Ballymena man caught up in New Zealand earthquake

Local solicitor, Gary Millar had been outside the Christchurch Cathedral on the day the 6.3-magnitude tremor struck last Tuesday, which left at least 98 people dead.

He had arranged to meet his cousin outside the building and mercifically left the area to go for coffee when the quake struck.

Mr Millar spent the few hours after the quake contacting worried family members back home to tell them that he was safe.

The force of the quake brought down the historical building onto an area where Mr Miller’s cousin had been standing shortly before, Mr Millar said: “My cousin was standing looking up at the cathedral and thinking how it had withstood the quake in September. If my shuttle bus had been delayed he would have been standing there waiting for me and would have been killed.”

Mr Millar, who practises with TS McAllister and Son in Ballymena, was inside a cafe when the earthquake hit, he added: “Initially it was like the effect of a large articulated lorry but then the crockery started rattling and the building started to rattle as well. Then the ground started to move. Someone was actually killed in the bookshop in Riccarton, so we were very lucky.

“There was a pretty significant aftershock too. There have been 17 aftershocks since. The problem is the buildings were weakened by the earthquake in September.”

Mr Miller had travelled to New Zealand to complete a skydive for Cancer Research on February 12. He has been fundraising for the charity for the past three years in memory of his grandmother and other friends and relatives.