INTERNATIONAL SCRIPT for
“When a City Falls”
Producer Gerard Smyth
Director Gerard Smyth
Writers Gerard Smyth
Frank Film Ltd
© Frank Film Ltd 2011
NOTES REGARDING THE INTERNATIONAL SCRIPT
Projection Speed: 25 frames per second
1920x1080, 25p
14x9 Title safe
Tks 1 & 2 Stereo, Tks 3&4 M & E
Exhibition Duration: 55:03:00
NB: The timecodes in the attached refer to PAL timecode accurate to within plus/minus two frames or 2.30 of one second only
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01.00.00.00 Pan across clouds and cityscape
01.00.09.10 VOICE OVER:
The centre of the South Island of New Zealand, Canterbury is the Province
and Christchurch the largest city.
01.00.20.05 VOICE OVER:
Half a million of us live in this area, I was born just a few blocks from
where I live now. We’re a new country in every sense, it’s only a few
hundred years that people have lived here in any numbers and the land too is
new it still likes to move round. This is my account of what’s happening
here, it’s a film I could never have planned.
01.00.43.13 CAPTION “When a City Falls 01.00.49.05
01.0051.00 BLACK SCREEN SOUND EFFECTS
01.00.52.14 CAPTION 4:35AM, 4 SEPTEMBER, 2010
01.00.53.09 Voice
Police Communications you’re speaking with Mel.
Hullo Andy here it’s ah ambulance comms, Hi, whoah, whoah, Jeez
Loud crashing noises
VOICES
Oh my God, an earthquake, did you feel that? bloody hell, oh shit, oh my
gosh, it’s ok Mel, oh, my gosh.
01.01.15.11 PICTURES OF ROAD SHAKING
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01.01.21.16 MALE VOICE:
Hullo. Control, Rod here.
01.01.25.05 DIFFERENT MALE VOICE:
What the Fuck was that?
01.01.29.00 Pan around street
01.01.29.13 VOICE OVER:
It was an earthquake least expected. Sure New Zealand was called the shaky
Isles by our ancestors but it was Wellington that was considered at risk not
Christchurch. And little did we know that this earthquake was to be the first
in a relentless wave of ‘quakes.
01.01.44.15
VOICE:
01.01.45.19 John Ristow the duty seismologist with ah Geonet has the ah preliminary
details
01.01.51.12 VOICE:
Well at the moment I’m still locating it right now, so I really don’t have
much information other than it looks like it was a fairly large earthquake
somewhere in the South Island
01.02.02.03 FEMALE AMBULANCE OFFICER:
We thought there would have been deaths, multi casualty trauma all round
the city.
An hour or an hour and a half after the earthquake we realised that there
hadn’t been widespread casualties in Christchurch.
The feeling was somebody’s looking after us we have been big time
blessed.
01.02.29.18
01.02.30.09
AERIAL SHOTS CITY
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01.02.37.21 VOICE OVER:
A 7.1 earthquake in an urban area and no fatalities. We’re told this is
unprecedented
01.02.44.21
01.02.46.16 INDIAN MAN:
I called up home and I spoke to my mother who I said see we’re all good all
safe and sound. A 4.5 , 5 in Richter scale that’s very destructive in India
so 7.1 according to them none of us would have survived you know, so yeah
it was a miracle as well as they’re concerned.
01.03.06.09 FAMILY GROUP
01.03.07.04 FAMILY, MAN SPEAKS:
She had a bit of a cold so felt sorry for her
01.03.10.11 WOMAN:
(laughs) Really tough parents, and pulled her into bed with us
MAN:
01.03.13.09 10, 15 kilos of plaster basically landed exactly where here head would have
been.
INTERVIEWER :
01.03.18.17 You’re quite luck mate
01.03.22.03 WOMAN:
Eh? You’re the luckiest little girl aren’t you
01.03.23.19 AERIAL SHOTS
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01.03.25.03 VOICE OVER:
The land expelled sand saturated water within seconds of the quake and a
new word entered our language, liquefaction.
01.03.33.21
01.03.30.16 Caption “KAIAPOI”
01.03.35.17
01.03.34.13 WOMAN:
Cathy came over and she was screaming out Kerry Kerry and um and I said
It’s alright Cathy and I raced over to the gate and fell into here, and I was up
to here in liquefaction. It was absolutely horrific.
01.03.52.18 INTERVIEWER:
Your house is..
WOMAN:
01.03.53.14 Stuffed, (laughs) absolutely stuffed.
01.03.58.12 CAPTION: HALSWELL 01.04.01.12
01.03.58.15 INTERVIEWER :
More coming, Students? Students yeah. So how did you know to do this?
01.04.04.06 WOMAN:
Facebook
01.04.05.00 MAN:
The just knocked on the door about 5 minutes ago , so great to have their
help
01.04.08.16 YOUNG MAN:
We started a facebook group on Saturday night. We invited about 200
people to come and volunteer and from that its grown now to about 6000
People.
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01.04.18.00 OLD WOMAN
They are absolutely wonderful. To come like this, I’d like to give them
something
01.04.29.21 INTERVIEWER:
No, no you don’t have to give them anything
01.04.31.20 OLD WOMAN:
Oh. I’m not on my own. There are people out there that care, so oh gawd
(CRIES)
01.04.42.02 CAPTION : “7:49AM 8 SEPTEMBER” 01.04.45.01
VOICE on radio
01.04.43.21 This is More FM how are you doing this morning, increasing high cloud
today chance of some late rain and Northerlies after that gorgeous day
yesterday wasn’t that a pearler yesterday
01.04.52.02 INTERVIEWER:
So no wasting time
01.04.54.16 OLD MAN:
No, a new first floor. That’s what we’re after. There’s another one was it?
