The first rescuer on the scene as a house on Āwhitu Peninsula fell down a slip has described how he made a tourniquet from shoe laces and applied it to an injured man's broken leg.
Police said it may have saved the life of the Australian tourist, who is recovering in hospital along with two women.
The collapsed and smashed house has been removed and around seven other homes there are red-stickered. Residents are scared more slips are on the way.
It began with a loud crack.
"I was working a few doors down and I heard a bit of a rumble and the cracking of wood," rescuer Andy Fennell told Newshub.
Fennell was first on the scene, arriving at the house as it began moving.
"I could see the slip starting to come down and I just started yelling, 'Get out, get out'," Fennell said.
But it all happened so quickly - the three people inside had little time to react.
"It all came down and the lady that was on the verandah at the front of the house, the house just literally came through her and the whole house came onto the beach with her underneath it and at that point, we were asking, 'Where is everybody?'" he told Newshub.
They were Australian tourists who had just arrived in New Zealand on holiday.
Fennell found a man who was badly injured under the rubble.
"I saw the bone sticking out of his leg in two places. I pulled him down onto the beach," Fennell said. "He seemed like he was losing a fair bit of blood - so I took my shoelace out of my trainers and tied it above his knee to stem the blood flow."
Another neighbour came along with a belt.
"I tied that around as well and tightened it as much as I could," Fennell said.
The man's wife though was still trapped by the debris
"It was just too dangerous to go in further but she was conscious and breathing and seemed okay," Fennell said.
Help arrived quickly but it would take search and rescue over an hour to free her safely.
"It was all a bit of a blur at the time. I've relived it quite a few times since this morning on the way here. It wasn't nice to see [the] main thing is everyone's ok," Fennell said
When Newshub said to Fennell 'You may have helped someone's life', Fennell said: "It was just instinct really. I could see he was losing blood. I think the police officer said that might have made a difference."
