Donegal man feared for his life in NZ earthquake
A Letterkenny man has told how he feared for his life after his New Zealand home was seriously damaged in the weekend earthquake which struck the city of Christchurch.
Sean Browne (36) was thrown from his bed when the earthquake hit at around 4.30am last Friday. Part of the roof on his home fell in and two chimneys collapsed during the incident.
Sean and his girlfriend managed to escape injury but they were badly shook up after the ordeal. "We didn't know what was happening. It was frightening - for a few minutes all you could think of was, what the hell's happening here.
"The lights went out, I was on the floor beside the bed and I actually thought, someone had pulled me from the bed. But when we saw the damage in the house and all the items that were broken, we realised it was an earthquake."
Sean who is from Cove Hill in Letterkenny, works in Christchurch as an electrician since moving their almost five years ago. He says the city suffered severe structural damage over the weekend with up to 40 after-shocks reported throughout Saturday. "There were a couple of people injured but amazingly, there were no fatalities," he said. "The funny thing is, with all this damage, there'll be plenty of work for 'sparkies' round here now."
A son of Brendan and Eileen Browne, Sean spoke to his family over the weekend and was happy to report that he was okay after the earthquake. Speaking yesterday to the DPP/Democrat, he said he plans to return home for a holiday next year when his brother Paul and sister, Elaine are both due to get married.
Sean wasn't the only Letterkenny native to survive the earthquake ordeal. Mary Dunne from Illistrin recounted the weekend incident on Highland Radio's Shaun Doherty show yesterday morning and said she had never been as frightened in her life.
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Weather for Donegal
Thursday 17 May 2012
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