ANN BODKIN – WHAT A YEAR CAN DO
The survival of my sister-in-law Ann Bodkin crouched under her desk, entombed in the rubble of the PGC Building in Christchurch has become international news.
We are of course absolutely delighted that she was pulled safe and whole from the disaster. We have been in touch several times and are a little regretful to have to miss the joyous ongoing reunions in the South Island. Kick on guys!
The family celebrations have since uncovered a couple of gems from Ann that should be documented for posterity:
1. From one of the NSW Search and Rescue team that brought Ann out of the building -
“ You’re lucky you weren’t on the bottom floor - you’d just be a stain on the carpet!”
2. From one of Ann’s colleagues -
“ You were last out - did you turn off the lights?”
A couple of additional reflections though. First, her experience throws a whole new light on the now ubiquitous IT term ‘Desktop’. Losing your hard drive is one thing – having a hard desktop in the right circumstances is quite another!
Second, it does bring home once more how fleeting and unpredictable life can be. I checked on where Ann was last year on the 23rd of February and I am sure that she would have been absolutely staggered to have been told then that she would spend the first half of the same day in 2011 in the collapsed remnants of her office – only to be delivered into the arms of husband Graham by several burly USAR Aussies.
So where in fact was she on the 23rd February 2010? Thanks to social media I can tell you that she was on a school inspection assignment for the Education Review Office. That evening, she wrote up her Blog diary entry as follows:
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
“Sunset in Timaru. What a lovely evening here sitting outside watching the sunset! We had the most yummy feed of scallops at our favourite Timaru restaurant.
Sometimes my job is not bad!”
Shortly thereafter Ann and Graham left on their Trip of a Lifetime OE which must have involved some 60,000 km of travel, involving almost every conceivable transport medium – and including sentimental road trips across the Great Plains, jazzing it up in New Orleans, a pilgrimage to Graceland, luxury cruising in the Mediterranean, and more sedate ‘messing about on the river’ in the Norfolk Broads.
They arrived back in New Zealand in mid-August – and there are some ironies in their final entry on the Trip Blog:
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
“Well it's been a few days now, but we thought we should conclude the blog about our trip by letting people know we arrived home safely. It's good to be home, even though the weather is cold and wet.
Back to work and reality - might have to start planning our next holiday! “
Little doubt now that, despite the immediacy of their Trip of a Lifetime, they should indeed be starting to think of the next. It stands to reason surely that if you are blessed with two Lives, you should be able to enjoy two Trips?
As for what Ann was thinking during her ordeal, we can now catch up from a recent interview:
ANN BODKIN - MY 26 HOURS TRAPPED IN THE RUBBLE
[by Derek Cheng, NZ Herald, Saturday Feb 26, 2011]
I thought to myself, over and over, 'I'm alive. I'm okay'."
That was how earthquake survivor Ann Bodkin, 54, kept up hope during her 26 hours entombed in the mangled mess of the collapsed Pyne Gould Corporation building in central Christchurch.
She was at her desk in a corner of the third floor when Tuesday's earthquake shook the building ferociously.
"I realised straight away that it was going to be a big one," Ms Bodkin told the Weekend Herald. "I thought, 'This is it'."
She went to dive under her desk, but as she did, the ceiling collapsed and she was struck in the back of the head and on the shoulder.
"I was hit again in the back as I got under my desk and it knocked me to the floor."
The desk was crunched under the weight of the collapsing ceiling, but held up just enough to save Ms Bodkin from serious injury.
If I had been crouching under the desk I might not have survived.
"It seemed to happen very fast, a huge noise, briefly, and then total silence.
"I started calling out to see if anyone else was around, but there was only silence."
Ms Bodkin tried to reach her cellphone, but it had been on her desk and was under the rubble.
Trapped in a space about 2m long under her L-shaped desk, she forced herself to stay determined to survive.
"I could move my arms and legs, and I had a little room, and fresh air. That's when I thought, 'I'm going to get out of here alive', and I remained that way the whole time I was trapped. I had to.
"I thought to myself, over and over, 'I'm alive. I'm okay'."
Ms Bodkin started calling out, but realised she might need her voice later, so she started banging a large piece of Perspex against a nearby radiator. There was no answer. Hours passed.
"The worst thing was that the sprinklers came on three times when the rescuers were drilling.
"I was worried I would fall asleep and get too cold, so I tried to stay warm by doing exercises, rubbing my arms, moving my legs.
"I was shivering and cold. I was wet the whole time."
She thought of her husband, Graham Richardson, and clung to the memories of their four-month holiday last year to America and Europe.
"And I was thinking about all the holidays we would have in the future."
Night fell. About 10 people were pulled to safety in the first night, but Ms Bodkin was not found.
It was a change of rescue team the following day that gave her a chance to communicate with the outside world.
Just before midday, after almost 24 hours since the building collapsed, there was a lull in the noise outside. She cried out for help.
"They had turned the machines off. I called and I heard someone say, 'Is that someone calling from in there?' I called again.
"I was hugely relieved. That was the first time I cried."
Rescuers contacted Mr Richardson and he arrived soon afterwards.
It took some time to find her exact position, because the tangled debris made it difficult to establish where her voice was coming from.
Rescuers thought she was 10m from the edge of the building, but it turned out she was 20m in.
They used a stick to pass a water bottle to her, then cut a hole in the wall to free her.
She then had to inch - on her back, feet first - through the debris to the light.
Just as she was about to reach her freedom, a nasty aftershock gripped the building once more.
"We thought, 'Oh no, not now," Mr Richardson said.
"It had been a two and three-quarter hour rescue. To lose her at that stage would have been horrific.
"But the rescuers didn't budge. They looked at her and said, 'We're going to get you out'."
The aftershock subsided and she emerged just as the sun came out.
She was wrapped in a blanket, attached to the end of the fire truck ladder and lowered to the ground to medics, rescuers, and a beaming Mr Richardson.
"I remember lots of faces staring, and then getting a glimpse of my husband. That was fantastic. He said something to me, but I had a neck brace on and all I could do was giggle. I was just so happy."
Said Mr Richardson: "I told her I'd thought I'd lost her forever. And I told her I loved her. It was very emotional. Just unreal."
They thanked "everyone who was involved in the rescue".
Ms Bodkin is recovering from cracked ribs and bruises.
Mr Richardson said he was coming to terms with people being in awe of his wife for surviving her ordeal. "She doesn't think so, though. She just thinks she did everything she could do to stay alive."
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