01.05.02.16 Earthquake noises
01.05.05.01 OLD MAN:
It’s alright Bert, where are you Bert? Poor dog is terrified That was quite a
good shake wasn’t it
01.05.12.09 INTERVIEWER :
It was indeed
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01.05.14.20 RADIO VOICE:
And did you know these people that came from Karamea?
No. They just came over all that way and just gave you water. Ohh Ohh.
Flynn
That’s shakey. That’s a good one. Hey Gaz move over. Oh my God. You
alright there hang on there Tania
GIRL Ok guys, guys it’s alright.
VOICE: It’s alright, it’s alright, calm down now.
GIRL : It’s alright
VOICE: Good girl you are a very brave girl.
GIRL: Thanks 01.05.35.03
01.05.36.01 MAN’S VOICE
Christchurch is built on, well it’s a complex environment, it’s a constantly
changing environment. In the distance you’ve got the snow-capped
Southern Alps, these mountains that have grown, ah over millions of years
from all these earthquakes.
01.05.49.04 Caption: DR MARK QUIGLEY, GEOLIGIST 01.05.52.11
And then just on this side of the Southern Alps you can see these green
folded aprons of what we’d call the foothills which are also formed by the
buckling and the faulting of rocks beneath the plains. And then you’ve got
the Canterbury Plains themselves, this relatively flat apron of gravels which
have been shed from the mountains being carried down by rivers, being
brought down from when glaciers melt in these big floods carry the big
gravels out onto the plains and they grade down towards Christchurch.
01.06.25.22
01.06.24.16 Aerial shots
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01.06.35.13 (DR QUIGLEY CONTINUES) And when you get close to Christchurch
you get this inter fingering of this material which started as a rock in the
Southern Alps and broke down to into a smaller rock and eventually into a
grain of sand and being deposited out in this area.
01.06.48.01
01.06.49.23 INTERVIEWER
And that’s what we built our city on eh?
01.06.52.03 DR QUIGLEY
And that’s where we built our city
01.06.25.00 CAPTION : QUAKE EPICENTRE, 45 KM WEST OF CHRISTCHURCH 01.06.59.08
01.07.00.01 VOICE When stuff actually started to fall to bits it was like completely
deafening I couldn’t hear anything. I felt myself rolling to the right hand
side and then my wall blew out and then I’m on the ground down this yeah,
down this cliff face of a house. The bruises and stuff that I suffered it was
pretty minor. People expected me break a leg or something like that.
01.07.23.15
01.07.24.11 OLDER MAN: with material things it doesn’t matter. We can replace but
when you lose your family which is means a lot to me, I would have been
totally devastated
01.07.32.19 BOY: People are just like, are you the kid that fell out of the house, oh we
were talking about you at the pub the other day and stuff like that. So yeah
01.07.39.05 INTERVIEWER: Few pats on the back?
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01.07.41.15 BOY: Yeah, nah it’s cool, but then there’s the people that make fun, oh you
fell out of your house. But yeah, no it’s all good.
01.07.50.15 VOICE MAN: And all up here, it all came back through here all the bricks
And things like that, landed all on the floor here like a big dump, because I
live here and work here the next option was sleep in the bath, yep this was
my bed, it was ok, (laughs)
01.08.08.00
01.08.09.00 FEMALE VOICE: This is my mum Halley and this is my dad Chris.
01.08.12.05 MAN: Hullo how are you
01.08.13.00 INTERVIEWER: Hullo there, g’day, g’day
01.08.14.00 GIRL: My parents sleep here for about 3 weeks, 3 weeks
01.08.20.18 INTERVIEWER: Where did you sleep
VOICES :Until we, here
01.08.23.12 INTERVIEWER: Really you slept in here
01.08.27.00 SHOT : Bridge over water
01.08.27.18 VOICE: It’s completely munted
01.08.30.00 INTERVIEWER: What is your house?
01.08.31.00 BOY: Yeah,
01.08.32.10 SECOND BOY: the house is on a tilt, cracks in the walls
01.08.35.17 THIRD BOY: Half my house is pretty bad and it might have to get
demolished
01.08.39.23 SECOND BOY: Some of my mum’s friends have cried for us, about our
house being so destroyed
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01.08.45.13 WOMAN: As the water came up, the house just sank, it doesn’t feel to me
like you can live in it, there’s no water, it’s no sewage, there’s no power
there’s no phone. Hi
01.08.58.15 MAN: I’m doing a recce sometime over the next couple of days… someone
from work, the building inspectors and the council is going to inspect this
place. Ok. Damage here would you call it minor, major.
WOMAN: Major
MAN: OK Major. Sorry my brain’s been like mush over the last few days.
It’s coming right but
WOMAN: Mine’s pretty mushy too.
MAN : Excuse me, thanks
WOMAN: Thanks 01.09.20.15
01.09.22.14 CAPTION: BOXING DAY 2010 01.09.26.02
01.09.23.00 FEMALE VOICE: as usual we like to thank you for taking the time to read..
(earthquake sound) Shit
01.09.35.07 WIDE SHOT CATHEDRAL
01.09.37.01 PRIEST’S VOICE: The Catholic people of New Zealand regard this as a, as
really an astonishing building to be in New Zealand.
01.09.45.05
01.09.46.23 MALE VOICE: We started work in the late 90’s I think and at that stage
concluded that the best thing we could do would be to spend our money
well to tie the building together so what we call securing.
