among nearly 100 people who crammed into the marae yesterday afternoon.
Family and friends had come from across the country to pay tribute to "Auntie Lil".
Before the funeral, her oldest sister Miriama said her sister was "strong-minded". "She was one of those out-there people who steps out of their comfort zone. She was a one-in-a-million, a risk-taker, we just loved her."
Daniels-Witika, of Ngati Whatua and Tainui descent, was born in Auckland but had lived in Christchurch for years.
She was cremated at a private service after the funeral.
John Daniels said the family did not have enough money for their return flights to the South Island, and would welcome help from relief funds.
