The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Canterbury Earthquakes started hearings today to find out why the CTV building collapsed. CTV is Canterbury Television. CTV workers were in the bottom two floors. No one in those first two floors survived.

　　Today, the Royal Commission heard from several witnesses who said that after the September 2010 earthquake, the building did not feel safe. Workers thought the building moved when trucks went past but were told not to worry. Engineers had checked the building after September.

　　One witness today who had been on the top floor – the sixth floor – said she was shocked to find herself on the ground floor after the earthquake in February 2011. She could feel herself falling, as if she was in a very fast elevator. Another woman and her two young children also fell from the top floor to the ground floor but they could not get out. They were in a space like a box but were later rescued.

　　Another witness said the whole building collapsed in just a few seconds. It looked like a stack of pancakes. The only thing left was the wall with the elevators.

　　This part of the Inquiry will last about eight weeks. Eighty witnesses will give evidence. They include engineers and the owner of the building.

　　Listen to February 12th 2012 to hear about the CTV building.

　　Vocabulary

　　hearing – judges hear evidence from witnesses; it is like a court

　　witness – a person who was there, who saw what happened or is an expert

　　stack of pancakes – pile of pancakes, one on top of another

　　evidence – a witness gives evidence; he or she has to promise to tell the truth