Survivor of quake dies

The woman pulled from the wreckage at Elms Homestead, near Kaikoura, after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake has died.

Margaret Edgar, who turned 100 years old earlier this year, died on Monday at the Kaikoura Hospital Rest Home, where she had lived since the earthquake.

The large homestead, where Margaret had lived with her family since 1952, was reduced to rubble in the November 14 quake.

Her son 74-year-old Louis Edgar was killed when the historic home collapsed.

Margaret was rescued along with her daughter-inlaw Pam Edgar after neighbour Bryan Seddon raised the alarm.

First on the scene at the homestead, built in 1875, all Seddon saw was a pile of twisted rubble, glass and concrete.

‘‘It was a massive house, two-storey, 18 bedrooms ... but the whole thing had collapsed ... puff. ... Pam Edgar had got out somehow and she was walking around in a daze when I found her,’’ Seddon said at the time.

He tried to call 111 but the phone was not working and he drove over roads with a ‘‘few humps and hollows’’ to raise the alarm.

The Kaikoura Volunteer Fire Brigade and GP Dr Chris Henry spent hours searching for Margaret and her son.