Consultant In Crisis. Alison Roberts
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Christchurch and their careers weren’t a million miles apart. But it had been nearly two years now. It was more than likely that an emergency department registrar would have headed overseas for post-graduate experience and then chosen a bigger centre to come back to if he had returned to New Zealand at all. Besides, it had been Kelly who had chosen to end the relationship and the decision had been the right one. The only one. She had come to terms with that a very long time ago and she had moved on. Sorted out what she wanted from life and made damned sure that she was going to achieve it. Even if she did cross paths with Fletch it would make no difference. No difference whatsoever.
‘Nothing heard.’ Joe sounded disappointed. He was probably as weary as everyone else on the team now. The search was physically demanding and, so far, unrewarding. They had located one victim, whose position had been marked with fluorescent orange paint on a small slab of concrete further down the hill. A large ‘V’ for ‘victim’ with an arrow pointed to the precise location. A line through the centre of the ‘V’ indicated that the victim was dead.
Information received on their arrival at the disaster scene suggested that at least two more people were missing—trapped somewhere inside this potentially lethal environment. Subsurface. Casualties that had not been buried had already been removed. An ambulance triage station was dealing with the wounded. A temporary morgue held the less fortunate victims.
‘OK, team.’ The shout came from a man standing below the line. Their team leader, Ross Turnball, looked perfectly at ease with his environment. He balanced easily on the insecure footing and moved with a grace that advertised an enjoyment of physical challenges. ‘Move forward one metre.’
‘Avoid the overhang.’ The order came from another man standing apart from the chain. The confidence that the safety officer, Kyle, displayed was less convincing. ‘And there’s a single piece of reinforcing rod above you, Kelly. I’ve marked it.’
Kelly could see the piece of twisted steel, its rust largely covered by the orange spray paint. She could also see the overhang of the concrete slab above her head to the left. The weight of rubble on top of the slab made it dangerous to get close to. Kelly didn’t need reminding of the potential for aftershocks following the earthquake that had caused these buildings to collapse in the first place. Even a small tremor now could make precariously balanced debris a very real danger for the rescue team.
The careful spacing of the line of rescuers needed to be modified to accommodate the danger of the overhang. That meant that she and Fletch would have to increase the distance between them considerably. Kelly took a deep breath and began to move, remembering to kept three points of contact with the debris at all times. One foot, one hand, the other foot and then the final handhold. One more repetition should take her to her new position well to the right of the overhang. And Neil Fletcher would be well to the left. At least three metres away from her this time.
‘Rescue team above. Can you hear me?’
Kelly could barely hear Jessica’s voice at the far end of the line as the new series of calls began. With no hope of hearing any response from this distance it was all too easy to let her concentration lapse again.
How could she have been so confident that crossing paths with Fletch would make no difference? That first day of the USAR training course had dispelled that confidence big time. The first thirty minutes had been almost unbearable. Having entered the classroom, Kelly had almost turned on her heel and walked out again. It had been so totally unexpected, seeing Fletch sitting there. The shock had taken her breath away, left her completely numb for a split second, and then a horrible sensation like pins and needles had travelled through her whole body. Her fingers and toes had still been tingling as she’d eased herself onto the nearest available chair. Talk about someone walking across your grave. Someone resembling King Kong had just landed on hers with steel-capped boots.
‘Nothing heard.’ The voice was much closer now. It must be Fletch’s turn again. Unconsciously, Kelly braced herself for the sound of his voice.
‘Rescue team above. Can you hear me?’
Kelly could hear echoes of his voice in the silence. Echoes sending fingers reaching into her past that could retrieve memories she’d thought she’d buried as effectively as this debris had buried its victims. Memories of passion. Of hopes and dreams that had seemed so achievable. Of a pain that hadn’t been worth risking again. Did Fletch feel any of it? Kelly willed herself not to turn and stare at him. Of course he didn’t. After the anger that her abrupt departure had, no doubt, generated he’d probably been relieved when she’d left. He’d never tried to contact her, had he? Never bothered to ask why she’d just posted back the engagement ring.
‘I can hear something!’ The excitement in Fletch’s voice jarred Kelly into focusing. Had she been mistaken in thinking she could hear an echo of his voice? They shouldn’t be working together. Not this closely.
A murmur ran down the chain of rescuers when Fletch raised his arm to confirm his suspicion. The sound was terminated by a sharp blast of a whistle.
‘Silence on the site,’ Ross shouted to reinforce the whistle command. ‘Fletch—repeat your call.’
This time Kelly also raised her arm as she listened. Then she pointed in the direction from where she could hear the faint sound. To her left. Fletch was pointing to his right. The faint sound of someone groaning or maybe calling out was coming from just above the overhang. The line of rescuers was broken as Ross issued clear commands.
‘Joe, go up two metres and then to your left one metre. Jessica, go up one metre and then to your right one metre. Owen, see if you can move to a position a couple of metres above and between Joe and Jessica. Kyle, double check for hazards.’
Team members moved to their new positions, fatigue replaced by a sense of anticipation.
‘There’s a void in here,’ Jessica shouted. She moved a length of broken timber to reveal a triangle of clear space formed by a sheet of roofing iron resting on a ledge of rubble. ‘I think I can see someone.’ Her voice rose excitedly. ‘Hello—can you hear me?’
Kelly couldn’t hear the response clearly enough to make out the words but that didn’t detract from the sense of satisfaction. They had located a survivor.
‘Her name’s Wendy,’ Jessica relayed a minute later. ‘She’s breathing all right but can’t move her legs. She thinks she may have been unconscious for a while.’
Kyle was spraying an orange ‘V’ onto the nearest available surface.
‘Move a bit further to your left, Fletch,’ Ross instructed. ‘We don’t know what position this woman is lying in. We’ll need to start removing debris from a distance of three metres or so. Jessica, keep talking to her. Try and find out whether she knows of anyone else who may be trapped.’ Ross looked away as he turned his attention back to the whole job. ‘Fletch, Kelly and Joe, you can stay to shift rubble and provide any medical attention needed. We’ll get a Stokes basket up to you shortly. The rest of you form a new line. We need to cover the rest of this sector. As far as we know, we still have one missing person to locate.’
Clearing rubble to gain access to the void was painstaking and slow. They couldn’t risk collapsing the space the survivor was confined in and had to be careful not to make their own positions any less stable. The safety officer was supervising the operation and directing placement of larger pieces of shifted debris.
‘Watch out, Kelly! You need two people to shift that plank.’ Kyle shook his head. ‘Fletch, give her a hand, will you?’
A long blast on the whistle, calling for silence, meant that Kelly did not have to acknowledge his assistance. Jessica paused in the reassurance she was delivering to their patient and they continued with their tasks as quietly as possible as the new line and hail search got under way a little distance above and to their left.
‘Rescue team above. Can you hear me?’
New team members picked their way carefully up the disaster site, bringing with them a Stokes basket. The heavy-duty moulded plastic stretcher had handles and strap attachments