Why, yes, the Earth did move for me

[lemonrocket]

A few of you have been wondering how close I was to the 7.1 magnitude earthquake which wobbled much of New Zealand early on Saturday morning.

Well, it certainly woke me up (4:35am, no less) and our house creaked and groaned and swayed for about half a minute. When it was over, I commented to my mother, jeanlucbev, on whether that was a not-so-bad house

Comments

[infiniteviking]

Whoa... all that history. D: I'm so glad the area was more prepared for something like that and that your family's okay.

EMH lol!~

[lemonrocket]

My mother grew up in Christchurch and she's been gobsmacked seeing places she knew well now in piles of rubble.

The main problem now for folks in the quake area is the aftershocks - still mostly hitting at around 4.5-5.5 in magnitude - which are shaking already-compromised buildings and generally scaring the crap out of everyone and keeping them awake for days on end.

My cousin is the worst off out of all my family; he may need to have his house demolished and rebuilt, but he's happy to be alive to tell the story.

[infiniteviking]

Awwwwwww! D:

Yeah, that'd be scary (and dangerous)! And probably it isn't practical for most people to leave the area until that's over.

Poor guy. Good perspective to take.

[watergal]

Girl! You stay safe! I'm glad that you and yours are okay, but those pictures...*shudder*

[lemonrocket]

It's amazing there were no fatalities, but the city will take a long time to recover - and they can't really start to put things right until everything stops shaking. The aftershocks are still clocking in at 5.5 several times a day, so people aren't getting much sleep. And when the dust finally does settle, the cleanup people won't even know where to start.

[dante_s_hell]

Those pictures...what destruction. I'm glad that you and your family are okay. I hope the city will rebuild soon.

*Hugs*

[lemonrocket]

I think it's going to take a while, and there are going to be some odd gaps around town where buildings used to be, but a new sense of normality will come at some point. I know Christchurch well and it's going to be weird and sad to see the places that have gone.

I think the miracle is that no one died. A couple of hours earlier and the bars and clubs would've been full of people socialising. A few hours later and people would have been working or out shopping. Really scary.

[arrietty]

The clean up and the damage caused is horrendous. Thank goodness no casualties.

I hadn't see the heritage home :(

[lemonrocket]

I don't think the full effects of it are even known yet. And there are flow-on effects for other places as Mum and I found out today. Because Christchurch is the largest city in the SI, it's the main point of entry for many goods and supplies. There were signs up in our local supermarket today saying that there were some products they had run out of and were unable to restock because they came through Christchurch. That means that we may have to look further afield for suppliers, which means more cost... and Christchurch has to get back on its feet and take care of itself before it can cater to the other cities and towns.

From what I hear, the aftershocks are causing a lot of distress and sleepless nights, and there's going to be a phenomenal amount of cleaning up/rebuilding to do, but, yes, it's definitely a miracle no one was killed.

[arrietty]

Yes, I heard about the aftershocks. Not being able to sleep will not be helping. Plus the scare factor each time one hits.

[illariy]

Oh my! Coming in late but glad to hear that you're well and Christchurch has survived this catastrophe with great destruction but no big losses of life. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the rebuilding.