Twin Earthquakes, Monday 13th June, Christchurch, New Zealand

Again.

It happened again.

For the third time.

Our city got belted by an earthquake/aftershocks. This first hit at 1 pm on 13^th June, and an hour and twenty minutes later we got belted again, even worse!

This is where they were centred…

Location:  10 km south-east of Christchurch

Focal depth:  11 km

Richter magnitude:  5.5 (later upgraded to a 5.7)

 

Location:  10 km south-east of Christchurch

Focal depth:  9 km

Richter magnitude:  6.0 (later up-graded to a 6.3)

Over the last nine months…

We got belted by a

·         7.1 in September (no one killed – it hit at 4.25 a.m.) 

·         6.3 in February (which killed 181 people - it hit at 12.51 p.m.) 

·         and now, in June, a 5.7  (1 p.m.) followed by a 6.3 (2.20 p.m.)

To put the positive first: the 5.7 sent many people scurrying out of buildings and kept them out when the 6.3 hit. The ‘pre-shock’ (as they are calling it) pretty much saved lives, so we were lucky.

Having been belted by the 5.7 we probably all thought we were okay, that the predicted big aftershock had just hit…

…And I wish people would stop predicting them, stop telling us, just shut up! We know aftershocks are going to belt through our city, we know this, we have been through it for the last 9 months, endlessly hit by aftershock after aftershock. We have done all we can do to prepare, we have food and water and everything we need if we lose power and water. The only thing left we can do to prepare is ‘pray!’ And I tell you I did a whole lot of praying after the 6.3 hit while I tried to find my children (19 and 21 years of age).

I can’t do anything more to prepare! And I know we will get aftershocks….so to all the gurus out there, please shut up! Just shut up! Leave me alone! Just let me believe (no matter how deluded) that it’s going to stop. Don’t friggen tell me there is a 30 % chance of a 6.9 within the next 10 months!...

Rant over … (feeling a teensy bit better now!)

The most frightening thing when the 6.3 hit, was this:  my son (21) had gone to work at Merivale Mall, and my daughter (19) was at college on Bealey Ave. (Husband was out of town on business). And I could not contact my children. That was the most dreadful experience!!

I knew I couldn’t drive to the Mall because the roads would be in gridlock, and so I did the only thing I could do. The Mall is about two kilometres away, so I ran to the Mall – ran, walked, ran walked. When I got there the Mall was cleared, people outside, and my son had already left to see if I was okay at home. So I turned around and ran home – half way there my right knee started to give out, from an old gym stress, so it was a limping run.

A lady called out to me, asking if I was okay, and I explained why I was running, asked her if she was okay, which she was, and gave her a big hug (this is what I term ‘the post earthquake hug’), then turned and kept running.

When I got home my son was here and he was okay. My husband had, by the time, made contact, so we let him know that we were okay and were still trying to reach our daughter! The only choice left was for my son to take the car and drive in to the college - no matter how long it took him to get there through the traffic - while I stayed home in case she had found a way to get home. My son got to college and let me know it was closed and deserted. Shortly after that she arrived home – you have no idea how relieved I saw to see her! As soon as she had her shoes off it was a massive hug. My children were okay. I could breathe again.

My son finally made it home through the traffic, and my daughter’s boyfriend made it round – gave him a big hug too!

My chimney and the front of my house have moved further apart, so we are now having to arrange from the chimney and part of the front of the house to be taken down and made watertight for winter - forget getting it repaired just yet as there is the insurance saga to get through before we can book a builder, and there are thousands of houses needing work, so this will not be quick!

The front of our house is in islands of concrete blocks, sections that move independently and perhaps allow for the house to move and not fall down. Anyway, the contractor has been called and they will assess the house tomorrow and get on to ripping the front down. They have promised to leave us comfortable for the winter - not pretty, but comfortable!! (I wonder if I could get someone to paint art on the plywood that they’ll have to put up?)

The city itself? Well, we lost more buildings, and the big ones that were on a lean are on more of a lean. The Christchurch Cathedral is further damaged, as is the Catholic Cathedral (which was so incredibly beautiful church inside). There’s rubble in the streets again. Buildings that may have been marginal are now to be condemned, or they fell over on Monday!

I spent the day after at the house of two gorgeous gals, shovelling the silt (result of the liquifaction which happened all over again), into wheelbarrows and piling it in the street so that the council can come along and take it all away. There are piles of this stuff in many streets!

Are we back to February 22^nd all over again? No, not really. The damage this time was not so extreme, as the movement was more horizontal, whilst the severely destructive February quake was more vertical. The CBD has been cordoned off since the February quake, so the most dangerous place in the city was not full of people, but was populated by builders, demolition workers, building assessors etc. These people were at serious risk, and it is so lucky that the 5.7 sent them out of the buildings before the 6.3 hit!

I was talking to friends last night (after a martial arts class in which a good sparring session helped me to release a bit of stress!) and we joked that we can tell which fault line the aftershocks are coming from by the sound and the feel. We have become quite expert at this…something that, one day, we will laugh about!

When earthquakes and aftershocks hit, we no longer scream “Oh no, it’s an earthquake!”, instead we gasp “Another one??!!!! Seriously??!!” (Often followed by “Are you f****** kidding me??!!)