A TOP cricketer due to join Ramsbottom has told how the New Zealand earthquake has devastated his home town.

Shanan Stewart, aged 28, said he feels “very lucky” after the disaster shattered the lives of his friends and colleagues in Christchurch.

The professional cricketer, who will join Ramsbottom Cricket Club when the Lancashire League starts in April, was with his partner, Kasia, and their four-month-old baby, Anya, at their home in Sydenham — a few minutes drive from the city centre — when the earthquake struck.

He said: “I was talking on the phone to my mate in our second-floor apartment and suddenly everything started shaking and smashing so I yelled to my partner to grab Anya and get outside.

“I knew Kasia’s daughter, Sara, who is 14-years-old, was walking home from school so we got in the car and starting driving around to find her.

“It should only take 20 minutes but the roads were a mess and the traffic was really bad so it took hours. Sand was rising on the roads and there were big craters.

“We went back to our apartment and luckily she had managed to walk home.”

But just as Mr Stewart thought things were beginning to calm down, a strong aftershock struck and the family sought shelter in their car.

He said: “We stayed in the car for about four hours and everyone was running around in the streets, but we didn’t really know about the deaths until we turned the radio on.” The earthquake, of a magnitude of 6.3, struck the city at 12.51pm local time on Tuesday, February 22.

So far 154 people are confirmed dead but officials say that figure could rise as dozens of people are still missing.

Mr Stewart said: “I’ve lived in New Zealand all my life and never experienced a disaster this bad. We had an earthquake in September which measured 7.3 but this one seems much worse.”

Shanan’s partner, originally from Poland, will fly home with the children on Monday while Shanan clears the rubble from the flat. He is due to arrive in Ramsbottom on April 19 and will be joined by his family in June.