WHAT CAN ONE SAY?

New Zealand is shocked and saddened by the earthquake and it's aftermath in Japan.

My heart goes out to all those who are waiting and watching for news of family and friends.

The film footage and photos are horrifying. In the midst of it we had our own little drama.The Tsunami advisory had many people on edge. We knew the risk was minor, our officials confirmed this was so, but we still kept watch. In the event it was little more than minor tidal surges with minimal damage to one or two moored boats.

We were well informed and we received phone calls and texts from so many people it was almost embarrassing. It's so nice to know that we look after each other.

It seems petty to complain about our lot but if you're living without running water and sewerage in an urban area, as so many are in Christchurch, you are either deeply affected by this tragedy or you are numbed by the sheer scale of it. Panic is not far away as we discovered when one family member became almost hysterical when we refused to evacuate my mother. We have discussed this many times and our choice is always to wait and see, if that's possible. We had 10 hours to decide on the level of danger and 15 minutes gets us to safety, with emergency supplies, if necessary. We were prepared.

We are not blase or careless as some told us. We are very aware and alert, just as people on the West Coast of America were, but we had a lot more time. Having said that our emergency kit is not ready to grab in an instant. That's something we need to work on. In the past I haven't worried because we have all we need in the bus ...... but it's not mobile right now. The brake line is severed and we haven't wanted to spend any money on repairs. I think we need to re-consider this decision.

I am 'kind of' glad our TV is on the blink. Something wrong with the aerial connection and we are waiting for the 'man who fixes' to have another job in the area. He will take approximately 10 minutes to fix if last time is anything to go by. We are reduced to the internet, isn't it a marvellous tool, and a smal screen TV in the old bus. This gives us a very poor snowy picture on one channel. Because we rarely use it we haven't worried about setting up a better system.Why spend money on something we rarely use. I don't miss it very much but John grumbles a lot. I find I'm in overlaod from disaster news. I don't want to bury my head in the sand but I don't want to watch that Tsunami of water turning cities inside out and upside down.

We have a glorious sunny day with a bit of an autumn feel. I love these clear blue skies.

KIWI CAN DO

REMEMBER THIS ROCK

It was auctioned online at Trade Me. It raised over $60,000 with a final last minute bid by New Zealand Ski Lodge and the Rock, estimated to be more than 25 ton, will grace the car park at Mt Hutt ... when they can move it. All the proceeds go to the the Earthquake Fund and the seller, past owner????? plans to take the comments from the TradeMe site and Face Book to make a book. Rocky's earning capacity knows no bounds.
















Earthquake news has been the main feature here for more than two weeks but there is plenty of humour amongst the grim reality. It dominates my thoughts and as each day dawns I think of my son and his wife who live in Christchurch. Their home is livable but damaged. They bought a chemical toilet early last week. Their business has stalled. Amanda was also a part-time Nanny but her family have taken the children to Auckland, but Wayne has a job which will last forever. He's one of the road safety contingent employed by Fulton Hogan, a road construction company. He does lollipop duties but is also responsible for much more. It carries a lot more responsibility and stress than meets the eye.

10.000 homes will probably be demolished. Some areas may never be built on so the Government is possibly looking at building a satellite town.



Sewerage is a problem throughout much of the city. People who do have water are being asked to flush as little as possible. Imagine tens and tens of thousands of people without flush toilets. People are being very creative with their solutions. There is a website dedicated to photos and one of the TV channels is running a competition for the best longdrop or Dunny.

Enjoy this sample and go here for more and here. Reminds me of when I was a child. Both my grandmother and a great aunt had longdrops, or outhouses, (wharepuka in Maori), down a garden path surrounded by trellis and flowering climbers. They kept them spotless and the smell of creosote based disinfectant (Jeye's Fluid) was strong, along with the other stinky smells.

Christchurch has apparently stripped the world of porta-loos and chemical toilets. China is making chemical toilets and delivering them as fast as they can. (See note at end of post). There are tanks being planted in the street for people to empty their chemical toilets into. About 1500 portaloos and nearly 5000 chemical toilets have been distributed. There are more on the way. Even the ground tanks are having to be manufactured as all available are being used.

