Locals and tourists flock to eat and drink at O’Flynns bar, which opened its doors shortly after the earthquake struck

In O’Flynns Irish pub, the glasses are full but the voices are subdued.

There was only one topic of conversation at the single storey venue in Hanmer Springs, a tiny town close to the epicentre of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck New Zealand’s South Island in the very early hours of Monday morning.

As the 100-plus patrons talked, the ground rumbled beneath their feet, reminded them of why they were there.

“The mood is somber and very on edge,” Alan McBann, the manager of O’Flynns, said. “There was a shake before and everyone froze. No one is going full-on [drinking] because everyone knows if you have to run, you have to run. They are preparing for the worst. They want to be awake and in reasonable shape.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alan McBann, the manager of O’Flynns in Hanmer Springs. Photograph: Eleanor Ainge Roy/The Guardian

A series of quakes on Monday swallowed roads, twisted railway lines and left towns and cities damaged and deserted across the country. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the middle of the night to seek higher ground following a tsunami alert – later lifted – covering the entire east coast. Two people were declared dead.

The quake struck about 12 miles south-east of Hanmer Springs, at a depth of about 10 miles. Landslides blocked the single lane bridge – suspended more than 100 metres (330 feet) above a narrow gorge – that leads in the town, which has a resident population of fewer than 1,000 people, but swells during holidays as people flock to its hot springs. For many trapped there on Monday, O’Flynns was the only place to go.

McBann knew when the earthquake hit that he would be busy helping, serving and reassuring locals. His 30-plus staff members, half of whom are tourists, reported for work at 2am, shortly after the quake struck.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The quake tore up roads and buckled railway lines on the east coast. Photograph: Mark Mitchell/AFP/Getty Images

“The first thing they said was: ‘What time should we be in this morning?’ If everyone shuts all hell will break loose. I hate closing. We are renowned for staying open.

“People need feeding. There are people who have no supplies, people need to eat. It is what we always do, come in and pick up the pieces. All the other places sent their staff home to be with their families … For our staff, we are their families.”

Briton Mark Skett and his wife Lisa were in a camper van in Hanmer Springs when the earthquake struck. The couple, who are halfway through a three-month tour of New Zealand, recalled how they clung to each other in fear as their van shook. On Monday night, they went to O’Flynns because there was nowhere else to eat or drink in town.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mark and Lisa Skett. Photograph: Eleanor Ainge Roy/The Guardian

“I was in shock, no doubt. You don’t know when it will hit again,” Mark said. “The Kiwis were so cool, calm and collected. They were helping us through it. They were informative and nonplussed. They seemed to know everything about earthquakes, and what to do.”

“We were shaking and in a state of shock,” Lisa said. “We couldn’t go back to sleep, but I think all the Kiwis did. The locals are so knowledgeable of all the fault lines around here and what to expect.”

Dave Platt, the British chef at O’Flynns, came to the pub at 8am and started cleaning and prepping as soon as the power was restored mid-morning. “I was in bed with a screaming, terrified wife when it struck,” he said.

“She went through the Christchurch earthquakes so she was a bawling wreck. We went into the garden waiting for everything to stop. The house was a mess, fish tank half empty. Two fantastic bottles of scotch – off the top shelf! – smashed. The two cheap ones survived. I had a beer outside till 3am.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dave Platt in the kitchen at O’Flynns. Photograph: Eleanor Ainge Roy/The Guardian

Karen Ellen, an Irish waitress at the pub, was also in bed with her partner when the quake struck. “We realised how bad it was, jumped up, tried to run down the stairs but it was shaking too much. The lights went out, the electricity blew.

“We couldn’t make it down the stairs because of the shaking. My boyfriend told me to get on the ground and he lay on top of me to protect me. We waited for the shaking to stop and then got up and ran down the stairs.”

Ellen, visibly nervous and upset, continued to work throughout Monday and advised everyone who left the pub to stay safe. “It was awful,” she said. “I thought the house was going to collapse, I thought we were going to die.”

Everyone in the pub, she added, was “quite up and down … but it is good to have each other to have a laugh and a joke - until another tremor”.



New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, has said the bill for damage from the earthquake will likely run into billions of New Zealand dollars, and the Red Cross says its volunteers are struggling to reach affected regions.

Worst hit was Kaikoura, a coastal town of about 2,000 people famous for whale watching, which has been almost completely cut off from the outside world, with roads closed and phone lines down. A state of emergency was declared there and six people with serious injuries were airlifted out. One person died in Kaikoura and another in Mount Lyford, a nearby ski resort, according to police.

Video shot from a helicopter showed three cows left stranded on an island of grass in a nearby paddock that had been torn up by the quake.

In Wellington, the quake forced hundreds of tourists on to the streets as hotels were evacuated. Nick Kingstone, a 39-year-old marketing manager, said the repeated shakes felt like “living on a sleeping dragon who’s waking up”.

Anxiety was high in the capital because there are several fault lines under the city that have not moved for a long time, he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The quake caused severe damage to the state highway near Ohau Point on the east coast. Photograph: Mark Mitchell/AFP/Getty Images

In Hanmer Spring, tourists Gavin and Shirley McCormack from Hamilton were in their motel room when the quake struck. “We told one another we loved one another and said goodbye, because we thought we were going to die,” Gavin said.

“When it stopped we tried to find our clothes and find the light to turn on and get out of the place. It was violent, like a freight train coming through the door.”



Karen and Beau Matchitt, tourists from Matamata in the North Island, were booked on a ferry from Picton to Wellington on Tuesday morning, but have been forced to stay put and eat and drink at O’Flynns.

“We are so privileged that somewhere has stayed open for us,” Beau said. “So we could eat and have a coffee and just sort of calm down a bit. We are really grateful.”