Power-cut: Searching for matches, candles, I stumbled around our house in the dark, tripping over fallen things. Looking through our kitchen window, I saw torchlight waving around in our neighbour's house.
Books, flung off our bookshelves, lay on the floor. Kitchen cupboard doors were popped open, nothing on the floor. In our pantry, spaghetti lay on the floor. In our passage, our ironing-board was toppled. Books in son Luke's bedroom lay on the floor. No breakages, we'd survived the quake, no damages. Flair our cat yowled on our double-bed.
Waltham Rd wooden-flat, which was surrounded by old brick buildinggs. Jake & girlfriend escaped in the night to her parents' home, safer. We stayed in bed for two hours, shaken by aftershocks, bed was safest, by an inner wall. Luke stayed in bed too.
That frosty, cloudless, spring morning, our water was cut off. We had little emergency water: full hot-water-cylinder, water we poured into our bath as drinking-water; a 3 litre plastic water-bottle in the garage; two 1.5 litre Coca Cola & Sprite soft-drink bottles; some canned fruit-juice.
I drove along Grahams Rd to Northlands Mall to buy water. People stood bewildered on footpathss. First damage we saw: toppled brick-chimneys, loosened roof-tiles, slates.
04.09.10. Quake damaged reservoir, white, plastic, tape cordoned, Papanui High School, by Northlands Mall
More damage: Water, stones on the road by Papanui High School reservoir, near Northlands Mall carpark. I complained to Leah: "Why are Civil Defence & the military so slow? Where are the water-trucks"?
Two months post-quake, the reservoir would have a plumb-line attached from the roof & horizontal cable-braces around the reservoir. The cable-braces had winch-nuts attached for slowly tightening the cables, pulling the reservoir vertical again: worked something like a giant tooth-brace.
We didn't join the water-queue at Pak 'n Save, as the supermarket was unsafe in aftershocks, due to items toppling off shelves. A panic-buyer man pushed a trolley-load of bottled-water to his home.
Back home, our water & power was still cut off, so I scrounged plastic bottles from our rubbish-bin for water filling. Irrationally, I wanted to drive across Canterbury Plains to an Oxford friend to fetch water. Leah & I argued, her sense prevailed. We didn't know then that the quake caused widespread damage to infrastructure, farmland & Canterbury towns.
04.09.10. Quake toppled garden wall, Grahams Rd
Power, water returned, so I cleaned our Christchurch City Council, plastic rubbish-bin, the green lid, organic rubbish-bin. Filled it with emergency-water, not knowing water could already be sewage-contaminated by burst underground-pipes. Post-quake for the first week, we boiled our drinking-water.
04.09.10. Quake toppled garden wall by a stream, Grahams Rd / Waimairi Rd traffic circle
Leah & Luke listened to the radio & TV broadcasts about the quake: A State-of-Emergency was declared from Monday 6 September 2010, a first for Christchurch. Civil Defence (CD) & cops would man cordons till then. Nightly curfews would prevail. As telephone-lines were jammed, our outbox was stuffed, so we Facebooked family & friends, telling them we were OK.
I trekked Burnside, taking damage-pics: chimneys toppled, roofs smashed, toppled garden-walls, toppled power-pole, snapped cable secured with plastic DANGER tape, snapped power-pole cordoned by orange-plastic-road-cones. An overalled linesman on a ladder fixed overhead power-lines.
Orange-plastic-road-cones, plastic DANGER tape & POLICE EMERGENCY tape would symbolize Christchurch damages, countless road-detours over the next decade & countless road-rebuilds. Damaged-buildings were either DANGER tape or POLICE EMERGENCY tape-cordoned, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned, or orange-plastic-road-cone-cordoned, or 2 or 3 cordon methods were combined simultaneously. Orange & white, plastic, road-bollards & different coloured shipping-containers were used for cordons too. (See below).
We'd soon see cops, CD volunteers & New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) soldiers wearing Hi-Vis vests or jackets, bossing citizens around. Orange or yellow, Hi-Vis vests or jackets became another quake symbol worn by authoritarian figures, or rebuild contractors.
