Earthquake survivor: 'I was certain we were all going to die.'

With no warning the earth roared and shook us ferociously. I dived under my desk.

Halfway through I wanted to see if my colleagues were okay, so stupidly I stuck my head out, only to be hit by a piece of roof.

Across the room from under their desk someone was yelling "Yahoo!" like it was a funfair ride. I was certain we were all going to die.

After what seemed like forever the shaking stopped and my colleagues emerged and checked each other. "Get out!" screamed one. "Stay where you are," said another.

We walked down the back stairs, which were intact. All I could see of the newsroom was the roof of the three-storey building. No people in sight. I had walked through there 10 minutes before and it had been busy.

A split-second decision to answer an email instead of having a cigarette break probably saved my life. Outside on the street strangers held each other, crying and gazing bewildered at the gutted ghetto around us. I saw colleagues crying, people covered in blood.

All the while enormous aftershocks hit us every five minutes, each one accompanied by mournful screaming and sirens.

After standing together for an hour it suddenly dawned on me that the blue blankets on the street opposite us were covering bodies.

Seeing the cathedral crumpled like a toy was a heart-in-mouth moment. I saw easily 30 bodies in the streets and believe it is more likely that hundreds have been killed.

Between 1pm and 4.30pm I tried to call my partner, Matt, nearly 500 times but couldn't get through. Then a text arrived from him, saying: "We OK xxx".

Turns out he had been driving with my three youngest children - twins Travis and Finn, three, and two-year-old Hollie - when the quake hit. Their car had lurched across the road and ended up in a hole.

But immense relief turned to horror when another text from Matt revealed that my eldest daughter, Lily, 11, was not with them. For the first time I howled like a baby. Five minutes later I wept with joy when my neighbour said Lily was safe with her.

I managed to be reunited with Matt and the children about six and a half hours after the disaster struck.

I feel traumatised - and I haven't experienced a fraction of the pain of some in this city.