Status: Hiatus/Slow updates
Aftershock
Three
It was amusing how excited Simon was to feel an aftershock. Sandy's son, he'd come down to live with his mother over the holiday season, while working to put up replacement shelving in distribution warehouses.
As soon as he'd touched down from Auckland he started on the, "I can't wait to feel an earthquake," train. I suppose it wasn't his fault he'd never felt one before, Auckland was a Mecca of extinct volcanoes (and one dormant) but that was the extent of their 'danger' quotient.
During a barbecue at our place, two days before Christmas, he finally got his wish. Somehow he'd managed to miss the several shakes we'd felt in the previous three days. While we were all either in the kitchen or outside enjoying the warm afternoon, Simon was on the computer in the back of the house. From the dining room, as the tremor moved through the house, I locked eyes with my sister who was also at the table, mentally counting down 3...2...1...
"Oh my god was that one? That was one right! It was, wasn't it? Oh my god that was so cool!" Simon came racing down the hallway at warp speed, huge grin and wide eyes to accentuate his excitement.
"Yea. About a 3.4, 3.5?" I guessed, laughing at how thrilled he was.
"I just felt my first ever earthquake," he boasted to everyone gathered outside. "I need to tell everyone." With that, he was back to the computer, a new facebook status update appearing a few seconds later.
x
Christmas Day itself was fairly laidback. It was never too much of a big deal in our family anyway, but this year it was even less so. We stuck to our traditional big cooked lunch, this year's rotation meaning it was held at Sandy and Pete's place.
A simple celebration with both extended families, we sat out enjoying the summer sun, drinking and chatting before gorging ourselves on far too much good food, then drinking some more. Secret Santa gifts were shared and swapped, more of a 'lucky dip' than anything else.
To end the festivities, we noted that the day had seemed to pass without one seismic event. Though the aftershocks had significantly reduced over the past months, it was still an almost uneasy feeling without the familiar shaking.
x
That lull in aftershock activity didn't last long - the city center being struck early on Boxing Day, disrupting the busy sales. City Mall was evacuated, along with several other surrounding blocks.
Overall the damage level seemed low, until you factored in psychological harm. To have let us believe the holidays would go by unnoticed only to throw a 4.9 magnitude shake right in our faces seemed like the most horrible of pranks. Like Mother Nature was just sitting back laughing while we figuratively started to tear our hair out once again. Bitch.
Once again, we returned to our 'normal' post September lives. Work started up again in mid-January, our busiest time of year. There were always overspenders in desperate need of advice on how it was actually possible to pay off their credit card bills if they cut back on luxuries. Because god forbid they have to go a month without buying a coffee everyday. This was the time of year I hated my job, based solely on people's selfishness and credit dependence.
If anything, what we'd all been through over the last few months had just increased credit card abuse. EQC payouts were slow, and no one wanted to go without the 'essentials' while we had so much else going on. Even a relaxing night at home watching TV was no longer what it used to be. So why not splash out to help make ourselves feel better?
12:51pm, Tuesday 22 February 2011
That is when all hell broke loose.
Tuesday meetings were hell. It was the same old shit repeated every week, but I had no choice on sitting through half an hour of boredom when all I was interested in was counting down the minutes until 1pm, my lunch break. The only plus was that we were effectively paid to zone out.
Jan and I usually spent the time until lunch talking and catching up on paperwork, in and out of each others offices. This week was no different, trying to decide what food we were each in the mood for. I was leaning towards a chicken kebab, while Jan was more in favour of Thai.
"Actually, I think I might head over the road first and grab a milkshake," I announced, pausing in the doorway between our two rooms. Heading to my desk to grab my purse was my plan, but that was thrown off track when suddenly the door was swinging in and I was flying face first to meet it.
Another fucking earthquake.