In addition to colourful tarps covering wall & roof-damages, Urban Search And Rescue / Task Force (USAR / TF) teams, wearing colourful overalls & hard-hats, roamed Christchurch, wielding spray-paint cans, spraying their coded graffiti on walls, doors, windows, pavements, showing they'd searched buildings for bodies & warned others about dangers, seen or anticipated. NZ Response Teams (NZRT) wearing different coloured overalls & hard-hats, also roamed, assisting USAR teams. Colourful demolition-diggers & crane-trucks roamed Christchurch too.
04.09.10. Linesman fixing quake damaged power lines, Greers Rd
04.09.10. Quake toppled chimney damage to roof, Greers Rd. 5 months post quake, no repairs, slow insurance settlement
04.09.10. Quake toppled power pole, orange, plastic, road cone cordoned, Greers Rd
04.09.10. Top of quake toppled power pole, Greers Rd
04.09.10. Quake collapsed garden fence, Wairakei Rd. New fence soon built
04.09.10. Quake damage to Chinese supermarket ceiling, Cashmere Rd
04.09.10. Post quake clean up of Chinese supermarket shelves, Cashmere Rd
04.09.10. Plastic tarp placed on quake damaged roof, Centaurus Rd. Soon 1000s of colourful tarps would cover Christchurch quake damaged roofs & chimneys
That afternoon we drove to Sumner, New Brighton & Dallington to see damages, while avoiding Christchurch Central Business District (CBD), a NO GO area with cordons plastic-taped red, white, yellow POLICE EMERGENCY & DANGER. Red tape took on new meaning. We didn't know then, during the next 3 quake years, 2010-2013, our movements around quaked Christchurch & neighbouring quaked towns would be controlled by signs, like cop DANGER tapes. Signs would include: threat-signs, information-signs, protest-signs, road-signs, murals, USAR / TF graffiti, tagging, demolition-signs, hazard-register / construction signs, advertisements, billboards.
We saw patchy damages where seismic waves had caused chaos. We drove along roads seeing a pattern where there were long sections with no damage at all, then a pocket of devastation, then another long section, no damage, then another pocket of pavement / road / building damage, then no damage...
04.09.10. Quake damage to chimneys & roof, Aynsley Tce / Centaurus Rd. House was damaged in later quakes too
14.11.10. Repairs to Centaurus Rd / Aynsley Tce house, 2 months post quake. House was damaged in later quakes too
Damages: toppled-chimneys, smashed-windows, complete or partially peeled brick-walls, snapped gables & parapets, rubble & awnings on footpaths & roads. Seismic waves toppled chimneys, tiles, flinging bricks & stonework off tops of old buildings. "Ground accelerations", said seismologists.
Brick & stone buildings fared worst, especially corner buildings, as traffic-rumbling had weakened corner buildings over the years. Our wooden, weatherboard house, on piles, jolted, shook, creaked, but survived without any cracks, nor loose tiles. Quaking had a deep, rumbling sound, lots of shaking, jolts. Profoundly-deaf I never heard quakes, just felt their shaking & rumbling underfoot. My family & others described quake-noise to me.
04.09.10. Quake damaged bldg, orange, plastic, road cone cordoned, Ferry Rd, Woolston. 5 months post quake, still just so. Bldg would be demolished
04.09.10. Quake cracked bldg, Ferry Rd, Woolston
04.09.10. Quake damaged Big Ed's Fish & Chips, Ferry Rd
04.09.10. Quake damaged bldg, yellow, plastic, taped, orange, plastic, road cone cordoned, Ferry Rd, Woolston. Six weeks later the bldg was still just so. Bldg would be demolished
04.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Ferry Rd
04.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Ferry Rd
04.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Ferry Rd
04.09.10. Quake damaged chimney, Ferry Rd
04.09.10. Newspapers soaking up supermarket liquid after the quake, Countdown, Ferry Rd. Countdown was more damaged by later quakes & would be demolished post 13.06.11 quake
04.09.10. Quake damaged chimneys, Nayland St, Sumner
04.09.10. Quake damaged shop roof, Wakefield Ave, Sumner
04.09.10. Quake damaged side of The Ruptured Duck, Wakefield Ave, Sumner. Bldg would be demolished after later quakes
04.09.10. Quake damaged front of The Ruptured Duck, white, plastic, taped, orange, plastic, road cone cordoned, Wakefield Ave, Sumner. Two months post quake, The Ruptured Duck was scaffolded & being repaired. Bldg would be demolished
04.09.10. Quake damaged, brick gate post, Esplanade, Sumner
04.09.10. Quake rock fall below Clifton sea cliff, Main Rd, Sumner Beach
Ferry Rd, Woolston: Several old, brick buildings by Heathcote River were damaged.