01.09.56.06
01.09.56.22 PRIEST: And if that strengthening work had not been done this would now
be a heap of rubble
01.10.06.18 MALE VOICE: We had ah earthquake strengthening in 1999 and that’s
what saved this building and it’s thank God and the Christchurch City
Council that they had the wisdom to earthquake strengthen like they have ,
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er this place is the icon of the city. 01.10.18.03
01.10.23.13 Crashing sound
VOICEOVER
01.10.29.09 Five months have passed and the aftershocks are decreasing. We are buoyed
by the lack of deaths, we’re proud of our efficiency in getting repairs
underway. It does seem that we have dodged a bullet.
01.10.41.08
01.10.42.10 WOMAN: I mean they say you know there’s not going to be another 7.1
earthquake you know for 16 thousand years or whatever but there could be
one in five minutes time also.
01.10.52.20 CAPTION: 12:51 PM 22 FEBRUARY 2010 01.10.56.03
01.10.55.00 Rumble and earthquake sound 01.11.35.00
01.11.34.20 FEMALE VOICE: Christ Almighty that was huge, way bigger than the first
one and the whole of the fucking town’s in panic.
01.11.46.01 Screams, VOICE : Oh my God 01.11.48.04
01.12.05.00 VOICE: Holy shit, oh my god, oh man these are huge. These are fucking
massive.
01.12.11.00 MALE VOICE: That building’s going to fall over man
Get away from the building, come out into the middle
01.12.41.00 VOICE: This is just fucked 01.12.42.22
01.12.43.05 WIDE SHOT CITY, siren noises 01.12.50.00
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01.12.50.10 CAMERA LENSE DISPLACED, BREATHING NOISES
01.13.10.00 CAMERAMAN’S VOICE: Matt is everyone out of there?
GIRL: Yeah
CAMERAMAN’S VOICE: Everyone’s out of Piko?
01.13.17.03 WOMAN: I just pushed her out the door. And as I pushed her out the back
door I saw the fucking you know piece of plaster and brick come down
towards us, I was just like
01.03.25.00
01.14.05.00 MAN: It was pretty scary up on the fourth floor but I think we got
everybody out
01.14.07.00 CAMERAMAN; Over there
MAN: securities house there.
01.14.12.00 WOMAN: Tawpee
01.14.26.17 WOMAN ON PHONE: Nein, nein
01.14.30.15 MAN: See I, I work in that building there, I came out and they were
crawling out of that broken window there.
01.14.35.03
01.14.50.00 POLICEMAN: Ok can you hear? Right ho. We’re expecting more after
shocks. People sitting in the square like this is not helping us. We need the
square cleared so that we can get more emergency service vehicles in here
so we’re asking people to leave the city. Now we recommend the best place
to leave the city is down that street there. Do you understand, it’s either that
way or Hagley park you’ve got a choice. Now can you please leave now.
Thank you
01.15.16.18
01.15.28.13 POLICEMAN: (to Asian man) Leave the city.
01.15.34.05 WOMAN: I’ve got to get to the kids
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01.15.35.10 INTERVIEWER: Sorry sweetheart
01.15.36.20. WOMAN: I’ve got to get to the kids
01.15.37.21 INTERVIEWER: where are they?
01.05.39.12 WOMAN: In St Albans
01.15.40.15 VOICE: That way 01.15.41.12
01.16.26.06 MAN: But I haven’t been down the other end of Colombo and Moorhouse
But I need to get down there to see if my mother’s there and see if she’s ok. 01.16.31.22
01.16.32.22 SOUND OF SIREN
01.16.51.00
01.17.06.2001.
MAN: Morphine
SHOTS OF BODY CARRIED FROM BUILDING
01.17.21.00
01.17.35.11
INTERVIEWER: Um there’s 2 dead in here.
SOUND EFFECTS/MUSIC/SIREN
01.17.49.08 INTERVIEWER: So where were you?
01.17.50.01 WOMAN: We were on the 5th floor CTV building and um everything
goodness I was luckily I was sprinting towards the um corridor and and , I
wasn’t trapped on the outside walls and the whole building fell down to the
left side to the car park area.
01.18.05.00 INTERVIEWER: That’s the building can you point to it
01.18.06.24 WOMAN: Over there it’s now on fire actually that building is actually now
burning lots of smoke coming out and um so it collapsed and we were on
the 5th floor and everybody from that floor got out actually but one person
left in there who is um..
INTERVIEWER: Were there people on the ground floor
WOMAN: I don’t know I really don’t know, it could be that they are, I
don’t know. It looks completely gone, It’s completely smashed there is
nothing left from that building.
01.18.32.18
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01.18.33.07 MAN: I would love, if, we had if we could find another um structural
engineer. I’ve just done an assessment of the lifts cool I reckon it’s standing
but if you can get someone
01.18.43.01 MAN: I’ll have a look for you
01.18.44.08 MAN: That would be great
01.18.57.10 MAN: That’s ok we use what we’ve got. Ok. Alright so we’ve got… 01.19.02.21
01.19.03.14
01.19.06.00
CITY STREET SCENE/MUSIC
FEMALE VOICE: Another major earthquake has struck and this time
people have died. The quake struck at 12: 51 this lunch time 9 minutes to
one. Police have confirmed there are fatalities as well as many injured.
01.19.19.19
01.09.22.00 MALE VOICE: It happened at the worst possible time during the lunch
hour a six point three magnitude earthquake five kilometres deep and 10
kilometres south east of the city.
01.19.31.13
01.19.3306 MALE VOICE: One of the buildings where rescuers are still trying to reach
the trapped tonight is the Pyne Gould Corporation building
01.19.39.16
01.19.46.00 MALE VOICE: The Press building behind the cathedral also collapsed 01.19.49.04
01.19.59.00 MALE VOICE: It’s feared there are many people trapped in the CTV
building.
