AUCKLAND: Young journalists in Christchurch have been witnessing scenes most could never imagine.
Olivia Carville joined The Press, Christchurch’s daily newspaper, only three months ago.
The 22-year-old was in The Press building at her desk doing a phone interview when the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck at 12:51pm on Tuesday, February 22.
“The roof just fell on to my desk in front of me,” she says.
Carville scrambled under her desk for safety and vividly remembers peering out from underneath it and seeing the sky.
The young journalist says her first instinct as a reporter was to “get the story”.
So she took to the streets of Christchurch with her colleague and videographer Daniel Toban and filmed the after-effects of the quake.
Covered in rubble
“People were running around with blood all over them . . . I could see bodies and limbs covered in rubble.”
She attributes her ability to switch into “reporter mode” quickly from what she learnt while studying journalism at AUT University in 2010.
However, Carville says she jumped out of the reporter role when she randomly came across rescuers pulling a family friend out from underneath building debris.
“If they didn’t help her she would have died at the scene.
“If I wasn’t a reporter I would probably leave this place [but] I feel it’s my duty to stay here and continue to inform the community,” she says.
Carville, who is recovering from pneumonia, is proud to say The Press has not missed an issue since the quake.
One News reporter Tom McRae, an AUT graduate in 2009, was driving to the Television New Zealand (TVNZ) building when the earthquake hit.
“It was like someone had come and side swiped me,” says the 28-year-old.
McRae explains that as a reporter there is no time to think about how it is all affecting him and that the shock of the quake and its aftermath has not really sunk in.
“I was just talking to one of my colleagues and she said I still don’t understand what’s happened.”
However, McRae says the most difficult part was talking to the families of the victims and watching them wait with brave hopeful faces for their loved ones to be rescued from damaged buildings.
“I think events like this really show the public how important the media is,” he says.
Both journalists are currently working out of temporary spaces.
The Press building and TVNZ in Christchurch were severely damaged in the quake. - Te Waha Nui/Pacific Media Watch
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