It sounds like a nightmare both for the authorities and the residents. Bathroom humour is at it's richest in Christchurch. A common topic of ribaldry is being caught sitting down when an aftershock hits.

Columnist Vicki Anderson says it all in yesterday's Christchurch Press under the heading It's Time To Dry The Tears. She has written some amazing articles including this one on the night of the Big Earthquake. Vicki Anderson is a powerful writer and while her passion may be with music she is far too talented to remain a music critic. Not that I think being a music critic is light weight but that there will be many more opportunities for Vicki to exercise her talent beyond her chosen field. Surely her career will move forward with the possibility of a global audience. A positive result from a terrible event.

Meantime we are enjoying a beautiful early autumn day with brilliant blue skies and crisp cooling breeze. We are preparing our house for weekend guests who will be going to a wedding tomorrow. We get to sleep 2 or 3 nights in The Purple Bus. It's becoming routine but it's a lot of work. We take extra care with cleaning and tidying as we think our guests deserve the best we can offer for their money.

Lunch calls and I can't leave everything to John.

There has been an earthquake in China in the last 24 hours. I'm not sure if this will affect our supply. There are supposed to be many porta-loos and chemical toilets coming from USA and many have already arrived from Australia. So much going on it's often hard to keep the facts reasonably accurate. We do know some USAR teams have gone home although the search for bodies continues as the rubble is cleared and dangerous buildings demolished.

STOP PRESS 2.30PM TODAY

The number of chemical toilets in Christchurch has doubled with 5000 additional chemical toilets arriving from China.

They're being distributed today to Avondale, Westhaven and Bromley.

Another 7500 chemical toilets are due in the next few days and 5000 are due next week.
In all, more than 30,000 chemical toilets have been ordered for Christchurch residents.

LIFE IS STRANGE - HEART ACHE AND A GLORIOUS SUNRISE

I want to write something different but all I can think about is the terrible earthquake in Christchurch. The city is recovering as best it can. Many people have stayed in their homes in spite of having no water, sewerage or power. Twelve nights and days gave passed and there are so many stories of wonderful people helping each other and communities trying to rebuild. In one area where the shops are still closed they had a large Farmers Market. One grower said he was delighted to have somewhere to sell his produce because with so many restaurants and shops closed he'd lost his normal market.

Another group of volunteers was the Farmy Army, a take on Britain's Barmy Army of Cricket supporters. The Voluntary Student Army, mobilised via internet, shovelled silt and mud that covered roads and garden leaving streets lined with metre high banks. One of the things the Farmy Army did was help remove this grey dust and sludge until the 450 contractors could take over. It's estimated that 220,000 tons of this stuff has been carted away from the suburbs to a landfill, with more to come.

Our son's street is one that is not yet cleared. Wayne thinks there may be a broken sewerage pipe nearby. Wayne and Amanda are back in their home so they can keep an eye on their neighbour's house while they have a break away from it all. They have bought a porta pottie. The Civil Defence are now distributing porta potties to affected homes.

There are 10,000 houses without electricity and at least twice that many without sewerage.

"People are being allowed into a section of the Central City which was cordoned off.
Shellshocked Christchurch residents and business owners finally returned to their broken properties in the central business district nearly two weeks since a deadly earthquake devastated their city.

The empty streets were suddenly clogged with traffic as residents rushed to check the damage to their buildings during the 6.3 magnitude quake that struck on February 22.

Police at 2pm lifted the cordon in areas of the CBD, allowing the public to retrieve any cars left behind before the quake."

copied from NZPA

We are being told that that there are about 800 buildings which need to be demolished.

About half the schools will be open tomorrow. Some schools are having to double up and share buildings.

The shaking continues with some strong enough to be alarming and cause further damage, It must be nerve wracking.

When one looks at the devastation it's amazing to see the progress toward normal life. Apparently the earthquake on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd could be the largest force experienced at ground level in the whole world. I can't find the source but I'm sure I heard that the peek force at ground level was equal to 1 G horizontally, the greatest that has even been recorded in a built up urban area. This was in an interview with Engineer, Dr. Charles Clifton

We enjoyed several beautiful sunrises last week. I'd love to put up the whole series of this morning but it might be to many at one time.

"Christchurch fell down. Christchurch is crying."

