Student Who Survived Collapse of CTV Building Submits MA
university-of-canterbury
Thu Mar 24 2011 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Student Who Survived Collapse of CTV Building Submits MA
Thursday, 24 March 2011, 11:19 am
Press Release: University of Canterbury
Student Who Survived Collapse of CTV Building Submits MA Thesis
Quin Tang has gone on to complete and submit her thesis
23 February was set to be an important day for University of Canterbury student Quin Tang. She was due to hand in her Masters thesis after three years of part-time study. When the earthquake struck on 22 February she was at work on the fifth floor of the CTV building with her colleagues from Relationship Services.
Quin was trapped in the collapsed building until she was rescued by construction workers. “My first thought was wondering where my children where and if they were alright. A kind stranger gave me a lift part of the way home and I walked the rest of the way and was amazed to see that my house was standing and that my children were fine. It was only when I turned on the television that I realised the scale of what had happened to the building that I had been working in.
“One of my colleagues didn’t survive and a number of others are badly injured. My surviving colleagues are now working in a temporary office but I am taking a rest, staying connected with them, but appreciating the simple things in life.”
Since the earthquake Quin has gone on to complete and submit her thesis on the acceptability of alternative treatments for problem gambling.
Quin said that submitting her thesis was important to her in the wake of the earthquake. “When it came to possessions in my house I thought, ‘I can afford to lose anything else but not this piece of work.’ Now I know that it is in a safe place I feel that such a weight has been lifted. I’m not in a hurry to get the results – my part’s done.”
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Continuity is an important part of dealing with what has happened, she said. “To any other students who are thinking of stopping their studies I would like to say that the carrying on in post-earthquake Christchurch is a life assignment. It’s an assignment that we don’t get very often, maybe once in a lifetime. Make your mark with this assignment.”
Quin said that the earthquake was a horrible thing that she wouldn’t want anyone to have to go through but she is trying to make something positive from it. “I’ve reconnected with who I am and what is important to me. I am taking time to appreciate the little things – being in the garden and hearing birds singing. That sense of calm and peace I get from doing those things is very grounding. It helps me feel that I am not still up on the fifth floor. I am trying to focus on the here and now and not worry about the future or repeat the past in my head. I am trying to just focus on now, touch the grass, cook a simple meal and try to let it go. It’s not easy.”
While it was very hard to say goodbye to her friend and colleague who did not survive, Quin said that taking a spiritual perspective has helped her. “The spiritual journey continues even if the physical journey is not there anymore. I’ve got to have faith in people and life.”
Two books have given her great comfort - Authentic Happiness (2002) by Martin Seligman and The Seat of the Soul (1990) by Gary Zukav. “Martin Seligman wrote, “Why were the adults who faced World War II the "greatest generation"? Not because they were made of different stuff than we are, but because they faced a time of trouble that evoked the ancient strengths within.”
The University has also played a part in Quin’s healing process and she believes that it has a role to play for others. “UC is the soul of Christchurch for me. It’s my home.” She is now contemplating further study, perhaps a project to do with the trauma of natural disasters or cross-cultural trauma.
Quin’s primary thesis supervisor, Associate-Professor Neville Blampied, is full of admiration for Quin’s commitment to her studies in the face of her experience.
“Quin has shown remarkable stoicism and resilience,” he said, “and we can all be proud of her achievement. Her thesis was jointly supervised by Associate-Professor Judi Miller from the UC Counselling Programme, and is a pioneering study of the acceptability of bicultural and multicultural modifications to standard counselling modalities, so it is wonderful that her work survived the quake and will become available to the counselling profession when the examination process is completed.”
Ends
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