01.20.03.11
01.20.32.00 MALE VOICE (NZ Prime Minister John Key): The advice I’ve had so far is
that 65 people have lost their lives um we can’t rule out the death toll
climbing from there, New Zealand may be staring down what is its darkest
day as we take stock of a city that’s been utterly wrecked
01.20.47.11
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01.20.48.20 FADE TO BLACK FADE UP MUSIC CONTINUES
01.20.55.01 MALE VOICE: She explained to me that she was in Les Mill’s gym and
she watched the building next door come down
01.21.00.12 MAN ON CAMERA: and then I started thinking about where CTV is
because mum’s only just started working there and I realised that’s the
building that my partner watched come down and that was it we couldn’t
get back in no one would let us back in because of the army and I know they
are doing their jobs but when your mum’s trapped under a whole lot of
rubble you just want to sort of be as close as you can, so we’ve only just
managed to get here now.
01.21.27.11
01.21.53.16 MALE VOICE: The house is fine yep
01.21.56.18 WOMAN ON CAMERA; We just felt safer together
01.22.04.00 FEMALE VOICE: We don’t have any power but we’re doing all our
cooking on a barbeque. We collect water from down the road.
01.22.12.00
01.22.19.00 MAN IN SUIT: All I have to wear is suits at the moment so why not yeah,
there’s nothing wrong with it yeah I like it.
01.22.26.12 MALE VOICE: We’re directing the traffic, you get three fire engines
coming from different sides and they’ve all got their lights on so they all
Think they’re on right of way and then you know you can probably imagine
So we kind of just planted ourselves in there and then ever since we’ve just
been here.
01.22.43.22
01.22.43.21 WOMAN’S VOICE: So you volunteered and they’ve given you the vests
because you’ve been so
01.22.48.00 MAN’S VOICE : No these were from our bedrooms
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WOMAN: You had orange vests
MAN: Yep, yep so we orange vests we just ran out here then um yeah
we’ve just been here ever since. It’s good we get water dropped off, oh my
man.
MAN; Feed from the boys up the road
MAN : Oh really is he open now
MAN: Oh no, no the army guys got some dropped off. They were just like
oh ‘bro got too much KFC
01.23.09.03
01.23.17.13 VOICE OVER:
I’m on my way up the road to see what the Basilica’s like which was where
I once was an altar boy. It’s just like a city’s gone really eh? The buildings
I’ve been into for years and known so well ah just gone.
01.23.33.15
01.23.36.08 Here’s the Basilica, oh my god, oh, oh.
01.23.49.22 CAMERA TILTS UP TO SKY. CRYING SOUNDS 01.23.58.05
01.24.18.00 POLICE OFFICER: The building has been searched just the rubble at the
front’s got to be searched as well just so we can finalise the building
01.24.34.03 MALE VOICE: Street by street, house by house trying to clear every house
make sure there’s nobody’s left behind
01.24.55.19 NIGHT. TRUCK PASSES
01.25.07.21 INTERVIEWER: Where have you been?
WOMAN: Around the cordons, around the four avenues, for the Police and
the Army personnel who are guarding. It’s like a war zone and you drive up
and you see a tank looming in front of you and it’s like whoah (laughs)
01.25.21.02
01.25.22.00 MAN: (to cameraman) I just remembered we had an officer come looking
for you today
01.25.27.00 CAMERAMAN: Did you?
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01.25.27.24 MAN: Yeah. They were just in a car and they pulled up here and asked
us whereabouts you were really ,
CAMERAMAN: yeah (laughs)
MAN: Yeah and we were kind of like don’t know, think he went that way
or that way.
01.25.41.00 CAMERAMAN: Yeah they told me not to film and I said but I live here. 01.25.43.21
01.25.45.24 MUSIC STARTS
01.26.17.04 CAPTION: NEW BRIGHTON 01.26.21.03
01.26.18.14 FEMALE VOICE: It’s heartbreaking but it’s lovely to see that as a
community we’re caring for each other. And that’s the biggest thing for me.
01.26.25.17
01.26.25.18 BRASS BAND PLAYS
01.26.30.00 WOMAN: This hall was completely empty 2 days ago. Completely empty
nothing in here at all.
01.26.35.19
01.26.46.02 WOMAN’S VOICE; Most of these ones have come in from Rangiora,
somebody is cooking out there and they’re bringing them in on a private
helicopter
01.26.51.22
01.26.59.00 WOMAN’S VOICE: Some wellington people decided they owned this bus
That they would put a call out to Wellingtonians to drop stuff off , they’ve
filled the bus up and driven it to Christchurch
01.27.07.00
01.27.07.21 MAN: The response was amazing it was more that we could carry in, it was
unreal.
01.27.11.21 MALE VOICE: Could we have some more workers down the back please
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More guys form a chain round the back.
01.27.23.09 MAN with beard: What’s the name
MAN: Mark
01.27.25.00 MAN with beard: I’m Malo, Thank you
01.27.28.01 INTERVIEWER VOICE: What have you got there
01.27.30.06 MALE VOICE: If there’s been anybody that looks like they’ve got more
than what you might anticipate they’d need um a question or two to see how
they are going reveals immediately that they’re actually feeding their whole
street, they’re the able bodied person they’re here and they’re helping the
other neighbours who can’t even manage to get out the drive
01.27.48.14
01.27.53.00 WOMAN’S VOICE: This didn’t happen kind of happen because
somebody
Sat down at a table and strategized about you know what should be
delivered, this was people pouring out their hearts to each other and
supporting people in a practical way where it was needed the most and we
couldn’t have done it without this man here Senior Sergeant Roy Appey.
