Quake cathedral survivor: 'like being in a tornado'

The Christchurch Cathedral Photo / Mark Mitchell

A woman who lost her workplace and almost her life in February's earthquake says the experience has given her a new lens through which to view life.

"So often you get caught up in all the other stuff that is going on. This has helped me to focus on the things that are important in life," Sue Spigel, a former artist in residence at the Christchurch Cathedral said.

Sue was in the cathedral and was about to go on her lunch break after a morning spent sewing, when a 'phenomenal' force took hold of the building.

"It was like being picked up in a metal cage and dropped."

As the roof started separating from the walls, Sue attempted to dive under a desk - a decision which would have proven fatal had she succeeded.

"I couldn't have been in any other place in the room than where I was on the window seat, and survived.

"If I had been at my sewing machine I would have been under a piece of masonry. If I had gotten under the table I would have been gone in a second."

As the building crumbled around her, Sue contemplated the worst.

"I was just basically hanging onto this window. The floor was gone and then everything just went black when the rest of the tower fell. The dust swirled around - it was like being in a tornado.

"I thought to myself 'I could actually die in here'. But then I thought about my grandson and that I would miss watch him growing up and I thought 'I'm not ready to go yet'."

"So I looked out the window and people were just standing there looking at the cathedral paralysed. And I was paralysed, but I wanted them to know I was there. I yelled and waved and I said 'hello, can anyone get me out of here please?'."

With the aid of policeman and a ladder Sue was able to clamber down to safety with just a broken arm.

Six months on, Spigel's workroom may be gone, but her passion for her art has not waned.

"My mind has been a bit foggy and I haven't been able to focus, so I've gone back to working on traditional patterns which do not take a lot of thought."

Just weeks ago she finished her first in a series of planned quilts for children who lost a parent in the February earthquake.

"I feel really bad knowing those kids are going to grow up not knowing their parent or not for as long as they should have. My way of comforting them is to make a quilt for them."