CHRISTCHURCH: Members of Pakistan’s national cricket squad were shaken on Sunday when a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch and its adjoining areas with team manager Wasim Bari describing it as a terrifying experience.
“We are staying at a hotel in Nelson, where we were playing our tour match but today when the earthquake came it was a terrifying experience as everything was shaking badly and we were safely escorted out of the hotel,” Bari said from New Zealand on Sunday.
“The hotel staff took great care of us and quickly evacuated us from our seventh floor rooms and have now taken us to a safe zone until the Tsunami warnings are over,” he said.
Pakistan’s only tour match before the first Test in Christchurch from Nov 17 was also washed out on the final day on Sunday in Nelson and Bari said this had deprived the players a great opportunity to acclimatise to the conditions in New Zealand.
“Most of the players were in their rooms watching the India and England Test when it came, the quake was a powerful one and the windows and doors were banging around and it was shaking as we were rushed out. But everyone has settled down now and we also called up the women’s team in Christchurch to find out if they were okay,” the former Test captain said.
Bari said the visiting team would reach Christchurch on Monday and hoped the weather would hold up.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan women’s squad, who are also touring New Zealand, was even closer, staying on the 13th floor of a hotel in Christchurch. Their team manager Basit Ali said they were all safe but ‘still scared’.