THIS IS A COPY OF TODAY'S POST ON MY JOURNAL







The spire of Christchurch Cathedral lies smashed on the ground. Two-and-a-half-year-old Aucklander Sophie Longstaff sees it on TV, turns to her mum and says: "Christchurch fell down. Christchurch is crying."

I needed to take a couple of days off from my laptop. I somehow picked up another dodgy tummy bug and couldn't lift my head off the pillow for 24 hours. Yesterday we packed up at Mum's and came home. For anyone new to my journal, we had been staying with my mother for nearly a week while our daughter took a break. My mother is almost 96 and we make certain she is never alone in the house at night.

The good part of being at Mum's is we wake to this.

I hope you have had an opportunity to see Amazing Race man Phil Koeghan's items on CBS Click here for an interview with him in Christchurch.

We have been heartened by people from all over the world.

A Concert in Glasgow at the St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral which is an exact copy of the damaged Christchurch Cathedral raised over $10,000 for Red Cross.

Art Agnos, who was Major of San Francisco when the big earthquake hit there in 1989 has praised the rescue and disaster efforts and in particular Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker. Thoroughly well deserved and hard earned praise.

The USAR, (Urban Search and Rescue) are from 8 or nine countries.

Our Prime Minister is requesting financial help from around the Globe as well as speaking to large New Zealand companies.

We need all the help people are able to give. There are 155 people killed with this number expected to rise by another 100.

To put this in perspective. The 1989 San Fransisco Earthquake killed 63 people. San Francisco had a population of 736,00 at the time. Christchurch's population was less than 377,000. I write 'was' because it's believed something in excess of 50,000 people have left the city, many forever.

While some business has been able to relocate many can no longer function. It's hard for me to imagine the social disruption. Life for us goes on as usual.

The major difference for us is concern for family who are trying to continue and rebuild their lives in the city and the continual TV reporting. I must admit that after going one day without news when I felt too ill to look at TV let alone read left me feeling out of touch.

Yesterday New Zealand stopped at 1.51 pm for 2 minutes, exactly 7 days after the big earthquake. It was very moving to see many community gatherings on TV.

Dear Lord Jesus,

On this 9th day, I pray earnestly for our country and it's leaders. May your wisdom and strength be with Mayor Bob Parker and his Council, Prime Minister John Key, and all his Government, The Civil Defence, Russell Wood and the USAR teams, Fire Service, Police, Red Cross, Salvation Army, other Christian organisations, Medical and other support services too many to name.

Dear Lord I pray earnestly for all those directly affected, thinking of those who have lost homes and incomes.

I think of all the grief for lost family members, friends and colleagues. May everyone of them know some measure of comfort in the midst of their pain.

I give thanks that while we far away and see a tragedy of epic proportions, You see each one as an individual with individual needs.

God Defend New Zealand.

Amen.

NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL ANTHEM

God of nations! at Thy feet In the bonds of love we meet, Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our Free Land. Guard Pacific's triple star, From the shafts of strife and war, Make her praises heard afar, God defend New Zealand
Men of ev'ry creed and race Gather here before Thy face, Asking Thee to bless this place, God defend our Free Land. From dissension, envy, hate, And corruption guard our State, Make our country good and great, God defend New Zealand.
Peace, not war, shall be our boast, But, should foes assail our coast, Make us then a mighty host, God defend our Free Land. Lord of battles in thy might, Put our enemies to flight, Let our cause be just and right, God defend New Zealand.
Let our love for Thee increase, May Thy blessings never cease, Give us plenty, give us peace, God defend our Free Land. From dishonour and from shame Guard our country's spotless name Crown her with immortal fame, God defend New Zealand.
May our mountains ever be Freedom's ramparts on the sea, Make us faithful unto Thee, God defend our Free Land. Guide her in the nations' van, Preaching love and truth to man, Working out Thy Glorious plan, God defend New Zealand.

---

84 HOURS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE

THIS IS A COPY OF MY POST ON MY JOURNAL

Today I have begun to feel more able to function. I'm sure limiting the time I watch the reports from Christchurch has helped.

Today I felt as though we were slowly being brought face to face with the full reality of the earthquake. There is public admission that many dead are not only unidentified but unfound. I guess I should have realised that all the USAR, Urban Search And Rescue, teams are here for a serious purpose. While part of me knew many people were killed by the earthquake, somehow my mind refused to acknowledge the awful truth.

