Rep. Larsen, from New Zealand, asks for prayers for its people following deadly quake
Published 5:43 pm Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Congressman Rick Larsen left Christchurch, New Zealand, just hours before the city was the epicenter of a 6.3-magnitude earthquake.
The earthquake struck early Tuesday afternoon in that part of the world when it was still Monday here. At least 75 people were reported killed in the quake and 3
00 people are missing.
Larsen, D-Everett, was safely on the country’s north island when the quake struck. No one with the group he was traveling with was injured.
The congressman had spent part of Monday and Tuesday in Christchurch and was scheduled to meet with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. The meeting was pushed back earlier in the day, then canceled.
Larsen had traveled to the country as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation working to promote trade and security relationships between the United States and New Zealand.
He was scheduled to fly home early Wednesday, said spokeswoman Emily Halnon in Washington, D.C.
After hearing about the earthquake on Monday evening here, Larsen’s mother, Yolanda Larsen of Arlington, expressed concerned for the safety of the congressman and his fellow delegates.
“But he is OK,” Yolanda Larsen said late Monday night. “Rick called me and said he had been right downtown Christchurch, the epicenter of the quake. He said they are all fine, but people are having a tough go there in Christchurch.”
On Larsen’s Facebook page, he posted that he and his group walked to a nearby cathedral in Wellington and shared prayer with the local priest for the people of Christchurch.
“The 6.3 earthquake that hit the city of Christchurch on top of the 7.1 earthquake of September is a devastating tragedy for New Zealand,” Larsen said in a statement released by his office. “There are reports of fatalities and people trapped in buildings. The earthquake toppled the city’s symbol, the spire of the Christchurch cathedral. I ask everyone to keep the people of Christchurch in your thoughts and prayers.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
