Christchurch Earthquake.
Some of you are probably wondering why it's taking so long to update my stories lately when I usually do my best to do so. The answer to that is my city in New Zealand was hit by a massive earthquake this week, it happened at 4.45am Saturday morning and was the most terrifying singular thing I have ever experienced in my nearly 32 years on this planet.
It was like a freight train in the middle of the night, glasses smashed, I was slammed from side to side in my door-frame barely able to stand and I had that moment where I truly thought it was the end.
We lost power, so I was alone in pitch black darkness trying to find candles and a phone that worked in the middle of the night. Luckily the phones did still work so I was able to contact my loved ones pretty quickly.
Miraculously the 7.1 magnitude earthquake made us lose a lot in Christchurch. But we lost no one. No causalities from the shake, and looking at the destructive from the city which has still been closed off since Saturday, it's a miracle.
Since Saturday we've had over 300 aftershocks, at least over 50% of them significant enough to feel and some even have us scrambling for the doorway all over again. My city is in ruins and there is estimated over $4 Billion dollars of damage. I was a lucky one that my house survived and all my services are back up and running but there are many that have lost everything. Good structured homes, demolished in the blink of an eye.
We're still expected to have a magnitude earthquake of 6 before the week is out. As you can imagine it's been like walking on eggshells all week. Being home bound because there is no where else to go, and we're too scared to go anywhere else. Just in case.
I'm proud to be a Kiwi as our Prime Minister John Key, and Christchurch's mayor Bob Parker have been amazing.
I have friends I didn't think I had, I also have friends who I thought cared about me and perhaps don't. Events like this are humbling and they bring out the best and worst in people. It's given me a lot of perspective I very much needed, and a lot of people don't get to be given that and still survive. So that I am thankful for.
Night's are the worst. I don't think there has been a night where I haven't woken up to an aftershock in terror, thinking it's happening all over again. It will take some time for life to return to normal here, our city's face is forever changed. We've lost around 100 buildings in the central city that will need to be demolished.
So that's me. Since I am not at work, I am attempting to write but I can't promise anything. :)
Take Care and if I can tell you one thing, make sure you're ready for something like this. Have a survival kit ready because we often think it won't happen to us. But reality is in today's unstable world. It will.
Talk soon.
Kiwi.
xxx
