Devastating Earthquake - Christchurch New Zealand
Dear Fellow DT.org members, I'm posting this thread as my home town, where I am still currently living, has just suffered a catastrophic earthquake this afternoon, and I feel I need an outlet to help deal with what I've experienced today.
I apologise in advance if this isn't really the kind of "off topic" thread you'd expect to read on the forum, but the community here is so kind and supportive, I thought it would be a good place to share.
I live in Christchurch, New Zealand. At 12:51 this afternoon, we were hit with a 6.3 earthquake. We have 65 confirmed fatalities, with that expected to rise to between 200-400. I'm assuming this is just a guess.
In September last year, we suffered a 7.1 at 4:35am one morning, and amazingly suffered no loss of life. In comparison, Hati's earthquake of 2009 was a 7.0, and they lost 300,000.
The September shake was larger, but further away from the city, and 10km deep. Todays shake was pretty much right under the city, and only 5km deep. Everyone here will tell you todays felt stronger. It was.
Many of the cities buildings were damaged in September, and so todays shake has basically levelled a large section of the inner city. Since it happened at lunch time, many of the collapsed buildings had workers inside, hence the loss of life. News reports say there are at least 200 people still trapped in rubble, with emergency services still trying to rescue them.
My wife and I work close to each other, and thankfully neither of us have suffered any personal injury. Our extended families are all ok as well. We are very lucky.
My home survived the September shake quite well. A bit of internal cracking in walls/paintwork etc. We still have parts of the city where peoples homes are being demolished from September, and so we felt blessed we had a roof over our head.
Today we have not fared so well. We returned home (after ditching the car due to traffic jams) to find liquefaction all over our section. This is where the shaking ground pushed water/sand/mud up from far below, through cracks in the earth, and you end up with what looks like ant hills made of sand all over the place. The sand/mud smells bad. The house now leans to the south. I think we may be a little lucky in that I beleive the entire concrete foundation has dropped at one side of the home, as opposed to cracking down the middle and splitting. Once the foundation splits, I think that is the end of a house.
The inside of the house was a tip. Everything thrown to the floor, smashed. I think we have three cups/glasses left out of nearly 30. (yes we probably had a few too many wine glasses, gonna need to get some more of those tomorrow). Our dryer that was very securely attached to the wall, has just ripped holes in the jib, and is in tatters on the floor. All my book cases are down, with all my King books all over the place. Thankfully the special books in my collection have not suffered any noticeable damage. Of course, I haven't really sat down to carefully inspect them all, but books can be replaced.
Our two dogs and two cats are terrified, but at least they are ok and at home.
Since the big shake this afternoon, we have had probably close to 50 aftershocks, many strong enough to make you run to a door way. It gets old very quick. We lost power throughout the city, but this just came on half an hour ago (it is 2:25am as I write this). we still have no running water, and so have to ration the water in the hot water cylinder. Going to the restroom isn't fun, and I'll save you from the description of what is involved.
I work for an insurance company, and we were already overwhelmed with getting on with the repairs from the September shake. I have no idea how the country will respond to the damage from today. This is so much worse.
Please spare a thought/prayer for those in my city that have lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods.
I thank you for allowing me to share. I'm still in a daze, and can not really beleive I have survived and all my family is well. I'm one of the lucky ones. But as I can not sleep, as I sit here watching the news and see the pictures of the devestation, I felt a strong need to try and put in writing what has happened today. I guess that is part of the healing process I'll be going through over the coming days.
James
(in the time it took to write this, there were 3 large aftershocks. I don't know how my wife can sleep, but am thankful she can)