Sumner: Damages to older buildings, gate-posts, chimneys. Small rockfall on the pavement below Clifton sea cliff by Sumner Beach.
04.09.10. Quake collapsed garden wall, Bexley
Driving to New Brighton, we were detoured by City Care trucks road-blocking Bexley roads & Bromley sewage-ponds, so we drove along roads covered with grey, liquefaction-silt towards Pages Rd.
Along liquifactioned Bexley / Aranui roads, we saw more toppled-chimneys, roof-damages, toppled garden-walls. One garage a rubble-heap, garage roof on the front lawn.
04.09.10. Quake collapsed garage, a rubble heap, Bexley
04.09.10. Liquefaction tilting of concrete slab, white, plastic taped, orange, plastic, road cone cordoned, Bexley Garage, Pages Rd
04.09.10. Liquefaction tilting of concrete slab, white, plastic, tape cordoned, POLICE EMERGENCY, Bexley Garage, Pages Rd
Pages Rd: Bexley Garage. liquefaction-damaged: grey, quakemire everywhere, huge concrete forecourt slab tilted into mud by the garage building, some of the slab tilted skywards. (The slab would soon be demolished, hauled away). Near Avon River: Waitaki St & housing flooded. A cop stood nearby guarding damaged, flooded properties.
04.09.10. Quake flooded Waitaki Rd near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake flooded Waitaki Rd near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake flooded Waitaki Rd near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake cracked Owles Tce near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake cracked Owles Tce near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake damaged curb pulled away from tarseal, seen all over Christchurch. Owles Tce near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake cracks, Owles Tce near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake damaged roadside, Owles Tce near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake Crack across Owles Tce near Avon River boat ramp. Liquefaction silt on road cnr & pavement
04.09.10. Quake crack, Owles Tce near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake flood water, New Brighton Rd near Avon River
04.09.10. Quake flood water draining away more than 12 hours post quake, New Brighton Rd near Avon River
04.09.10. Detour due to quake flooding on New Brighton Rd. Liquefaction silt in middle of road
Owles Tce near Avon River / Estuary: Large cracks on road, concrete-curb pulled horizontally from pavement.
New Brighton Rd, New Brighton: Flooded in places, detours by Avon River. Masses of flood-water sucked into road-drains more than 12 hours post-quake. Some gardens flooded.
New Brighton Rd, Dallington: Liquefaction had caused large cracks, buckling on the road & surrounding roads, grey, quakemire everywhere, gutters & pavements blocked by mud. Leah was afraid to be left alone in our Toyota Corolla, while I trekked around, snapping liquefaction- damage. We argued lots that first quake day.
04.09.10. Quake cracks, New Brighton Rd pavement, Dallington
04.09.10. Quake cracks, liquefaction silt & flood water draining away more than 12 hours post quake, New Brighton Rd, Dallington. Throughout Christchurch, grey liquefaction silt had a gritty texture, like grey beach sand
04.09.10. Liquefaction damaged pavement & quake flooding, New Brighton Rd, Dallington
04.09.10. Quake damaged pavement, New Brighton Rd, Dallington
04.09.10. Liquefaction silt, road buckling, cracking & flooding, New Brighton Rd, Dallington
04.09.10. Red car, liquefaction silt, road buckling, cracking & flooding, New Brighton Rd, Dallington
04.09.10. Quake damaged New Brighton Rd & pavement, Dallington
Sumner, New Brighton & Dallington would again be damaged by the 22 February 2011, M6.3 quake.
Including 4 September 2010, Darfield Quake day, during Christchurch State-of-Emergency (Saturday 4 September - Wednesday 15 September) I would go out daily during aftershocks to snap damages in Christchurch CBD & suburbs, before changes by demolitions & repairs.