Who I think is one of this country’s heroes
01.28.17.10
01.28.17.16 MAN: No, that’s beautiful praise to get
01.28.21.18 BAND PLAYS
01.28.34.11 CAPTION: OPAWA 01.28.37.12
01.28.44.00 INTERVIEWER: So your house is alright
01.28.46.03 MAN; Oh not the most happiest camper but we’ll survive
01.28.52.00 INTERVIEWER: Oh that’s a tap
01.28.54.00 MAN: Yeah quite clever
01.28.57.23 WOMAN’S VOICE; Wes went to Mitre 10 gave him the pies the other day
and he’s just made it go out to the front gate and people putting food at the
front gate and toys today
01.29.11.00
01.29.13.00 INTERVIEWER: You’ve got no children?
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01.29.34.24 WOMAN: No not yet two coming yeah so
01.29.16.20 INTERVIEWER: You’re expecting twins
01.29.17.00 WOMAN: Yes I think they’re going to be adrenalin junkies(laughs) 01.29.21.17
01.29.22.14 OLD WOMAN: Had to get a prescription repeat had to go on the road a few
times which I’m not really allowed to do but got here.
01.29.30.19
01.29.34.00 VOICEOVER: The epicentre of February’s quake was pretty much under
this tunnel and extraordinarily it came through intact. But Christchurch’s
port was not quite so fortunate.
01.29.44.19
01.29.42.10 CAPTION : LYTTLETON 01.29.45.18
01.29.45.00 INTERVIEWER: Is there a car under there
01.29.50.19 WOMAN: It’s been our house for close on 30 years, I’m too scared to even
go through the door
01.29.57.00 INTERVIEWER: Really? So it’s been red stickered?
01.29.59.04 WOMAN: Yeah
01.30.01.00 INTERVIEWER: Do you want to stay?
01.30.01.21 WOMAN : Oh yes we’ll be here if we have to live in a container (laughs)
01.30.07.00 WOMAN’S VOICE (Military): They just happened to be in port when the
quake struck, they were going to do an exercise further down the country
with the army so after the quake struck the back of the Canterbury opened
and a large stream of military poured out over the city offering help where
they could.
01.30.23.01
01.30.23.04 SOLDIERS MARCHING
01.30.33.00 VOICE: Left wheel
01.30.36.00 VOICE : Squad march
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01.30.46.12 VOICE; Parade halt. Parade off caps
01.30.56.06 MALE VOICE: This time 7 days ago Canterbury was hit with a devastating
force of nature which has claimed many many lives buildings livelihoods
01.31.08.18
VOICE: 12:51 Sir, standby bell
01.31.13.17 BELL TOLLED, EERIE MUSIC,SILENCE 01.32.07.00
01.32.06.14 VOICE: Parade stand at ease
01.32.16.03 PRIEST: I think it is time for us to return. Thank you all for those who have
gathered officially here and for citizens and townspeople of Lyttleton for
coming. Our bell is no longer being heard at the moment but let me tell you
Holy Trinity’s bell will ring again over our village waking all you bloody
lot up. (laughter) at 10 o’clock every morning
01.32.40.02
01.32.39.19 CLAPPING
01.32.48.15 PRIEST: Remember Owen Wright’s family and Ian Poldezzi’s family as
they grieve for their loved one
01.32.55.17
01.32.57.04 WOMAN’S VOICE: He loved walking that was his thing, he left at twelve
ish and when the earthquake happened I just looked up at the Port Hills and
just saw rock and dust, it was really amazing to see because I hadn’t been
outside at the other earthquake. But um if you had seen the hills and thought
of someone up there walking you would have known it wasn’t going to be
good
01.33.17.00
01.33.17.10 WOMAN IN HAT. So I figured that I better go up and see whereabouts
he’s got to. I was quite scared with the amount of rocks they fall and they
splinter. The adrenalin kicks in and you’re committed. Kellie my dog was
wonderful he found little pockets of the track. And I saw a guy and
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described what dad looked like. He said no no but you shouldn’t be up here
And neither should he but I continued out towards Cass Bay and then back
around. And then um as I was telling mum the other day which the Police
said I must have imagined it, I heard whistling and I heard a lot of whistling
and um whenever we went tramping we would take our whistles with us
But I knew dad wouldn’t have his whistle up there but um when any way I
heard the whistling then I found him and I saw his little shirt that he always
wears when he goes away and he was under a lot of rock and um he was off
the track because he obviously got pushed off and down and um Kellie yeah
he was in their cuddling him and um yeah we just took the rocks off him
and
Tidied him up and yeah just cuddled him for a long time, rang my sister. 01.34.39.08