This one was a lot different from September, a lot more violent. There was no warning rumble, a straight up stealth attack. A sneaky ninja move that had me collecting the doorhandle with my cheekbone, a favourable outcome compared to the squished mess my desk chair had become, trapped underneath a massive file cabinet. There was no way I'd have gotten out of that without at least broken ribs. Never thought I'd see a sliced cheek and black eye as a good thing.
Jan, I guess she'd managed to survive as she dived under her desk. Now she was making her way over to me, asking if I was ok. "Oh, that doesn't look too bad," was the verbal response to seeing my newly blood adorned face, but the shock in her eyes told a slightly different story. "Come on," she helped me up as the building started to sway again, "We're getting out of here."
Thankfully, my bag was easy enough to snag from under the desk, and as soon as Jan had her own we were carefully making our way out of the building. Shock kept the journey rather vague, all I can remember is people talking, a dark and dusty stairway that was cracked and a little unstable, then the sirens started to filter through as we made it outside into the street.
This part of Hereford Street was usually fairly busy with delivery trucks and office workers roaming the footpaths on their breaks. Today, there were only people standing in the middle of the road, wondering just what the hell had happened. What were we supposed to do now?
There was rubble all over the place, buildings crumbling everywhere I looked. Crying, screaming, yelling, sirens... It was a complete auditory overload. It had only been maybe 5 minutes since I was knocked to the ground, but we'd already felt 8 aftershocks, each causing more destruction to the buildings around us.
Deciding it wasn't the safest to stay out in the street with bricks falling, we followed the general consensus that getting out of town was the best idea. Reaching our cars at the church was a surprising scene. The wall facing the carpark was the only one still standing, the other three partially destroyed. A few bricks had landed on the cars, but a couple of dents and scratches was a small price to pay for being able to flee. Carpark buildings were inaccessible, the ramps having collapsed, and in some cases even whole floors had dropped.
It was a scary time, trying to navigate through all the cars and people, let alone the damaged roads. Basically all I could do was join the queue and wait. It took a good two hours to reach the edge of the CBD, from there traffic wasn't quite so bad as I headed home.
I never even thought about heading to mum's work to see if she was ok. She was the only one I hadn't heard from yet, no doubt her phone being stuck in her locker. All I wanted to do was get home and clean up this dried blood that was starting to really itch. Thankfully talking to one of my American girls, Desiree, on twitter helped to distract so I wasn't pulling my rather nasty looking gash even further apart. I probably should've gone for stitches, but meh. I really couldn't be bothered with that right now.
blkasiwnt2b: @E_Hansen what the hell is going on over there
@blkasiwnt2b just a huge ass earthquake, u know.. same old, same old =/
blkasiwnt2b: @E_Hansen you know I don't really pay too much attention to twitter but I feel like you really are shaking over there on a regular lol
@blkasiwnt2b haha yea, they keep springing up every now n then. been quiet for a week or so then BAM
After showering I joined the rest of my family in the lounge, TV coverage solely about our now devastated city. Christchurch's worldwide icon, our Cathedral, no longer had a spire. There was speculation a group of people could be trapped under the rubble.
Two city buses had been crushed by falling debris. The CTV building had partially collapsed and was on fire, while the PGC building had collapsed as well. There were people searching, emergency services coordinating to do the best possible rescue mission, but it seemed inevitable that there would be more casualties.
How could we have gone through a 7.1 magnitude earthquake not even six months earlier with zero deaths, yet a mere 6.3 had a toll with early estimates of at least one hundred fatalities? Yes, this one was centered a hell of a lot closer to the city, this time in the Port Hills above our port, Lyttelton, but it made no sense.
How could something so much more violent be a smaller occurrence? This earthquake stuff just made no logical sense.
~The only logical logic is illogical ~
As soon as he'd touched down from Auckland he started on the, "I can't wait to feel an earthquake," train. I suppose it wasn't his fault he'd never felt one before, Auckland was a Mecca of extinct volcanoes (and one dormant) but that was the extent of their 'danger' quotient.
