4:36am 4th September 2010 - we were awakened by a 7.1 earthquake - one of the biggest quakes to hit NZ. Definitely one of the biggest to hit a major centre. It was certianly one of the scariest moments I have ever experienced. I think that the fact that I was with family certainly helped a lot. Probably one of the stupidest things I have ever done however was jumping in the car and going to check on my mother at 4.50am - I had no idea what the roads were like but I just needed to get there... it was very bizarre however to see all the cars coming in the opposite direction - might have had something to do with the fact that I was going towards the beach and they were coming from it...but at 5am you don't really expect to see about 250 cars coming at you one after the other!
Luckily, apart from minor house damage, all the family in Christchurch is safe and sound. There has been so much damage but for them to all be ok is awesome. Sadly tho the aftershocks are still coming and causing some concern as the weaken already weakened buildings. Some of central Christchurch is beyond repair - meaning a lot of the older buildings cannot be fixed and are now being completely destroyed for safety reasons.
Its hard to think of Christchurch ever being the same again - there will be a pre-earthquake and post-earthquake Christchurch. I know that the people of Chch will survive because NZlders are those kind of people. Still its hard to see a lot of those places that I grew up around or worked near have now gone or are as good as. Its a very sad moment for a very beautiful city.
We ended up having just having a family thing at my brothers farm - we all went different ways because some of the roads were not opened - I think thats one of the hardest things. You go along your normal life and then realise something is out of whack when you turn the corner onto a road you have driven down hundreds of times just to find it closed or to find a building you use to frequent a lot is now damaged... it puts a lot of things into perspective.
The shops down the road from my nephew - Corner Edgeware Rd & Barbadoes St
Brooke, Aimee & Taylor standing on Avonside Dr - opposite to where my parents use to live
Church down the road from my nephews - Edgeware Road
The dairy I use to frequent - usually on my way to work on a Saturday
I am not one to use the word 'surreal' (thank you Adam Hills!), but the 24 hours that followed were some of the most surreal of my life. You felt like what had happened wasn't quite real and you kept asking yourself and those around you whether or not it did actually happen & you didn't dream it. I will certainly never forget the feeling when I realised what was going on. I am so thankful that 1) my family were all ok and their houses were pretty much all ok & 2) there were actually no fatalities. As much as it is sad that we have lost some amazing buildings & homes - you can always rebuild those. People - not so much!
