At 4.36am this morning the garden city of Christchurch was rocked by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that was centred 41kms west of the city and only 10kms deep. The shallow depth of the earthquake has meant that there are many many after-shocks still happening ... and are still expected to happen.
It is an absolute miracle that no-one lost their life. When you think that Haiti recently had a 7.0 earthquake, also 10kms deep, and that killed 61 people and there are still 180 people unaccounted for. We can only put it down to the sheer luck that our earthquake struck in the early hours of the morning, whereas Haiti had their quake during the day when lots more people were out and about; and, I guess, our building practises and codes are good.
Nonetheless, damages are estimated at over $2 billion; but over and above all this is the psychological damage which is a huge concern and people are stretched to their absolute limit.
We all wonder when the city will return to normality ... everyone is simply taking one day at a time. In the meantime, our hearts go out to everyone we know in Christchurch, and also those we don't know. Thank you also to our friends and family who have phoned or emailed us. Although we personally did not feel the earthquake in Wellington, we sincerely ache for the heartache, stress and loss others have suffered.
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