Exhausted rescuers feel quake’s emotional toll
| focus |
 |
CHRISTCHURCH — Devastated rescue workers had to be dragged away from the wreckage of Christchurch’s CTV building, unable to stop thinking of the entombed earthquake victims they were leaving behind.
“It’s not a matter of just walking away from a worksite, they were touching bodies,” said police commander Dave Cliff, describing how searchers refused to leave the fire-scarred site on Wednesday night, 24 hours after the tremor.
“This is deeply emotional for those people working on this. They do it because they have an absolute desire to help people, to find people to rescue.”
About 700 rescue workers are now sifting steel and concrete wreckage in central Christchurch, New Zealand’s second-biggest city, which was hammered Tuesday by the vicious 6.3-magnitude earthquake..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com7.html
0 comments
Post a Comment