FORMER Ballarat man Peter Shorten was walking to his car in the middle of Christchurch when the devastating earthquake hit the New Zealand city about lunchtime yesterday.He was halfway along an 80-metre laneway leading to Cathedral Square when the 6.3 magnitude quake hit."As soon as I felt the tremors I started to run, because I was surrounded by tall buildings. I knew my feet had to move quickly if I was to get out of that laneway. At one stage I looked over my left shoulder to see bricks coming down," said Mr Shorten, a former Ballarat Clarendon College student."As I entered Cathedral Square, I could see the main Christchurch Cathedral swaying from 10 o'clock to 2o'clock, then it just came down in a pile of rubble, dust and debris. There were windows breaking everywhere around me and a flagpole landed right beside me."Mr Shorten was shocked by the number of people falling around him injured and in distress, but counts himself lucky he was on his lunch break. The financial controller, who had been working for the Christchurch City Council, was walking to his car when the earthquake hit. Photo gallery - Christchurch, the morning after"My office is on the fifth floor of a six-storey building. While it is a modern, well-constructed building, I didn't know whether it could have withstood the force of such a big quake. I later heard the council building did sustain damage," he said."Buildings were collapsing all around me and people were being hit by flying debris. In one of the main streets in the CBD, people were pulling out what seemed to be a lifeless body from underneath a verandah. I was very lucky I wasn't injured."Mr Shorten was still in the city when a second aftershock hit the city. "The buildings were shaking vigorously and the spire on a 100-year-old cathedral was swaying side to side. While the spire actually separated from the building for a while, remarkably it is still up there," Mr Shorten said."The whole experience was very frightening, but was one of those things that nothing could have been done about it."During the confusion after the earthquake, Mr Shorten managed to take a couple of photographs of the broken city on his mobile phone. "I couldn't use my phone too much, because I needed to save battery to text my wife to say I was OK," he said.With Christchurch cordoned off after the earthquake and his car trapped in a car park, Mr Shorten was forced to walk five kilometres out of the city before hitching a ride with a motorist to drive another eight kilometres, where he met his wife Susan on the highway. "It was just sheer relief when we saw each other," he said.Ms Shorten, who was also raised in Ballarat, was at a lunch function about 90 kilometres from Christchurch when the earthquake hit. She was on the second floor of a reception centre when the building shook violently from the tremors.Mr Shorten, who experienced the 7.1 magnitude earthquake which hit New Zealand on September 4 last year, said yesterday's tremors resulted in more widespread damage. "Today's quake was only five kilometres from the surface and violently shook the buildings. The September 4 quake, which hit about 4.30am, was quite passive."A prayer vigil for people in Christchurch will be held today in the Ballarat Anglican Cathedral in Lydiard Street South. The vigil will be held at 10.51am, the time at which the earthquake hit yesterday.A prayer place and a place of commemoration has been established at the Ballarat Cathedral, along with a book to collect prayers for the people of Christchurch. The book and messages will be sent to the bishop in Christchurch.* If you are concerned about Australians in Christchurch you should try to contact them directly first. You can also contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 or 1300 555 135 within Australia.Do you know any Ballarat residents in Christchurch? Click here to let us know