Christchurch quakes scarier than Chernobyl

Renata Marhevka and her daughter Polina take a break from shovelling sludge from around their home in Woolston. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A woman who fled the biggest nuclear power disaster in history says the Christchurch earthquakes have been far more terrifying.

Ukraine-born Renata Marheva was 12 when the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded in April 1986.

The radioactive fire burned for 10 days, expelling 190 tonne of toxic material into the atmosphere and she was evacuated from Kiev to Russia in the summer as the full extent of the disaster became clear.

She moved to New Zealand about nine years ago to give her family a better life in a healthier environment.

"It's one disaster to another. Two years ago I got divorced - so that's another disaster," she told the Herald yesterday.

Her home in Woolston was not badly damaged. However she cannot say the same for her nerves after living through three major quakes.

"For me the one on Monday was probably the worst one. In February I was in another part of town and in my car so I didn't feel it. I couldn't understand why people were running around and screaming.

"This one was the worst. I was in a cafe and I couldn't stay on my feet. I had to rush outside, it was really bad and really scary.

"When it happened I didn't have time to feel anything, I just knew that I had to get to my kids."

She rushed to pick her children up from school and preschool and had to make her way home through flooded roads affected by new liquefaction.

"It wasn't the best experience," she said.

Ms Marheva said for her, Chernobyl was not a scary experience.

"Chernobyl was completely different. We didn't actually feel it. We didn't see it, we didn't smell it. It was something we did not notice.

"With the earthquakes, I feel shaky all the time. And because it wasn't the first earthquake, we were already living on the edge for nine months. It had a huge impact on us."

After the February quake, Ms Marheva took her children to Wellington for a month to get away from the aftershocks.

"I was waking up and feeling shaky, even when there were no shakes. So we went to stay with friends.

"I was feeling shaky there too, all the time.

"I was paranoid and I couldn't leave the house and walk on the street. I just stayed home all the time. It had a huge impact on me, not like Chernobyl."