01.34.40.00 WOMAN TO CAMERA : They don’t know how Sarah was so brave and
how she survived and so much courage to be up there with all that falling
rock and you know
01.34.47.12
01.34.47.19 WOMAN IN HAT: I went up there and wrote some stuff on the rocks my
sisters names and mum and love you dad and yep
01.34.57.13
01.35.03.11 FADE THROUGH BLACK TO TRUCK ON ROAD
01.35.06.16 INTERVIEWER: Your got hit pretty hard round here eh?
01.35.08.17 WOMAN: Yes no power, no toilet
01.35.10.03 INTERVIEWER: still no power no toilet
01.35.11.17 WOMEN: No sewage, no phone
01.35.18.11 CAPTION: AVONSIDE 01.35.22.00
01.35.28.07 VOICEOVER: The eastern suburbs are amongst the poorest areas of the
city
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It seems a cruel blow that they are also the hardest hit. 01.35.35.06
01.35.37.06 WOMAN: I can’t get hold of Mrs Rhodes
01.35.38.11 WOMAN: Ok so we’re going to your one
01.35.41.17 WOMAN’S VOICE: It’s nice being driven around
SECOND WOMAN: Isn’t it
01.35.44.20 WOMAN: So you see people still living in tents, they feel more safer living
in the tents
01.35.50 WOMAN: A lot of people wouldn’t have telephones round here, lot of
households don’t have a car
01.35.53.20
01.35.59.05 INTERIOR HOUSE WOMAN: I just don’t want to go into a multi-story
building. I know I have to go, so if you would come with me it would be
wonderful. OTHER WOMAN : Ok
I’ve missed what, three hospital appointments, cause I just don’t want to go
in there. I don’t want to go on my own that’s for sure
01.36.16.04 SECOND WOMAN: Lots of people are feeling the same way as you are
WOMAN: Yeah I know it’s real, I’m kind of alright during the day but the
nights, the nights are real scary. I don’t want to be alone at night.
01.36.23.21
01.36.26.00 MUSIC: Wide shot city.
01.36.34.17 VOICEOVER: The quakes appear to be choosing at random which parts of
Christchurch to inflict damage the central city has been devastated
01.36.42.15
01.36.43.00 MUSIC Shots crumbling buildings
01.37.00.23 MALE VOICE: People have ended up you know curled up in balls beside
the desk yet their workmate one desk over dives under their desk but right
above a head was a big beam, the beam’s come down gone through the table
got her but her mate four feet away um exactly the same thing is fine.
01.37.18.14
01.37.20.00 VOICE OVER: The CTV building was where most people died in the
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quake
Many were English students from South East Asia.
01.37.27.17
01.37.28.13 MALE VOICE RESCUER: Then a Japanese contingent, they’re working in
conjunction with our guys over here , Kiwi guys
MALE VOICE: It’s almost DNA type material and even then they’re
thinking that some of the people they might even not be able to find for
years to come.
01.37.43.21
01.37.44.15 EXTERIOR SUBURBAN HOUSE
01.37.46.21 WOMAN’S VOICE: I had just left this kitchen and gone to the CTV
building to the 5th floor where my work is. So I left this place expecting
To be back at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. We were used to aftershocks in
that building from September but that day it simply exploded there wasn’t
even a second for anyone to say earthquake.
01.38.09.19
01.38.14.03 WOMAN’S VOICE: I recall knowing I was buried and seeing jagged pieces
of timber and debris over me and I could see one little shaft of light and
when these extraordinary young policemen leapt onto the building, within a
matter of minutes they got us out and then sort of carried us down to the
members of the public who were waiting below and I was taken care of by a
young man who’d been walking past going to his gym training and a young
reporter from the Star.
01.38.59.03
01.39.02.16 FADE DOWN TO BLACK AND UP : Music bridge
01.39.05.20 WOMAN: It wasn’t till later on that night, I think it was about 10 o’clock
That I got power back on at home and I was watching the TV and they were
talking about CTV and I didn’t realise they were showing a picture and I
just kept thinking well when are they going to show the CTV building and I
didn’t realise that that’s ’s what I was looking at because you can’t
recognise it
01.39.33.08
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01.39.33.21 MUSIC
01.39.36.18 WOMAN’S VOICE: He was loving work he had this position as news
producer he wasn’t just a journalist any more he’d stepped up. We went to
the hospital and registered him as missing because I mean this is now
getting on I guess about 7 o’clock and he was he was missing but I still
didn’t know if he had been at work if he had been in the city or if he had
been somewhere else. It’s not normal to see your husband go to work one
day and then just never ever, ever see him again (cries) it’s just not normal.
01.40.17.00
01.40.22.00 EXTERIOR BUILDING
01.4.029.17 MALE VOICE: So are you taking that down?
01.40.30.10 DRIVER: No, no
01.40.31.14 INTERVIEWER: You’re leaving that, it’s only a year old
01.40.33.16 DRIVER: Yeah no, it’s only this piece
01.40.35.00 INTERVIEWER: Cool mate
01.40.40.09 INTERVIEWER: G’day are you the senior police officer?
01.40.42.00 POLICE: Correct
01.40.43.24 INTERVIEWER: The owners are running down here quickly as they can.
They say it was not approved.
01.40.48.12 POLICE: Oh it has been, it’s written on these sheets, actually it doesn’t say.
01.40.51.02 INTERVIEWER: Well if you wanted to wait 10 minutes, they would tell
you that.
01.40.54.10 POLICE: yeah it’s alright I’ll err , give me a few minutes and I’ll tell you
what I can do
01.41.00.00 INTERVIEWER: Thank you
01.41.02.15 RT VOICE: are you there Alf
01.41.04.00 INTERVIEWER: Hey Alan
01.41.04.10 MAN: Yeah mate
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01.41.05.18 INTERVIEWER: My partner just rang the owner to say sad to see it
happening and she said what? And they’re running here as quickly as they
can
01.41.16.15 MAN IN HARD HAT: All the paperwork’s there the whole lot. Upper
building and walls avoid damage to structure
01.41.21.01 WOMAN: We didn’t know that any of it was coming down
01.41.25.21 POLICEWOMAN: G’day
01.41.27.06 INTERVIEWER: That’s the police lady
01.41.27.24 POLICEWOMAN: Are you the owners of the building?
01.41.28.01 OWNER WOMAN; Yep we are
01.41.29.23 POLICEWOMAN: from my understanding they said that it was adjoining
buildings this building was going to get demolished that one was going to
remain um that’s from my understanding and that it was approved, so I’m
just
01.41.38.23 OWNER WOMAN: No one has contacted me or briefed me at all.
01.41.41.10 POLICEWOMAN: Oh OK
01.41.42.08 MAN : So all we are going to do is going to take the top off we’re not going
to touch any of the bottom structure of the building
WOMAN: Ok. At least we should be able to go in and salvage some of the
stuff that’s in there.
