Christchurch aftershocks: 90-year-old salutes 'urban angels'

Ray Lyons is delighted with all the people who turned out to help tidy his 'munted' flat. Photo / Greg Bowker

Christchurch's earthquakes might have brought out peoples' fears and frustrations, but for 90-year-old Ray Lyons it brought out the city's "urban angels".

Mr Lyons' small flat was turned upside down by Monday's two big quakes, which tore shelves off the walls in his kitchen and left possessions piled up on the floor.

The mess was so bad he could not even get into the kitchen of his small council flat.

"There was crap everywhere."

Having recently suffered two heart attacks and struggling with a clot on his lungs, Mr Lyons could not tackle the clean-up himself: "I'm no good at bending you see - I'm a bit creaky in the knees."

With no one else to call on, he phoned the local talkback radio station and put out a plea for some help, with his telephone number.

Within 15 minutes three women had offered to come and help. Soon after, two plain-clothes police officers turned up at his door.

"They said 'you're in trouble?' And I said 'oh, a bit'. And [one officer] said: 'Well, we have come to help'."

The pair set about clearing his kitchen and putting the shelves back up.

"They were marvellous. They just got stuck in like real experts."

Two other women turned up to pitch in as well. One brought freshly cooked pikelets.

Mr Lyons said those who came to his aid were Christchurch's "urban angels".

"All in all, it was a delightful occasion. I couldn't get over their generosity. One of them was in a house that had been munted. I was humbled - I really was."

Mr Lyons said that when the quakes struck on Monday he was sitting in his flat with his neighbour and "all hell broke loose".

"Everything bounced around and the next thing the television was airborne. And [the neighbour] caught it and saved it. I was staring at him and looking at him in awe, and he just said 'get out'."

Mr Lyons hopes the next phase of his life is less dramatic. "I was aiming for the ton, but things are getting a bit dicey."