Liquefaction: A quake caused saturated ground to behave like a liquid. Underground water after heavy rains & a high water-table by Avon River & Heathcote River & a thick silt-layer covering most of Christchurch from ancient alluvial flooding of Canterbury Plains by Waimakariri River & smaller rivers, was a bad combination for potential liquefaction. Quake-shakes caused silt to compress & water to liquefy silt, which oozed up to ground surface in silt boils / volcanoes, big silt-mounds, & if a house, footpath, road or building was atop liquefaction boils, damage resulted in large cracks, slimy silt everywhere. In my blog posts I would often use the word quakemire instead of liquefaction mud.
Terrifying for those woken up by the quake in the dark, their house cracking, silt flooding in. Some people couldn't leave their houses during the quake, as quakemire stopped doors opening.
Four times, four different days, I would trek the State-of-Emergency cordon in Christchurch CBD. Each time the cordon had shrunk inwards towards Ground Zero, Manchester St, where TVNZ broadcast news for days.
06.09.10. Fire HQ by Civil Defence HQ / Christchurch Art Gallery, white, plastic, tape cordoned, POLICE EMERGENCY, Worcester Blvd, during the quake state of emergency
Sometimes CBD military-cordons were confusing, buildings & roads fenced-off, or taped-off in odd spots. Cops wearing yellow, Hi-Vis vests / jackets were confrontational. Young Burnham camp soldiers wearing camouflage-browns at cordons were less confrontational. There were also CD volunteers wearing orange, Hi-Vis vests.
During quake-years we would become used to EMERGENCY cordons around buildings, around structures like concrete-drains, around Christchurch CBD, across bridges, across / along roads, along rivers & estuaries, below cliffs, as follows:
*White-plastic-tape-cordons, DANGER KEEP OUT, or POLICE EMERGENCY, or KEEP CLEAR threat-signs. Common.
*Yellow-plastic-tape-cordons, CAUTION threat-sign, or CIVIL DEFENCE information-sign.
*Red-plastic-tape-cordons, DANGER KEEP OUT threat-sign.
*Orange-plastic-tape-cordons.
*Orange-plastic-road-cone-cordons. Common.
*Orange-plastic-road-pole-cordons.
*Orange or white (or combined) plastic, water-filled-bollards, forming fence-cordons.
*Orange-plastic-mesh-fence-cordons.
*Orange-plastic-fence-cordons.
*Plastic-pallet, or plastic-rubbish-bin-cordons.
*Wire-mesh-fence-cordons.
*Steel-fence-cordons. CAUTION threat-sign.
*Steel & orange, plastic-mesh-fence-cordons.
*Steel-mesh-fence-cordons. Common. Razor-wire was sometimes coiled on top of steel-mesh-fence-cordons. Messages, posters, protest-signs, condolences, tributes, poems, business-signs, cop & Council information-signs were often hung on steel-]mesh-fence-cordons.
*Concrete-block & chain-cordons. Concrete-blocks often supported garden-walls or tilted power-poles.
*Cop car or Military Light Armour Vehicle (LAV) at any checkpoint at any of the above cordons, usually at intersections.
*Shipping-container-cordons by bldgs or cliffs. Sometimes a shipping-container / steel-mesh-cordon / wire-mesh-cordon combination. Stacked shipping-containers were used to protect road traffic / pedestrians from falling bldgs or cliffs.
CD volunteers, cops & mostly NZDF soldiers would man cordon-checkpoints, especially CBD-cordons. Various DANGER or POLICE EMERGENCY threat-signs hung on cordon-fences, together with various road-signs at checkpoints forming obstructions for foot & vehicle traffic. In later months, fear-mongering EXTREME DANGER threat-signs would appear.
Various combinations of the above cordons were common, like a combination of white-plastic-tape-cordon, within a steel-mesh-fence-cordon, within an orange-plastic-road-cone-cordon. Some cordons would remain for years.
In future, after Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, CERA took over quake-recovery, permanent fence-cordons would evolve around the residential red-zone, CERA signs hanging on fences cordoning vast areas of NZ National government taken, red-zoned land. After 5 years' CERA regime, then CERA disestablishment, Land Information NZ, LINZ would take over CERA's residential red-zone cordon-fences, LINZ signs then hanging on cordon-fences.