01.41.54.00 INTERVIEWER: What did they tell you to do, they told you.
01.41.56.12 MAN: I honestly can’t comment on that
01.41.57.19 INTERVIEWER; You can’t?
01.41.58.14 MAN: No I was just told to make the building safe and follow the directions
01.42.01.13 INTERVIEWER; So you didn’t know just to pull down the top only did you
You thought you were pulling down the whole thing
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01.42.06.14 MAN: well it’s a bit of a grey area maybe 01.42.08.24
01.42.11.03 VOICE OVER: A few blocks away Shayne the baker has lost his building
he’s now living under a tree
01.42.16.10
01.42.16.20 INTERVIEWER: Kia ora (hullo). Are you around Shayne?
01.42.21.07 SHAYNE: How are you
01.42.22.05 INTERVIEWER: Ah, you sleeping in mate
01.42.26.05 SHAYNE: Yeah, yeah , welcome to my bivvy (bivouac-shelter).
LAUGHTER
01.42.30.00 INTERVIEWER: So you’re living outside under a tree
01.42.32.00 SHAYNE: Yeah , A walnut tree
01.42.34.00 INTERVIEWER: So you’re still smiling Shayne
01.42.36.00 SHAYNE: Yeah, yeah I am, I actually consider myself really fortunate to
tell you the truth. They’ve pulled out probably about 20 businesses here.
People can say it’s a major setback but you just bounce back LAUGH
01.42.48.04
01.42.48.00 INTERVIEWER: Why have you stayed here Shayne
01.42.50.00 SHAYNE: There’s a huge difference between those who are insured and
those who aren’t you know depending on your circumstance in life you
might have personal insurance but you can’t afford business insurance.
yeah, yeah, so people like me they’re all just living a little bit rough. What
you find out as well after the earthquake you have very little rights to your
own property the landlord, for instance I’ve been at my place for 17 years,
he had more rights to go through a red sticker than what I had. He could go
and visit the property you know and go on board with engineers I had to
stand out on the street. So therefore you just have to take matters into your
own hands, And you don’t want to break the law and things like that there’s
a certain respect for police
01.43.32.00 INTERVIEWER: But you were going to lose everything eh?
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01.43.34.10 SHAYNE: yeah exactly that’s what I mean 01.43.36.04
01.43.40.00
01.43.36.00 CAPTION: CLIFTON HILL
01.43.38.00 VOICE OVER: The wealthiest suburbs have become temporary ghost
towns as the residents as the residents have been able to afford to travel to
safer places
01.43.45.20
01.43.46.01 LAUGHTER
01.43.47.05 MAN: What am I three days short of three weeks .I’ve got power but I’ve
got nothing else
01.43.51.16 OTHER MAN: No that’s the same as me Robin
INTERVIEWER: What you guys have got in common is the fact that you’re
still here.
01.43.57.00 ROBIN: Fight or flight that’s all there is to it, you can’t change it either and
it’s as funny as to watch but ah, you know you can’t be , you can’t be
judgmental on it this is who people are, they either run or they stay and if
you stay well that’s what your job is you stay is to fix up and make it ready
for the others to come back really
INTERVIEWER: That’s how we’re planned eh
ROBIN: Yeah yeah, that’s how we are programmed, to be like that. And in
a general way the man will stay and fight and the women will flee with the
children which is absolutely just normal
01.44.27.11
01.44.28.00 OTHER MAN: That’s the manly thing to do turn to the man things to
correct your home and protect your base and to have something that’s basic
01.44.34.07
01.44.34.09 MUSIC
01.44.39.17 CHAMPAGNE CORK POP: Cheers
01.45.05.00
01.45.07.02 CAPTION : REDCLIFFS 01.45.11.02
01.45.11.24 WOMAN VOICE; We’d had lunch and Don had gone back into the garden
to see if there were any more raspberries for the evening meal and that was
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the time at which at which the earthquake happened . When I came
downstairs and came out and walked along here I looked up there and I
thought if Don was still in the garden he would surely be dead because
there’s no way you could have survived that great pile of rocks and that
turned out to be the case so that was a bit shattering because I had expected
that we’d have another good ten years happily living together but the Lord
had other ideas.
01.46.07.10
01.46.07.00 MUSIC & PHOTO 01.46.13.03
01.46.19.10 VOICE FEMALE: This is where 36 people stayed for 3 days and 2 nights
01.46.26.00 INTERVIEWER: In here
01.46.27.01 WOMAN: In here, on the floor on mattresses .That night we slept between
them um to comfort them because the rocks kept hitting us and the next
night too and the staff were scared but the residents like I was lying between
two they would rub my back and reassure me that it was going to be ok. It
was the most wonderful lesson I’ve ever had about the elderly.
01.46.51.24 INTERVIEWER: You went there to look after them
01.46.54.04 WOMAN: And they looked after us and they never, they were just
reassuring, they said their prayers, they weren’t alarmed um they were
happy with getting a drink and getting a cup of soup they were just
absolutely wonderful and then on the Thursday we took eighteen of them
went to Dunedin and they got on the bus and they just were so brave and
they went away and they thanked me and kissed us all and left. Apparently
the studies have shown that old people get through these things with dignity
and, and help other people and then a lot of them die and that’s what’s
happened to our residents a lot of them have died since.
01.47.43.07
01.47.43.21 EXTERIOR WIDE SHOT & MUSIC
01.47.46.20 VOICE OVER: It’s now been four months since the last big earthquake in
February we’d all like to think that the worst is over but lurking always is
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the fear that the earth may shake again at any time with no warning.