This will be the most dreadful disaster to ever happen in New Zealand. Not only are many people gone from this world forever but the social and economic impact will be felt for any years to come. I have seen comments that place the financial cost as greater than Hurricane Ivan, (2004). We were in Pensacola, Fl. on the 6 month anniversary of Ivan and saw for ourselves the destruction of Santa Rosa Island and noticed the blue tarpaulin roofs everywhere we went in coastal Florida. If the great United States of America takes time to recover from major disasters we are in for a long and sometimes frustrating time of rebuilding. I've seen figures bandied about that suggest the cost could be as high as $25 billion when added onto the September 4th earthquake. That's mind blowing but I can well believe it.

Like all small countries that have developed a successful tourist industry we will be hard hit in that area. We have become very dependent on tourists for income and tourism operators will need to work very hard to keep the flow of visitors into our country. This makes me feel very nervous about our economy. I don't envy people who are responsible for our economic health over the next few years.

Personally, we'll stooge along and hopefully keep our heads above water.

This is turning into a gloomy kind of post and I didn't intend to do that.

I want to celebrate the resilience of people and how New Zealanders are helping each other There are some wonderful stories. The best one by far in my opinion is the following video. I cannot embed the video even if I knew how, because it's from TV 3 News and Campbell Live. I do hope you'll have a look at Christchurch's Super-Loos.

Another is in this clip about the Volunteer-Army. It's so heart warming to see this, all done through the power of the internet.

And finally one woman's first hand experience. It will touch your heart and might make you cry but so powerful. I shouldn't write anything more but simply give you the link. THE DAY THE EARTH ROARED

I love this story too, about a helicopter pilot. You will also find this link on FaceBook to the Rangiora Earthquake Express. While official efforts are starting to reach out into the suburbs mostly the people have been isolated and it's the Rangiora Express, The Student Army and constuctors of Super-Loos that are their heroes.

We've had a busy day. This morning we went back to our house. Matarangi is 20 minute drive from Mum's where we are staying for a few nights, to finish the cleaning. We were preparing the house for weekend guests when we heard about the earthquake. Somehow the house cleaning became unimportant as we hungered for every little piece of information we could glean. We had to come over to Mum's on Wednesday so our daughter could have a well deserved break. After finishing the cleaning and having a lovely soak n my bath, (it soothes my itchy skin), we returned to have tea, (dinner) with Mum then had to go back to Matarangi to greet our guests who arrived about 10 pm. Now at Mum's, John has gone to bed and I'm trying to get this published.

Now I've confused all my American readers. The Earthquake was 1 pm Tuesday, we came to Mum's early afternoon Wednesday. Today is Friday, well it was, it's now nearly 2 am Saturday. Still confused ... don't blame you. I think I am too.

There has already been one earthquake today, just a very small one but yesterday there were 42 and one in particular caused a lot of concern. About 7.15 pm there was a 4.3 which shook things up a lot and made more buildings at risk of falling. Total since Tuesdays big one, 255 in 85 hours. I'd be a nervous wreck if I lived in Christchurch.

I do hope you enjoyed reading and watching some expressions of the Kiwi Spirit. I think the Super-Loos should feature in Home and Garden glossies.

Time for bed. Goodnight and many Blessings on you and your family.

EARTHQUAKE IN CHRISTCHURCH 2ND DAY

ANOTHER DAY DAWNS ON OUR STRICKEN CITY

My Dear Friends,

My heart is breaking.

We've just seen pictures of damage in our favourite suburb, Merrivale. The rescue people are now searching for people under the rubble with dogs.

The search for survivors has moved into the suburbs and smaller buildings.

It's believed that there are maybe 150 lost in just 3 of the larger Central City buildings.That is beginning to sound like the tip of the iceberg.

International teams are arriving. They are very welcome. We need them. Everything seems to be extremely well organised. The logistics of feeding volunteers, providing somewhere to sleep and ablution/toilet facilities are mind boggling.

