Piecing together life from the rubble

Mavis Pattison. Photo / Alan Gibson

Pensioner Shirley Duffy had lived in her house in Dallington for more than 20 years. But she'll never return to the place she called home.

The 83-year-old has been told that the house, which moved off its concrete foundations in the quake, needs to be demolished. Dallington was one of the worst hit areas by the 7.1 quake on September 4.

She has only been back to the house once since the quake, and left Christchurch a few days later, unable to bear the terror of the aftershocks.

"It's pretty depressing going around there," she said.

Duffy has spent time with friends in Auckland and is now with relatives in Hamilton. She will head back to Christchurch later this month and stay with her daughter, Nicky, until her house is rebuilt.

She was upset when told her house was uninhabitable.

"It felt pretty terrible, actually, a bit wretched. I don't know what I'm doing ... It's still pretty hard.

"The worst part is, you know your house is there but it's no good to you."

Duffy felt displaced and unsure of her future but said she was lucky and was reluctant to complain.

"They've got 100,000 houses to fix, you can't expect to be high on the list. But I hope they do the worst-hit areas first. I'm so lucky; a lot of people haven't got anybody."

Renee Rushton is also counting herself lucky.

Eight months pregnant and with two small children, she found herself homeless after the quake and spent two weeks living at a camp ground.

Rushton and her husband Levi had only moved in to their rented home three weeks before the quake with their children Ordane, 4, and Nation, 16 months. A large crack appeared in a concrete retaining wall that ran the length of the house and it grew bigger with each aftershock.

The couple had nowhere else to take their young family, so they hired a small cabin and put their belongings in storage until they could find a home.

Rushton was stressed about not having a place to bring her new baby home to, when her sister saved the day.

"My sister found us a house on Trade Me; we were lucky, really. The house survived the earthquake with not one bit of damage, so I feel a bit safer.

"We've got our new property all set up and we've replaced everything that got ruined. I'm finally finding time to put my feet up."

For 102-year-old Mavis Pattison, things aren't so rosy on the home front.

The sprightly pensioner stayed in her quake-damaged home for four days before friends could convince her to move to a safer location.

She finally agreed to leave her 100-year-old cottage and is now staying at the nearby Redcliffs Rest Home.

It is understood that her house, designated a "hot zone" by firefighters, is damaged so badly it will have to be knocked down.

Last month, Mavis told the Herald on Sunday she was keen to return home and get back to her routine. She moved into the house, which her mother owned before her, in 1974.

But for now, she will stay at the rest home.

Nurse manager Anne Baycroft said Pattison was "lovely" and hoped she would stay permanently.