As many Canadians attempt to leave the earthquake zone in New Zealand, CTV News found several Calgarians who are staying behind - for now.
Dr. Liane Belland was living with her family in Christchurch when the earthquake hit.
They all made it out alive but their apartment is badly damaged. "Everything was swaying. It was like being on a ship in a fairly violent storm, to the point my son was perhaps a metre-and-a-half away from me and I couldn't get to him because I fell on the floor," says Dr. Belland.
Dr. Belland is a Calgary gynecologist who is in Christchurch on a fellowship learning advanced laparoscopic surgery. She says the devastation caused by the quake is unimaginable.
Dr. Belland adds that her medical services aren't needed right now so she's still trying to decide her next move. At this point it looks like she'll be returning to Calgary, as originally planned, at the end of March.
Julie Rowley is another Calgarian who was living in Christchurch when the earthquake struck.
Rowley moved there just over a year ago, with her husband and three children, and says she is anxious to move back home to Canada. "Quite frankly, I wanted to come back after the first [earthquake in September]. I don't want to live somewhere that has earthquakes all the time."
Local travel agents who specialize in trips to the South Island say they've been receiving calls from tourists in the quake zone.
"We are getting calls from people who want to be helped out of the area, not because they feel they're in danger but because their trip is over and things are all over the place and they don't know how to get out," says Jason Webb from Downunder Travel.
Despite the chaos, Webb says he hasn't received any calls from people wanting to cancel their upcoming trips to New Zealand.
Webb believes New Zealanders are tough enough, and resilient enough, that they will recover from this disaster.
