Eight-year-old rapper accidentally catches Christchurch quake on camera

When the ground began to shake in Christchurch, New Zealand, on June 12, 8-year-old Finn McMillan was filming himself on a cell phone performing a rap song.

Christchurch, still recovering from a 6.3-magnitude quake in February that killed 181 people, endured more that 50 aftershocks on Monday, including a 6.0-magnitude tremor that toppled already-weakened buildings. An elderly man in a nursing home was killed.

"I already gave three media interviews!"

Finn McMillan was at a friend’s home in the Christchurch suburb of South Brighton, 2 kilometres from the epicentre of the quake, when the ground began to shake.

I was at a friend’s house on the day of the earthquake because school had closed earlier that day. I was playing with the cell-phone’s camera when the earthquake started. In the video you see that I tried to run out of the room but couldn’t, I was thrown against the wall. It’s ok, I didn’t hurt myself.

 

I kept on filming just because I was too scared to remember to turn the camera off. But I’m used to it because there are regularly quakes around here.

 

Then my friend’s father posted the video on YouTube. It was viewed 16,000 times, and I already gave three media interviews! I think my friends will see the video and talk to me about it tomorrow at school.”