-
Source: ONE News -
Related
It's a bit like a war zone. Not just because there are damaged and destroyed buildings everywhere but because there are no people. The centre of Christchurch is empty. There's been a curfew overnight keeping everyone out and a cordon during the daytime.
That first morning was terrifying. As we were shaken awake at 4.35 the house was pitch black. Normally we have enough light from the street lights to walk all round our house but not Saturday morning. We were shouting about getting into doorways. The dining room table was too far away. Things were flying off shelves and dressing tables. A few objects smashed on the floor. The noise was dreadful. And it all went on for so long. The same scenario played out in thousands of homes all round Canterbury. Many far worse off than us.
Driving round in the dark seems crazy now. Streets in the Bexley area were flooded from a burst water main, we probably shouldn't have been there trying to film it; for all we knew the roads could've been damaged underneath and dangerous. We were hearing about damage in Darfield. Big problems in Kaiapoi.
We had several cameramen up early filming in the central city. When I got there a bit later it was awful to see the rubble on the street. The bricks. Proud old buildings that gave up under the force of a 7.1 earthquake. Cars squashed under all the debris. At the time we had no way of piecing all this together. Where was the worst damage? Were people injured? Was anyone killed? Anyone standing by the jewellery shop on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street would've been buried under a pile of rubble.
For that first day we were all pretty stunned, but impressed by how quickly Civil Defence swung into action. The worst areas were quickly cordoned off. Police telling onlookers to go home because buildings may not be safe with all the aftershocks. We heard reports of looters heading for damaged liquor stores. As if there were the resources to deal with idiots like that. There were teams of people out early, within a few hours bricks were being cleared off roads. Workmen out restoring power and water as quickly as possible. An engineer we bumped into said buildings had stood up to the quake remarkably well, thanks to our building code.
The next few weeks will be telling. Not all damage is obvious, not all businesses will be able to open immediately. Not all houses and buildings will be repairable. The cost is likely to be around $2 billion.
We will be adding to our emergency kit. We had torches and a radio, all absolutely crucial. We had food and some basic medical stuff, along with matches and candles. But nowhere near enough water. The gas bottle for the BBQ was nearly empty, enough to fire it up for a cup of tea but it wouldn't have lasted long.
I know now a safe place is lying on the floor by the bed. Funny because our dog is still pretty nervous and has changed from sleeping on her bean bag to sleeping in exactly that spot beside our bed. The aftershocks continue to rattle our homes and our nerves. Some of them are definitely real, some imagined. I was about to hit the deck this morning when I realised the approaching rumble was the rubbish truck. It was emptying the green bins lined up in our street ready for collection. That in itself is incredible.
Think of the devastation a similar sized earthquake caused in Haiti earlier this year. The exact death toll from that disaster will probably never be known, stories at the time were talking about 100,000 people, maybe 150,000.
People here have rallied to help those who've suffered loss. Volunteers step forward. Disasters bring people together. It makes me proud to be a Kiwi.
