Quaking in our boots....

As most of you know, we experienced a big earthquake (7.1) here in Christchurch on Saturday morning at 4:35 am. Mike and I were fast asleep when we both were jolted from bed by rumbling and violent shaking. Off flew Mike to Mr W's room where he could barely stand up and where he found W's crib floating around the room with W inside and him asking "what's happening?". Meanwhile, I had raced to Miss M's room where she was fast asleep. I lifted her out of bed and went to the doorframe in her room and she woke up a few seconds later and asked "what is going on? Why are we sitting here?" I let out an uncontrollable "yelp" as panic coursed through my veins. I could hear things crashing in the kitchen and figured there would be dishes and glasses all over the floor. The shaking subsided and Mike came running out into the hallway with W and said "Get out of the house and into the car NOW!!!!". Off we went to the car, the kids with half glazed over looks on their faces and two parents high on adrenaline. I moved the car away from the house and thought about the aftershocks to come. Meanwhile, Mike went in the house to grab water, blankets, a flashlight, our cell phones, coats and hats (and a few "stuffies" for the kids). He shut off the gas to our fireplace and surveyed the house which seemed to be intact. Our good friend across the street came over to check on us but quickly returned to his own freaked out family.

Aftershocks started to rumble through and the car shook. We turned on the radio and heard various people calling in to report their experience of the quake. In classic Kiwi, understated fashion, callers would say "well, that was a wee shake!" or "that was quite a way to wake up this morning!" That gave me a good laugh at a time when I was just trying to hold my emotions together. A few neighbors were roaming the streets, checking in on people and making sure everyone was okay. After an hour or so and the announcement that it was indeed a big earthquake (7.4 was the first estimate), we decided to head inside and try and get some sleep. We piled into our double bed and everyone fell asleep except me. A few more rumbles shook our house and bed. A friend called at around 7:15am to check in on us and then we were all up. The whole neighborhood seemed to be out on the streets, walking in a daze, surveying the damage and just trying to come to grips with the big event of the morning.

It seems that many people in our neighborhood lost chimneys and fences.

One street over from us, there was evidence of liquefaction and many houses with damage.

We heard bubbling liquid sounds coming from our backyard which was a bit unnerving.

But all in all, we were fine. We even had a bit of a picnic with our neighbors. We built a fire and had a cuppa while we felt aftershocks roll through.


We haven't slept much the last two nights. The aftershocks keep coming quite frequently, ranging from 3.5-5.0 on the Richter scale. We are easily over the 100 mark with aftershocks (but who is counting!). We can hear them approaching, much like the sound of being at the bowling alley and releasing the ball down the lane. When the shock hits the house, it is like the bowling ball hitting the pins. Freaky.

Meanwhile, Mike's folks have arrived from the States (how is that for timing!), the schools are shut down until at least Wednesday and the central business district of the city is in shambles. Quite the way to mark our year anniversary of living in New Zealand. We will write more about that later, once the dust settles a bit.

P.S. For another perspective on the quake, check out our friend's blog. We are glad they are okay too.

P.P.S. Just felt another jolt while I was finishing up this post.