A woman pulled from the rubble of New Zealand’s earthquake three days ago got married yesterday, in a poignant glimmer of hope for a country coming to terms with the disaster.

Emma Howard wed partner Chris Greenslade in a church just yards from a school hall where the families of the 200-plus missing were told there was little chance of more survivors being found.

As distraught relatives of those missing filed into the hall to be addressed by rescue authorities, Howard acknowledged she was fortunate the wedding was going ahead as planned.

Prior to the service, she said she was lucky to be alive after spending more than six hours trapped in the Pyne Gould Corporation Building after Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. “I’m so lucky I didn’t get under my desk,” the 23-year-old accountant told Radio New Zealand. “My desk was crushed by the corner of the concrete (ceiling) above me that came down.”

Mr Howard was able to text her fiance, who raced to the site and joined rescuers frantically digging into the rubble to find her after six hours. The priest who married the couple said the ceremony would be “especially poignant” given the devastation.

“I’ve just been on the phone this morning, speaking to a man who’s going up to that same building to show his little toddlers where their mum is buried,” remarked Fr John Adams.

“Just a couple of floors up, we’re marrying a girl who escaped. It’s especially poignant for that reason.”