Besides the military, during quake-years, any tin-pot dictator could don a Hi-Vis vest, demanding attention, like councillors, mayors, politicians, CD, firemen, building-inspectors, insurance-assessors, Earthquake Commission, EQC-inspectors, demolishers, salvagers, construction- workers, road-workers. Another quake icon: plastic-portaloos, various colours, polluting Christchurch roadsides.
06.09.10. Montreal St view, Christchurch Art Gallery / Civil Defence HQ, quake state of emergency
Worcester Blvd: As the new Christchurch City Council multi-storey offices were damaged & useless as a State-of-Emergency CD Headquarters (HQ), across the road, Christchurch Art Gallery, became the State-of-Emergency CD HQ.
06.09.10. Harvey bldg. Yellow, Hi-Vis vested, bldg inspector & orange, Hi-Vis vested, Civil Defence volunteers crossing Cambridge Tce to Worcester Blvd. Harvey bldg would be abandoned for at least a decade, an asbestos riddled, tagged eyesore.
6 September 2010: CD HQ / Art Gallery was filled with CD bosses & their teams who emerged doing errands: cops, firemen, USAR / TF teams, NZRT teams, other volunteers. They wore glittering plastic, hard-hats: orange, yellow, white, green, blue; & orange, or yellow, Hi-Vis vests. NZRT teams wore red or other coloured overalls.
As the plastic-tape-cordon on Worcester Blvd by Christchurch Art Gallery / CD HQ was vague, I trekked round Central Police multi-storey into Cashel St, coolpixed shattered-windows & trekked along Cambridge Tce amongst people & three cops snapping damage near a steel-mesh-cordon. Cops & soldiers guarded Worcester St Bridge steel-mesh-fence-cordon near Cathedral Sq. Over the next three quake-years, steel-mesh-fence-cordons would proliferate.
06.09.10. Three yellow, Hi-Vis vested cops snapping quake pics, Worcester Blvd
06.09.10. Lone NZDF soldier from Burnham camp guarding Worcester St Bridge, quake state of emergency cordon
Early days, I had quake-fever: shock, anxiety, anger, mood-swings from elation & joking to grief & tearfulness, induced by quakes & seeing damages. People were mostly friendly & helpful, much chatting to strangers, some showed stress, fixed-faces, 1 000 yard stares.
06.09.10. NZDF soldiers from Burnham camp direct people past a state of emergency cordon, Gloucester St / Oxford Tce. Caffe Roma behind would survive the quakes
During Christchurch State-of-Emergency, cops implied citizens could be "looters," thieves, burglars, drunks. Thus cops & soldiers guarded CBD-cordons. There were CBD night curfews: anyone found inside the CBD-cordon & other cordons, like Colombo St, Sydenham, could be arrested. Six weeks post-quake, when drunks were found at night in CBD-cordons, cops said drunks were "wasting our time". (The Press). Drunks took short-cuts across the CBD by climbing over cordon-fences.
06.09.10. Cop watching a businessman save business records from a Manchester St, quake damaged bldg, state of emergency cordon
06.09.10. Quake damaged Theme Basics bldg, Manchester St / St Asaph St, quake state of emergency cordon. Post 22.02.11 quake, the bldg would be part demolished, then demolished
06.09.10. Deserted High St, quake state of emergency cordon, usually busy with traffic
My Woza Wanderer blog, quake-snaps: Dates showed days I coolpixed. Quake chaos; damages; organised-chaos during aftershocks; State-of-Emergency cordons; deserted CBD streets; destroyed buildings, roads, pavements, drains; crushed cars; flooding; quakemire; demolitions; repairs; schools, technikon, varsity, business closures...
Although there were damage-pockets throughout Christchurch, especially old brick & stone buildings in the CBD, there were vast areas of the city, with younger buildings, no damages at all. Little did we know, aftershocks would progressively damage buildings causing collapse in later quakes. After the State-of-Emergency, some cordons around damaged / demolished bldgs stayed in place for weeks, causing traffic obstructions.
Quake-damages: "Damage totalling $4 billion including $2 billion to residential property, $1 billion for commercial and industrial property and another $1 billion for council and government infrastructure... over 2 600 homes have been reported as uninhabitable and a further 2 900 as not weatherproof." (The Star).