During a barbecue at our place, two days before Christmas, he finally got his wish. Somehow he'd managed to miss the several shakes we'd felt in the previous three days. While we were all either in the kitchen or outside enjoying the warm afternoon, Simon was on the computer in the back of the house. From the dining room, as the tremor moved through the house, I locked eyes with my sister who was also at the table, mentally counting down 3...2...1...
"Oh my god was that one? That was one right! It was, wasn't it? Oh my god that was so cool!" Simon came racing down the hallway at warp speed, huge grin and wide eyes to accentuate his excitement.
"Yea. About a 3.4, 3.5?" I guessed, laughing at how thrilled he was.
"I just felt my first ever earthquake," he boasted to everyone gathered outside. "I need to tell everyone." With that, he was back to the computer, a new facebook status update appearing a few seconds later.
x
Christmas Day itself was fairly laidback. It was never too much of a big deal in our family anyway, but this year it was even less so. We stuck to our traditional big cooked lunch, this year's rotation meaning it was held at Sandy and Pete's place.
A simple celebration with both extended families, we sat out enjoying the summer sun, drinking and chatting before gorging ourselves on far too much good food, then drinking some more. Secret Santa gifts were shared and swapped, more of a 'lucky dip' than anything else.
To end the festivities, we noted that the day had seemed to pass without one seismic event. Though the aftershocks had significantly reduced over the past months, it was still an almost uneasy feeling without the familiar shaking.
x
That lull in aftershock activity didn't last long - the city center being struck early on Boxing Day, disrupting the busy sales. City Mall was evacuated, along with several other surrounding blocks.
Overall the damage level seemed low, until you factored in psychological harm. To have let us believe the holidays would go by unnoticed only to throw a 4.9 magnitude shake right in our faces seemed like the most horrible of pranks. Like Mother Nature was just sitting back laughing while we figuratively started to tear our hair out once again. Bitch.
Once again, we returned to our 'normal' post September lives. Work started up again in mid-January, our busiest time of year. There were always overspenders in desperate need of advice on how it was actually possible to pay off their credit card bills if they cut back on luxuries. Because god forbid they have to go a month without buying a coffee everyday. This was the time of year I hated my job, based solely on people's selfishness and credit dependence.
If anything, what we'd all been through over the last few months had just increased credit card abuse. EQC payouts were slow, and no one wanted to go without the 'essentials' while we had so much else going on. Even a relaxing night at home watching TV was no longer what it used to be. So why not splash out to help make ourselves feel better?
12:51pm, Tuesday 22 February 2011
That is when all hell broke loose.
Tuesday meetings were hell. It was the same old shit repeated every week, but I had no choice on sitting through half an hour of boredom when all I was interested in was counting down the minutes until 1pm, my lunch break. The only plus was that we were effectively paid to zone out.
Jan and I usually spent the time until lunch talking and catching up on paperwork, in and out of each others offices. This week was no different, trying to decide what food we were each in the mood for. I was leaning towards a chicken kebab, while Jan was more in favour of Thai.
"Actually, I think I might head over the road first and grab a milkshake," I announced, pausing in the doorway between our two rooms. Heading to my desk to grab my purse was my plan, but that was thrown off track when suddenly the door was swinging in and I was flying face first to meet it.
Another fucking earthquake.
This one was a lot different from September, a lot more violent. There was no warning rumble, a straight up stealth attack. A sneaky ninja move that had me collecting the doorhandle with my cheekbone, a favourable outcome compared to the squished mess my desk chair had become, trapped underneath a massive file cabinet. There was no way I'd have gotten out of that without at least broken ribs. Never thought I'd see a sliced cheek and black eye as a good thing.
Jan, I guess she'd managed to survive as she dived under her desk. Now she was making her way over to me, asking if I was ok. "Oh, that doesn't look too bad," was the verbal response to seeing my newly blood adorned face, but the shock in her eyes told a slightly different story. "Come on," she helped me up as the building started to sway again, "We're getting out of here."
