As the earthquake death toll in New Zealand now reaches 98, many travellers are now returning home to tell their stories.
Australian Matthew Hong, who was in the city attending a medical conference, was staying at the Grand Chancellor Hotel, which is in danger of collapse at any moment.
"My luggage is up on level 24 of the Grand Chancellor Hotel. So I decided there was no point trying to be a hero trying to collect that," he told ABC Melbourne.
Other survivors told of their lucky escapes. Hotel supervisor Jovy Servitillo knew she was in trouble – she was on the 23rd floor of the Grand Chancellor, the tallest building in Christchurch.
The quake demolished the hotel stairwell and left a gaping hole, trapping Servitillo for five hours in the dark with hotel guests.
"We could feel the building sinking. It was so terrifying."
She texted family members to say she was alive and to alert rescue teams. Eventually, a crane winched a platform up to the group. About 30 others were also rescued from the hotel.
Frank Delli Cicchi, the group general manager of Singapore owner Grand Hotels International, said he was devastated to see the state of the Christchurch Hotel, which still had guests’ passports and luggage inside.
"It’s a terrible state of affairs for everybody,” he told the NZ Herald.
"If it’s coming down, that’s the way it has to be. It’s bricks and mortar and it’s more important there are no injuries or casualties. We’ve owned it since 1995. It was an office building converted to a hotel," he said of the block.
The hotel employed 150 to 200 staff, depending on the season. Delli Cicchi said staff would continue to receive salaries and the group’s priority was guest and employee safety.