06.09.10. NZDF soldiers from Burnham camp guarding Mollett St, quake state of emergency cordon, Durham St Sth side. A bldg was quake damaged at the end of Mollett St - Colombo St side
*Trekked Grahams Rd, Greers Rd, Wairakei Rd, Cashmere Rd, Centaurus Rd, Ferry Rd, Nayland St, Wakefield Ave, Esplanade, Main Rd, Pages Rd, Waitaki St, Owles Tce, New Brighton Rd, Worcester Blvd, Montreal St, Gloucester St, Manchester St, High St, Mollett St. 63 snaps.
I didn't know then, I'd begun a three year trek in Christchurch & nearby towns, taking 20 600 snaps (mainly exteriors of properties seen from roads), blogging snaps & content & for years thereafter, updating demolition & rebuild information.
My blog posts would have the following motifs:
*Recurring quakes.
*Recurring family adaptations, housing, living & work conditions.
*Recurring business, public, private responses.
*Recurring images of broken land, streets, buildings, infrastructure, businesses, people.
*Recurring images of demolitions.
*Recurring manipulation by NZ Govt of Christchurch Council affairs: States-of-Emergencies, Cops, NZDF, EQC, Insurance, CERA, Land Zonings, Observers, Reports, Commissioners, Commissions, Inquests.
*Recurring security: private, public.
*Recurring cordons, signage.
*Recurring media & business statements.
*Recurring rebuild issues.
*Recurring public pushback.
Sometimes I referred to "ghost" buildings, a generic-term for damaged-buildings, closed-buildings, abandoned-buildings, usually behind cordons, awaiting demolitions, or repairs, or restorations. Ghosts would haunt me for years, long after demolitions & rebuilds. After leaving Christchurch in 2014 for South Canterbury, whenever I revisited Christchurch, ghosts would haunt. On visiting Christchurch libraries, or libraries elsewhere, I'd check The Press for recovery progress: demolitions, repairs, rebuilds. Some recovery would be extremely slow, like the Anglican & Catholic Cathedrals.
Comments from Facebook (FB) friends around the world inquired about our safety, some friends remarked their local media gave no news of the quake. South African media gave good coverage, as there were many SA migrants in NZ.
Facebook:
EARTHQUAKE M7.1 epicentre 30km west of Christchurch. Esslemonts OK, shaken awake in our beds 4.35am. Scary aftershocks. Cupboard doors flung open, books, food, etc on floor. Jellification of Christchurch swampland. Many Kaiapoi houses destroyed. No traffic-lights, water, electricity for hours. Garden-walls fallen. People buying water at shops. Christchurch CBD is cordoned. 4 September 10.05am.
@Tracey. All OK. Beautiful, sunny frosty morning. Civil Defence scrambling. Dunno where the military is, as a State-of-Emergency has been declared. Seaside suburbs, houses, reticulation, more damaged due to boggy ground. I expect values of properties in "soft suburbs" will decline. Our old state rental house, all wood, all good stood up OK.
People standing in streets looking bewildered, cars driving around aimlessly. Another aftershock while typing this, like my seat's on jelly, computer-monitor jiggling before my eyes, breaking news... 4 September 10.21am.
@Jenny, Leah here. Frightening here, but we are fine. Lots of stories of people who had lots more damage than our house. A neighbour had lots of smashed stuff in her house and another is walking indoors with gumboots on to avoid broken glass, China. Shops and businesses still mostly closed. CBD cordoned off. Thankful it happened at night, few people in town. 4 September 10.35am.
@Jenny. I've just topped up our emergency-water supply, compliments of Christchurch City Council, 3 plastic-rubbish-bins supplied to every house, one of which we use for emergency-water. 4 September 12.07pm.
@Jenny from Leah. Yes, all are safe. Our house OK, but lots of people not so lucky. Ours is an old wooden-house. Lots of things chucked around and the continuing aftershocks are scary. I am thankful that we were in bed horizontal because everything was moving with a loud rumbling noise. Some of the earlier aftershocks were also full-on. Our cat was spooked.
Initial worry about no water got us motivated to prepare and fill containers. Many don't have power and / or electricity yet. [Some wouldn't have for days]. Will try to see if any shops open later. This morning we drove around and all closed. No traffic-lights working.
