Huddersfield businesswoman Trudi Kynaston caught up in New Zealand earthquake
Sep 6 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Trudi Knayston
A SHEPLEY woman has been caught up in the earthquake which hit New Zealand.
Trudi Kynaston was on business in Christchurch when the country’s most powerful earthquake ripped a new 11ft- wide fault line in the earth’s surface.
Trudi was woken in the early hour of Saturday by her house which was “violently shaking” as a result of the 7.1-magnitude earthquake.
She was knocked to the floor but unhurt by the earthquake, and quickly got in touch with friends back in her home town to assure them she was OK.
In a series of messages, Trudi said: “Woke 4.30am Saturday to house shaking violently, alarm going off and deep, loud rumbling noise.
“Had no idea what was happening at first.
“Jumped out of bed and was knocked to my knees. Went on for a couple of minutes. Power went out.”
She got on the phone to see if family and friends had experienced the same thing, and was reassured everyone was OK.
Trudi, who works for make-up firm Illamasqua which was founded in Huddersfield by her ex-husband Julian Kynaston who is now chairman of Leeds-based marketing agency Propaganda, added: “Aftershocks continued – some for 30 seconds and almost as violent as the first – for hours after.
“Neighbour woke to chimney falling few inches from where they slept.
“Other neighbour with two small children said primal instinct kicked in, they grabbed kids, ran to car and drove away from the house.
“Locally [on] Old Taitapu Road one section split across with one half dropped 30cm – 15cm cracks along the road and bumps all over.
“Wherever local roads have moved there are eruptions of wet mud coming through and covering the surface.”
But she praised the community for rallying round.”
She added: “Supermarket staff [were] in there at 5am to begin tidying up – said they wanted to make sure community had what they need.
“Aisles blocked off and staff taking requests and clambering through the smashed bottles and spilt milk to get it.”
But she said the earthquake had left a devastating impact on the city, adding: “It’s sad to see beautiful old churches and museums with fallen stone work,” she added.