There is huge generousity from the community with food supplies for volunteers and other workers, being made free of charge by SuperMarket organisations, today at least. Most of the warehouses are functioning so supplies are not quite as disrupted as might have been. Some areas have eftpos facilities so people can access money again. Rural communities are not badly affected. City people are being offered temporary accommodation by other Cantabrians and people all over the country.

The damage is unbelievable. Communities are reeling. The organisation of rescue teams and restoration of infrastructure is going ahead in an orderly way.

It sounds as though over 1000 International USAR, Urban Search and Rescue, with specialised equipment are either in the city or about to arrive. Our Prime Minister has a scheduled phone call with President Obama.

At last the workers can be put on a roster system of 12 hour shifts. We are being told by media observers this is a well oiled machine. Even the mayor suggested September 4th was a Training Run for this. I must admit I doubt if we would have got things moving nearly as well back in September. There seems to be an extra-ordinary ability to strategise and make the best of all resources and reach areas in good order.

It helps that a military exercise was in process as the Navy, the ship Canterbury, was in port, Army on the ground and Airforce instantly available. The Canterbury is feeding hundreds of people in Lyttleton.

Yesterday our city son was out on Road safety. He's in shock. He found many people wanted to question their efforts to keep roads free for emergency services. Where they are using soldiers there is not the same questioning of authority. On September 4th he worked 13 hours straight with little food and water. This time he is going away for the weekend. It's a totally different scenario.

Many Christchurch people still have no power so have no idea of the overall damage to their city and the rescue efforts going on. They aren't getting the message to keep off the roads and stay home except for essential trips. They haven't heard that communities, neighbours, need to look after each other rather than depend on the official efforts.


View Larger Map

THE FOUR AVENUES DISTRICT IS DEFINED BY DEANS, MOORHOUSE, FITZGERALD AND BEALEY AVENUES

Deans Ave is to the left on this map, on the other side of Hagley Park. I'm sorry I did not find a static map of this area to embed but you can get a better idea of the layout of Christchurch by making it larger and playing around with it on Google Maps.

There are always idiots, rubberneckers, people going out to take photographs, people who complain about the mayor and his workers and of course looters. There is a report that at least 6 have been arrested and someone who is holding vigil for a loved one trapped in a CBD building has had their house burgled. Not hard when the windows are smashed and the doors sprung open.

Our Government declared a National Emergency. This is the first time in New Zealand's history this has been done. It enables the Government to take action to get essential services up and running as fast as possible and make good use of military personel and International offers of help.

Our Prime Minister made a Chrurchillian State Speech. We can do this. New Zealanders pull together. We will survive and be strong.

He is assuring us that the economic shock will not be as severe as some might think. That said, many people have lost their income and it's almost certain that most buildings within the four avenues will be years in restoration. This is an area of about 3 square kilometres, about 1 1/4 square miles.

Our city son will have work for years to come. The company he works for does road construction. But Wayne and Amanda have a business they are growing. It's called Baby On The Move and was growing nicely with a lot of hard work being put in, mostly by his wife, a trained nanny. Many of their clients were tourists or grandparents etc. with visiting families. They have no idea how long before they will be able to operate again. They have a show room at their home. This is closed as the building is damaged. They have no idea how long before their home will be fit to live in as there is no power, no water, no sewerage, damaged roof and walls. It's fine to camp in.

Yesterday they moved to Hornby, an undamaged part of the city to stay with friends. They had plans already in place to go to a Baby On The Move Conference in Hastings this weekend. Tomorrow they fly out of the shakey city. They are living day to day and not thinking too much about next week.

Statistics. I've been looking at the Christchurch Earthquake statistics and they are mind boggling. Since September 4th which is now being called the Training Run to prepare us for the Big One. As I write there have been 4000, shakes since September 4th. The last one was less than 30 minutes ago. There have been 30 so far today, 74 yesterday and 63 on Tuesday. That's 166 since the one that brought the city crashing down. At least three of today's quakes have been more than 4 on the Richter Scale.

Many people in the damaged suburbs still have no idea of how badly damaged their city is. We were talking to our son last night who was watching TV in the friends home, where they are staying. He was shocked. He had driven around parts of the damaged area during the day in the course of his work. He had ridden his bike around the previous day, shortly after the quake to check on his father-in-law and another relative. Thankfully all were safe. He had seen first hand the damage in the Sept. 4th quake and he'd been getting reports via radio and through his work Radio Telephone. The pictures have shaken him.