Luckily Jake got on his cell before it crashed and he is safe. His girlfriend's family collected them from their Waltham Rd flat. Scary stuff. Luke on the other hand is finding it quite exciting. 4 September 12.30pm.
@Alan, John. We sent FB messages to family to spread Esslemonts OK news. Just done a neighbourhood walk to view fallen branches, fallen garden- walls, holey-roof, power-lines down, snapped power-poles. Going for a drive now to gawk. 4 September, 1.29pm.
@Cassidy. Earthquakes often in NZ, but not as severe as today's. Many little shakes. Last big one in Christchurch was in 1995 shortly after we'd arrived. We're on Pacific / Australasian tectonic plates. 4 September 6.32pm.
@Alan. Thanks for phoning your mom. Leah's still spooked, coping. 4 September 6.35pm.
@Sheila, Louise, David. Goodwill appreciated. 4 September 6.38pm.
@Luke. Many photographers about today. My digital-snaps will follow on FB when I'm organized. 4 September 6.41pm.
@Linda. Still breathing. Lovely sunny day, but 100km winds expected tomorrow. 4 September 7.36pm.
Official NZTV Earthquake news: Curfew 7pm-7am, can be arrested if broken. Aftershocks up to M4 Richter Scale expected in the next week. Burnside High School (near us) Linwood HS & Addington Raceway night refuges for people feeling unsafe / needing company. (Slow start by CD). Mayor Parker praising "resilience" of Cantabrians. Military on standby. 4 September 7.45pm.
Rumour: Jake heard his old flat, Poplar Mews in Christchurch CBD was destroyed in the earthquake. (False). He'd recently flatted there about a year, old, brick, three-storey building. I'm angry so many old, dangerous, dilapidated buildings are flat-rentals. Wake up NZ Tenancy Services! 4 September 7.51pm.
[A brick multi-storey, Poplar St / Lichfield St was damaged with top-storey, wall-bricks falling into Lichfield St, crushing a car. Another false rumour: Lyttelton Harbour fuel-tanks, cracked & leaking fuel. ]
Drove through Christchurch suburbs to snap damages (CBD a NO GO zone). Many new buildings OK. Older brick-buildings damaged on Ferry Rd near Heathcote River. Pockets of buildings with cracked walls & chimneys; roofs, windows, garden-walls damaged. Roads, footpaths cracked, concrete- curbs, gutters shifted, concrete-slabs moved. Roads, gardens flood-damaged near Avon River, especially New Brighton. 4 September 8.04pm.
@David, Warren, Diane. We're unscathed. Not OK for others with damages. Flair our cat back to normal, yowled so loud in the dark this morning, even I heard her. 4 September 8.16pm.
@ Keith. Leah & I lay on our bed for 2 hours after the first earthquake, 4.35am - 6.30am. Many aftershocks, loud rumbling, bed shaking wildly, safest place near a wall, strong oak head & foot-boards. Taiwanese "Good Luck" plum painting above our heads stayed on the wall. Power & water cuts.
Leah cell-phoned Jake, checking he was OK in his wooden-flat, Waltham Rd. Aftershocks continuing, his girlfriend's parents fetched them; sheltered in their safer home. Flat was unsafe due to a nearby water-tower, old, brick business buildings & old Honda chop-shop looming over their flat. More aftershocks forecast at max M6 Richter Scale next week. Fears that aftershocks & traffic will shake more buildings to bits. 5 September 5.04am.
@David, Richard. Cashmere Rd: This afternoon Leah had a chat with a Chinese supermarket lady, while Chinese family mopped up & restored order to shelves, glancing warily at their caved-in roof. Ferry Rd, countdown supermarket, also muddy, messy with newspapers on aisle floors, shopping normal, but water-bottles & water-sales up.
@Paul. Checking family is OK, checking for damage to our rental-house, no washing-up done today. Another early morning rumble & shake while I'm typing. Couldn't sleep at 4.35am, 24 hours after the first quake. Too many aftershocks. 5 September 5.30am.
Prime Minister (PM) John Key declared a State-of-Emergency. He announced Canterbury earthquake-damage estimated at NZ$ 2 billion. [Later revised to NZ$ 4 billion]. Not a good year for insurance companies. 5 September 5.57pm.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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