Residents race to get valuables after Christchurch earthquake

Christine Cosgrove says family photos and her father's urn were the items she most wanted to retrieve. Photo / Greg Bowker

Residents of a devastated Christchurch street have raced to carry away their valuables in a panic after reports their houses may be evacuated by the Army.

Seabreeze Close, in the suburb of Bexley, was ravaged by a sludge of sewage and silt gushing out of the ground after Saturday's earthquake.

Residents say every house is a write-off.

A young couple, Christine and Levi Cosgrove, arrived yesterday in a panic after hearing there could be an evacuation.

"We just heard on the news that the Army was coming to move us but no one told us. It's got us in a panic and we just don't know what to do," Mrs Cosgrove said.

"We hear this thing on the news and I'm afraid."

Because the road had been cleared a day earlier as safe for traffic, they were able to bring in a truck to take away some furniture.

But it was family photos and her father's urn that Mrs Cosgrove had come for.

"We haven't taken his ashes away yet. It's the most important thing," she said.

The house had been a dream home for the couple and their 2-year-old son.

Mrs Cosgrove ran a beauty therapy business out of it, renovating and polishing the interior. "It was perfect. The neighbours were perfect and everything was perfect. But it's all gone now."

Losing it all was a shock, she said.

"I was devastated. I haven't really stopped crying the last few days. It's not just my house I'm losing. It's heartbreaking."

Civil Defence last night confirmed no one had been evacuated, or asked to leave their home in Christchurch.

A neighbour, Hamish Reed, was also upset after hearing rumours of an evacuation.

"I was at work and heard that it was on the internet that they're evacuating people at Seabreeze, so I rushed home."

But Chris Holmes, up the street, stayed on last night - the only resident in the otherwise-deserted street for three nights in a row - after spending the whole day there.

He said the Army had not come in at any time and there had been no notice of evacuation.

"Hell, no. There's been no evacuation. People have left. That's all."

Mr Holmes' house is on a tilt and cracked. He does not expect to repair it, but will stay there as long as he can.

Portable toilets have been placed on the street, and with the road cleared, it is almost liveable again.

But Rupen and Lalita Sharma do not plan to reinhabit their home.

"It's a write-off," they said. "There's a big crack in the floor. When we have aftershocks, sometimes we feel like we're floating in it."