Our other son lives south of the city in an area that was barely affected although he said it was a nasty shake. He was preparing a batch of concrete to truck further south to Hororata. This tiny rural community was featured in the September earthquake when the historic church was seriously damaged. Both he and his partner will be able to carry on their lives as usual.

There will be many people, vulnerable people, disabled, elderly and children who are not coping with this major earthquake. They are all being carried in my heart and prayers. There will be many fathers, mothers and other family providers who are in despair of how they will care for their families this time. I met someone at New Year who was taking a break following the September earthquake. He was struggling, his child would not stay in a room alone, could not sleep in his own bed. This is the hidden toll of such an event that no-one talks about.

Some people will carry on as though this is just another disaster and not be affected. We feel shattered. This is the city of my husband's birth. Members of his family have lived there for a century. We are deeply affected and know the places we are seeing which are now broken. Our heart's are sad. We feel for those who have lost loved one's. This is a very personal journey for us. We might live many miles away, 1100 km/683 miles, a journey by car of 13 hours including the ferry crossing of Cook Strait, but this city is dear to our hearts.

We've had to turn the TV off. The stories are gripping us and paralysing us. We are limiting our viewing. I does no one any good for us to hover over TV feeling sick with anguish.

We are comforted that Christchurch will rise up again. Different but equally beautiful, I'm sure. Why not better than before? We have the examples of San Francisco and New Orleans to give us hope.

As I finally publish this post there have been 37 earthquakes today, 1 pm.. The latest was 20 minutes ago, magnitude, 3.7, depth 6km or about 3.7 miles. That's 7 in less than 3 hours, 173 in the last 48 hours. I'm glad I'm not there.

PEOPLE ARE LEVING THE CITY

The first photo is a map of the quake area. Many of the aftershocks are causing damage.The second is the main route from Christchurch Cathedral to my City sons home, about 5 km
The second map shows Brighton, and Lyttleton.


10 am

Those who are able are packing up and leaving the city. I wonder how many will leave permanently. The scientists are in shock and suggest Christchurch. may never be safe again. I guess that's the extreme view and comes out of the individuals own shock and fear. This man said there needs to be a lot of money go into research of the ground structure before there is any rebuilding.

The face of the city is changed forever.

Some overseas tourists have been evacuated with nothing but what they stood up in and their blanket and pillow given to the to make last night a little more comfortable.

At this stage I believe my family will stay put and become part of the rebuilding.

There are many USAR, Urban Search and Rescue, on the ground with more coming from Japan and USA. More help is also on the way. The Australians are here.

Many people are still trapped alive.

Water and sewerage are out and power is out over a large part of the city. We still cannot reach our city son by phone. There are problems with the water supply and any are without drinking water and many SuperMarkets closed so supplies cannot be replenished. Another logistic nightmare to get enough water into the affected suburbs.

It's a shock when you here the Minister of Civil Defense say people will have to bury their waste including poos in their back yards.

Five people were rescued last night from one of the worst hit buildings. There are also several dead. Right now another person has been rescued alive as I write.

It is sounding as though the CBD between the four avenues is wrecked. What stands will have to come down.

Rescuers are working through numerous shakes.

Outer suburbs are being reached by the army. Ambulances cannot get through.

All we have are helicopter pictures of Lyttleton. The route to Lyttleton, the port, is over or under the port hills, a mountainous road which is severely damaged and as far as I can tell the tunnel remains closed.

The suburb of Brighton, is cut off from ambulances and the army are there. News outside the CBD is sketchy. I guess we need local radio to get more information. TV seems to be caught in the CBD and again are not getting much footage of other areas.

The reporters have said that if they leave they will not be allowed back through the cordon.

11 am

Just talked to my son who is on Road safety duties out near the sewerage ponds. A damaged area. He is busy so didn't chat.

I am supposed to be preparing our house for weekend guests and packing to go stay at Mum's while our daughter has a break. It's hard to leave the TV. The news is gripping and horrifying. Ths is one of our favourite cities and we know it well. I just want to cry and cry.

Must get on with my own life. Sitting here is not helping anyone. It's painful day.

Will update later today.