Hi Ian,
Thanks for the concern, I am truly touched. I haven't been able to post earlier, as today was the first time my internet has come back on. Yes, it has been one hell of a week. As you say, my city got hit with a 7.1 earthquake in Sept '10. That really messed things up and we were just starting to get back towards a bit of normalcy when ... MAN
... This sucker was "smaller" at 6.3 but it was very close to the centre of town and only 5km deep. The damage is extreme. Over 110 confirmed dead and more than 200 still unaccounted for. There have been heroics from locals leaping onto buildings to save complete strangers and tragedy with amputations needing to be done in order to extract people from the rubble.
The CBD has been absolutely trashed - all our heritage buildings are simply gone. The 130 year old Cathedral in the centre of town is probably going to need to be demolished and we have a 26 storey hotel teetering. It appears that it will fall down soon and obliterate all the smaller buildings around it. So many homes have been ruined and folk are sleeping in sports stadiums - 30,000 have simply left the city. The roads are like a crazy roller coaster ride, with some having a metre drop suddenly appearing. Power, water and sewerage are not a happening thing for thousands. I now have power and a bit of water but sewerage is going to be the biggest issue - untold miles of pipes have snapped or been crushed. For some areas, it looks like it will be 5 weeks before power will be restored and all the water (arriving in tankers) needs to be boiled.
In Christchurch we have a particularly unpleasant challenge called "liquifaction". This is mind-boggling stuff and a heck of a nuisance
Essentially, water bursts through the surface of the ground (lawn, roading, footpath or whatever) and forces mud/dirt up with it. This happens in seconds and can result in huge mounds spewing across the area. This needs to be shovelled into piles before it sets like concrete. Around the city there is literally tonnes of this stuff lining the roads after we have all shovelled it their for collection by big diggers. One of the highlights of this has been University students organising themselves into the "Student Army" and a couple of thousand of them have fanned out through the city with wheelbarrows and spades to help unknown folk who have this sh.t in their places. 6 unknown young folk walked up my drive and spent 2 hours shovelling the muck and then headed off with a cherry wave - shades of the Lone ranger
There is much sadness in our once beautiful city, with many smashed dreams and unknown futures. We had just calmed down from the last one when suddenly at 12.51pm on Tuesday all hell broke loose. In a few seconds, many have lost their jobs and incomes as buildings literally collapsed. I was driving between places I work at when my car started to slew across the road (with no damage) and it wasn't till I turned the corner and saw water gushing from the roads that I knew something bad had happened. It is unbelievable how much damage can occur in 15-20 seconds
We have been humbled by the international assistance that has raced to our aid. We have search and rescue teams from: Japan, China, Singapore, USA, England and of course our cousins from the land of Oz. These folk have travelled across the world at a moments notice to help find our lost people and begin to make out city safe. 300 Police from Australia have arrived to help with cordons and traffic control so our officers can do what is necessary around the place. An entire army field hospital with Surgeons arrived and has been set up. We are truly blown away by all this and the heart felt messages and prayers from folk of many countries.
My family and I are all safe. One of my young boys is quite worked up though as we are getting woken through each night with aftershocks (sometimes up to a dozen and up to 5.0 on the Richter scale). I still have a home and we can rough it without water and sewerage. The hard thing for the citizens is that these events are unpredictable and you can almost taste the nervousness amongst the populace, people just don't know how they can feel safe at the moment.
Thank you for caring and being interested in our little part of the world.
Regards, MikeH1A
