CHRISTCHURCH - Japanese students who were rescued from the collapsed CTV Building housing the King's Education language school have recounted the scene at the cafeteria when the powerful earthquake hit Christchurch at lunchtime Tuesday.

Quake aftermath Click on thumbnail to view. View more photos here

Drawing a diagram of the cafeteria, Yukio Minami, a student of the Toyama College of Foreign Languages, who was rescued from the debris nine hours after the quake, described what his teacher and friends experienced. The 19-year-old student from Imizu, Toyama Prefecture, said his fellow Toyama college students had taken their first class at the language school Tuesday and were on a lunch break from 12:30 p.m.

An orientation session was scheduled to start at 1 p.m., so Minami went to the cafeteria for lunch on the fourth floor of the CTV Building. "About 60 people, including about 20 fellow students from the [Toyama] school were having lunch and chatting," he recalled.

Across the table from Minami were Toyama student Kento Okuda, 19, and the school's teacher, Tomoko Kiyu, 43, who was seated at the table's right corner.

Survivor Narumi Kuroda, another student from the school, also offered details of the scene, saying, "I was eating alone at a small table beside the wall with a window."

Risa Kakizawa, 19, and Chie Tanaka, also 19, were at the next table, Kuroda said.

Shortly after some small tremors, the devastating earthquake struck the city at 12:51 p.m., smashing windows. The CTV Building went black and then collapsed.

Minami said he saw a wall falling in front of him and blocking his vision. And then, Okuda asked him: "I can't feel anything on my right leg. What about you?" according to Minami.

Kuroda, a 19-year-old resident of Oyabe, Toyama Prefecture, heard people around her breathing with difficulty. She said to Kakizawa who was complaining of pain, "Just try to breathe."

Okuda, Kiyu, Kakizawa and Tanaka were rescued later.

Minami, who suffered an injury to his right arm, said, "Besides the cafeteria, I think there were many students in classrooms and in hallways."

"I was lucky. I'm worried about everyone else," he added.

-The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network