Another earthquake

They just don't stop and this one a 6.3 earthquake* at 1pm today situated in Lyttleton is the worst.

65 dead to date,

people trapped in buildings that have sandwiched,

fires in collasped buildings,

missing friends and lots of waiting.

I was in Methven and it was bad there,

Methven is an hour south of the epicentre.

My first thought was the epicentre must have been closer to us

only to hear that it was not far from Christchurch

and immediately knew there would be massive destruction.

All I wanted to do was to go home.

But needed to check the Rakaia Bridge was still in place.

Good thing the petrol station knows we call them to check.

It was open so home I came.

The traffic streaming from Christchurch was more than I've ever seen.

I wanted to join them and drive away from the city.

I got to Leeston and realised that everything that could fall down already had

and things were safe enough.

Mags was very shaken.

To date with 4500 earthquakes since Sept 4th

she has never been nervous or disconcerted

let alone scared or upset

but today did that.

Emma, one of our managers was in

Christchurch Hospital with her sick son during the earthquake.

They were locked down and stuck in the building

then evacuated,

 only to be sitting in full view of the injured arriving

from crushed buses and cars.

Phone lines into the city are down.
Cellphones towers are on battery and failing.

Txting was still working and so you start to txt,

counting your friends off as they reply.

Ali von der Bar's phone kept txting me that Hagley Park was flooded with sewerage.

Then she called and I drove into Christchurch to pick her up.

Not into the CBD but not far off.

Liquefaction was everywhere,

water bubbling up from under tar sealed roads.

Having a 4 wheel drive ute was useful as

we collected another couple trying to get home.

The route we took,

had us drive through silt bubbling up

from who knows where.

Yesterday this was solid land and now it's liquid sand.

It was deep and you couldn't tell where cracks were

or where holes that could hold a car were.

Brick fences had fallen across footpaths,

garages looked as if a giant had lent too hard against them

and had they had given way.

Traffic lights were out.

Neighbours stood on the street talking and having a beer

outside their houses with no water, power or sewerage.

And now it is raining.

It's strange seeing a city you are so familiar with in such as state.

The restaurant you had a birthday dinner in

is now crushed under seven stories of concrete.

The same building from which your former Relief Society president,

who worked on the fifth floor

but was able to step down onto the street from her crushed fifth floor office.

Her house was destroyed in the Sept earthquake and

now her workplace.

The same building you visited your friend during election time

to watch her make her TV show

and plan campaigning.

I haven't heard from or of her.

Tomorrow more stories will come out.

Joyous stories of close calls

Deeply saddening stories of death and destruction.

But you all will forget,

just as I forget about the millions of displaced people in Pakistan's floods and earthquakes

or Brisbane's floods or Victoria's fires.

All these things have people involved.

It's ok

but when I look jaded and tired,

stressed and exhausted

please don't say

"are you still having earthquakes?"

in an exasperated way

because yes we are and some of them are really scary bad.

* Spell check came up with Oatcake for earhtquake????