Thankfully, my bag was easy enough to snag from under the desk, and as soon as Jan had her own we were carefully making our way out of the building. Shock kept the journey rather vague, all I can remember is people talking, a dark and dusty stairway that was cracked and a little unstable, then the sirens started to filter through as we made it outside into the street.
This part of Hereford Street was usually fairly busy with delivery trucks and office workers roaming the footpaths on their breaks. Today, there were only people standing in the middle of the road, wondering just what the hell had happened. What were we supposed to do now?
There was rubble all over the place, buildings crumbling everywhere I looked. Crying, screaming, yelling, sirens... It was a complete auditory overload. It had only been maybe 5 minutes since I was knocked to the ground, but we'd already felt 8 aftershocks, each causing more destruction to the buildings around us.
Deciding it wasn't the safest to stay out in the street with bricks falling, we followed the general consensus that getting out of town was the best idea. Reaching our cars at the church was a surprising scene. The wall facing the carpark was the only one still standing, the other three partially destroyed. A few bricks had landed on the cars, but a couple of dents and scratches was a small price to pay for being able to flee. Carpark buildings were inaccessible, the ramps having collapsed, and in some cases even whole floors had dropped.
It was a scary time, trying to navigate through all the cars and people, let alone the damaged roads. Basically all I could do was join the queue and wait. It took a good two hours to reach the edge of the CBD, from there traffic wasn't quite so bad as I headed home.
I never even thought about heading to mum's work to see if she was ok. She was the only one I hadn't heard from yet, no doubt her phone being stuck in her locker. All I wanted to do was get home and clean up this dried blood that was starting to really itch. Thankfully talking to one of my American girls, Desiree, on twitter helped to distract so I wasn't pulling my rather nasty looking gash even further apart. I probably should've gone for stitches, but meh. I really couldn't be bothered with that right now.
blkasiwnt2b: @E_Hansen what the hell is going on over there
@blkasiwnt2b just a huge ass earthquake, u know.. same old, same old =/
blkasiwnt2b: @E_Hansen you know I don't really pay too much attention to twitter but I feel like you really are shaking over there on a regular lol
@blkasiwnt2b haha yea, they keep springing up every now n then. been quiet for a week or so then BAM
After showering I joined the rest of my family in the lounge, TV coverage solely about our now devastated city. Christchurch's worldwide icon, our Cathedral, no longer had a spire. There was speculation a group of people could be trapped under the rubble.
Two city buses had been crushed by falling debris. The CTV building had partially collapsed and was on fire, while the PGC building had collapsed as well. There were people searching, emergency services coordinating to do the best possible rescue mission, but it seemed inevitable that there would be more casualties.
How could we have gone through a 7.1 magnitude earthquake not even six months earlier with zero deaths, yet a mere 6.3 had a toll with early estimates of at least one hundred fatalities? Yes, this one was centered a hell of a lot closer to the city, this time in the Port Hills above our port, Lyttelton, but it made no sense.
How could something so much more violent be a smaller occurrence? This earthquake stuff just made no logical sense.
~The only logical logic is illogical ~
♠ ♠ ♠
Still no Mike, but now we've got the buildup out of the way and he should be in the next one, if not then def the one after!Thankfully i was actually at home for the Feb 22 quake. Out here all we got was about 30 seconds of relatively gentle rolling and shaking. If you would like to get a true sense of what it was like in the city during the aftermath, please watch THIS VIDEO. It does contain some disturbing images.
Hard to believe we're only 4 days away from it being a year of earthquakes. Had another 4.8 at 1:30pm today, so as you can probably guess, it's been a long, trying year. Those of you on the US east coast who felt the 5.8 you had the other day.. you had a small taste of what we've been dealing with.
Comments are appreciated, without them i question if it's worth continuing to post. I know we haven't gotten to the good stuff yet, but this story has been pretty personal so far.