The Aftermath

To be honest some of what happened last Saturday after the quake is a blur - I don't remember it all. For example I don't remember any aftershocks that morning - but there must have been - other people remember them.

Some things I do remember. So here's what you can expect if this ever happens to you...

Sirens. Sirens have become commonplace background noise around here. It's only in the last couple of days that they have eased up. Sirens make me sad at the best of time especially ambulance ones.

Aftershocks. Aftershocks aftershocks aftershocks. There have been A LOT. Apparently they may keep going for months. Personally I don't mind them, some people do. I really feel for those people but at least they are getting less and further apart. They will stop one day :-)

Water. Water is a good thing to have. Even if you don't have a survival kit get some water. You may just need it - who would have thought in Christchurch with the best tasting water in the whole damn world we wouldn't be able to drink our tap water. Having some bottled water would have been very handy.

The internet. Man I missed the internet while our power was out. Thank goodness for cell phones!

Phones. It's also a good idea to have a phone that doesn't need to be plugged into a power source. You know, because the power went out! Those old style phones that just need a phone jack. Dig yours out so you know where it is - we did - it was handy!

Comradery. No longer will you have awkward "how's your day" conversations with the supermarket checkout operator. An earthquake is a guaranteed conversation starter. It is suddenly acceptable to talk to total stranger - New Zealanders can be very standoffish and Canterbury got a break from that. We all went through something big. We all have that in common. We have a reason to talk.

Love. I was overwhelmed by the concern the people in my life had for me. Within the first few hours I had friends from over New Zealand and the world enquiring as to how we'd got on and in the following week even more emails and facebook messages. It was amazing and humbling to know how many people care about us. Thank you.

New Zealand. I am so grateful that this happened to me in New Zealand. New Zealand with its not too shabby at all building standards. Sure brick chimneys are a pretty dumb idea here and every second house used to have them - but really for most people the loss of a chimney was the worst that happened and that is pretty awesome. For those who weren't so lucky my thoughts are with you and if there is anything I can do at all to help please let me know :-)

Earthquake Post

Well I thought I should do an earthquake post.

So if you missed it - there was a BIG earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand on September 4th 2010 - 7.1 magnitude followed by a few hundred aftershocks (literally). So here's how it went down at my house.

Well I woke up to shaking (doh). I sat bolt upright and woke instantly (I'm one of those sleep -> alert people in a second) though my brain wasn't thinking earthquake. I've been in earthquakes before - quite a few - earthquakes in my past experience didn't feel like this this felt like someone had picked up my house and was shaking it! I actually thought someone was bulldozing our house! That thought only lasted for a second then next thought was "Joshua!". Darren was by now sitting too but he was still waking up.

I jumped out of bed and made it to Joshua's room. It wasn't easy going but I will admit it is all a bit blurry. Going round my head were horrible thoughts - we have a framed picture above Joshua's bed and I was so worried it would have fallen and hit him on the head. He was fine - I don't even know if he was awake I ripped him from his bed so quickly. Darren caught up and we sort of had a "where to now?" moment before I decided to stay under Joshua's doorway. I think we all hugged each other.

A minute later the quake stopped. I actually have no memory of how long it lasted - I know it lasted just under a minute from reports I've since read. I said to Darren get the pictures off Joshua's wall - so he took all the pictures down. Then we went back into our bedroom and Darren realised the power was off. What to do now. It was cold. Joshua and I got back into bed. Darren produced a torch from somewhere and hung it from the light fixture. I told him to turn it off to save the batteries. I can't remember what else we said to each other. Interestingly we didn't go and check out the rest of the house.

I thought about putting Joshua back in bed - for about half a second. I remember being concerned that he'd be scared because his night light wasn't going. Then I realised without his heater on he'd be too cold. BINGO justification for keeping him right next to me snuggled in bed. So then we lay there in bed together, snuggled under than blanket. I had the bright idea to turn my cellphone ringer on and my parents called and a few texts were exchanged with Darren's family too. I kept feeding Joshua to try and keep him happy and hopefully get him back to sleep - in the darkness he had bad aim so I got lots of bruises.

Eventually Darren went to sleep, and Joshua went to sleep. I didn't. I'm not sure if it was the Earthquake or my fear of squashing him in our sleep or just because I wanted to watch him sleep. He looks so perfect when he's asleep, so peaceful. So I lay there watching him sleep. He woke crying around 6.30. Our whole house was cold and Joshua wasn't interested in lying still in bed. So up and dressed for us, then we decided to go round the corner to my parents with their log burner.

First we inspected the damage. An ornament we'd bought in Rome had broken (drat), a glass in the sink had broken, spring flowers out of the vase and on the floor, cans out of our cupboards, TV toppled over. Lots of things had fallen but not broken which was great - Darren was convinced our TV would be broken but due to lack of power we couldn't test (it turned out to be fine).

Outside on the street it was now light and neighbours had started gathering. I felt a bit bad driving away past them but gave them a quick wave as we went past. The car radio was our first contact with the outside world. 7.4 they were saying at that time. Don't drive unless you have to (whoops). At Mum and Dads things started to feel more normal again. They had the gas cooker out and were making toast mmmm. Hehe I remember remarking to Claire that it would be hilarious for all the people who had hooked up on the Friday night and were now stuck at their one night stand's house! (I still think this is funny). I was obviously feeling ok again!

That's all for now :-)