01.47.59.10
01.48.00.00 MALE VOICE: None of us would say for sure with our current state of
knowledge that we’re, we’re done and that we’re not going to get any other
big earthquakes. And I guess the other important thing is even when this
sequence is done there are many hundreds of faults around New Zealand
that contribute some source of hazard to Christchurch going forward. Now
it’s not going to be the same level of hazard that was associated with that
February earthquake but we have this opportunity now this window to make
ourselves more resilient so that when the Alpine fault goes and it will go
that Christchurch is the world’s most earthquake resilient city.
01.48.39.24
01.48.40.17 MAORI ORATOR: speaks in Maori 01.48.44.22
CAPTION : 1:01 PM 13 JUNE 2011 01.48.45.06
01.48.51.09 MALE VOICE; Don’t rush please everyone, don’t rush
01.49.01.00 MAORI ORATOR SPEAKS IN MAORI
CAPTION ENGLISH TRANSLATION: “ Friend Your argument has great
force”
01.49.04.05
01.49.06.05 CITY STREETS. MUSIC
01.49.14.00 CHILDREN WALKING
MAN: Say hello Logan
01.49.19.17 SMALL BOY TO CAMERA: You’re busted, this is tough for all..
CAPTION: 1 HOUR 20 MINUTES LATER
EARTH QUAKE SOUND , CAMERA WILD MOVEMENT
01.49.32.00 BOY’S VOICE: I’ll be quick enough , I’ll be quick enough 01.49.35.14
01.49.35.08 MAN IN GUMBOOTS: Just on the phone with my sister in law, in Calgary,
just letting them know we’re ok .We just had two more really big
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earthquakes here today, bloody house is fucked again. The house was just
bouncing around like crazy .So I felt like the house was just going to fall
down around us and we just um sort of grabbed each other and um all hung
out on and and all waited for it and now we got you know liquefaction just
like the 6.3 one just all around so you know we’re sort of back to square one
again.
01.50.12.00
01.50.12.20 WOMAN IN STREET: Yesterday I have to say was terrifying um February
was was very frightening but yesterday was terrifying and I’m ashamed to
say I lost it and I ran out onto the deck and said that F word right out loud at
the whole world
01.50.32.00 INTERVIEWER: You’ve had enough?
01.50.34.00 WOMAN: I’ve had enough yeah 01.50.35.00
01.50.40.20 WOMAN BY HOUSE: I don’t want to stay cause I’m that petrified I can’t
focus properly last night, for the last nine months how can you. If I had the
option to go I’d be gone. I don’t think Christchurch is going to be anything
anymore, I think it’s had it. This you know the town this side of it I think
you just got to put a line through the middle to me, that’s how I feel.
01.51.02.03
01.51.02.00 GARAGE DOOR OPENS
01.51.03.00 INERTVIEWER: Kia ora (hullo)
01.51.05.00 MAN: G’day Gerard how are you?
01.51.07.03 INTERVIEWER: Are you good
01.51.07.24 MAN: Yep, I’ll just put in the focaccia through, the last of the baking
before I go down to the market
01.51.14.24 VOICE OVER: So while some of us are at our wit’s end others are starting
to imagine a brave new city
01.51.21.17
01.51.22.08 INTERVIEWER: So you really are up and running
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01.51.23.24 MAN: Yeah
01.51.24.14 INTERVIEWER: It’s a busy thing eh?
01.51.25.13 MAN: Yeah, it was just a matter of salvaging the tools and then just
applying then and just trying to get back into the trade
01.51.31.00 INTERVIEWER: So you are alright?
01.51.32.09 MAN: Yep, yeah, yep, yep, yep most definitely. 01.51.34.17
01.51.35.01 CITY STREET: Music
01.51.37.03 FEMALE VOICE: People can either bring a book and swap it for another
book or just come along and help themselves to books from the fridge
INTERVIEWER: Books from the fridge?
01.51.43.03 WOMAN: Yes because you can see what’s inside it and the books are going
to be safe we can leave it here and it’s going to be open 24/7
01.51.50.08 FEMALE VOICE: There are a lot of people that want to do something to
contribute to the city right now to get involved to feel connected to what’s
happening it can encourage innovation and creativity and all these things
which can really sort of contribute to the regeneration of this city
01.52.06.16
01.52.07.03 MALE VOICE: I’m hearing a lot these days , oh just try it so there’s a real
kind of productive anarchy you know going on
01.52.14.00
01.52.15.00 VOICE OVER: for two years now over 12,000 quakes have shaken
Christchurch. It’s the most recorded anywhere any time in a series but lately
they’ve lessened in severity and it could just be that the scientists are
correct that the land is finding a place to rest
01.52.32.23
01.52.34.17 FEMALE VOICE: I certainly have done the why me, why it, how come. All
that stuff and then I come back to, it’s random. It’s absolutely random and
why did those gorgeous young people that I travelled up and down in the
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lift with for all those years who were going to the language school and were
practising their English as they went up and down in the lift , you know why
did that happen and I come back to there is no answer to that , it’s random ,
utterly random, there is no reason and I know people grapple to find reasons
and there isn’t, we live on this planet and this is the planet doing what it
does and we’re on it and we were where we were on that day.
01.53.25.22
01.53.28.04 CLOSING CAPTIONS & MUSIC
01.53.26.23 FADE THROUGH BLACK TO CAPTIONS/CLOSING CREDITS
01.55.54.00 MUSIC ENDS
01.55.55.23 BIRD SOUND EFFECTS. Caption copyright frank film 2011 BLACK END 01.56.03.21
01.56.02.16 FADE TO BLACK