When Leah Gill woke to an earthquake last week her partner told her to stay in bed.
Later, a piece of stone wall fell on the bed and drove the bed through the bedroom floor of the farmhouse they shared in Ward, New Zealand.
By that point, Gill and her partner, David Buick, were safely outside on the lawn.
“We just kind of ran out onto the front lawn and watched the house sort of shake itself to the ground,” she said.
Gill, a P.E.I. native, moved to New Zealand in August to be with her partner, whom she met while travelling in that country a few years ago.
When Leah Gill woke to an earthquake last week her partner told her to stay in bed.
Later, a piece of stone wall fell on the bed and drove the bed through the bedroom floor of the farmhouse they shared in Ward, New Zealand.
By that point, Gill and her partner, David Buick, were safely outside on the lawn.
“We just kind of ran out onto the front lawn and watched the house sort of shake itself to the ground,” she said.
Gill, a P.E.I. native, moved to New Zealand in August to be with her partner, whom she met while travelling in that country a few years ago.
Contacted by phone Monday, Gill said she had never experienced an earthquake before and often asked Buick what to do if one happened.
He told her not to worry and that the farmhouse they lived in withstood earthquakes for about 100 years, she said.
“That night it was a totally different beast.”
Ward is in the northeastern part of New Zealand’s South Island and on Nov. 14 an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale hit the country.
Gill said she was a bit excited at first when the earthquake woke her, but that feeling didn’t last long.
“In no time at all it went from zero to 100,” she said.
After a few seconds, Buick started telling her they needed to get out of the house while she was waiting for the earthquake to subside, she said.
That didn’t happen.
“I was just hanging on for dear life to the headboard because I was afraid to let go,” Gill said.
“It was just tossing me around like I was on a mechanical bull almost.”
Gill said Buick tried to get out through a door, but the frame buckled, stone from the house started letting go and she heard what sounded like glass exploding around her.
A wardrobe closet also blocked their exit, leaving the couple to climb out where one of the house’s walls used to be before it collapsed, Gill said.
“The whole entire wall was gone so it was a no-brainer we could get out that way and that’s how we got out.”
Gill said the sound of breaking timber and smashing glass was incredible with the ground itself sounding like it was growling.
“It was probably the most horrific thing I could have imagined really.”
Despite extensive damage that left three houses on the 3,000-acre farm condemned, Gill said everyone managed to get out of them safely.
For now, Gill and Buick will be staying in a camper and she said people in Ward have been very supportive.
“It’s been quite inspiring actually,” she said.
