Hi Janine,
I am ok and uninjured. There were many deaths and the toll is rising. My home is badly damaged. My two story home is in danger of becoming a one story if there are any more shakes. Last night I slept down stairs and not under the second story. This quake was the most violent of all. My neighborhood looks like a war zone. It was much worse than the first two series of quakes. This one was closer to home and there were many deaths this time. My flatmate was so freaked out she ran off dazed and hysterical and I haven't seen or heard from her since. The interior of the house was trashed. We had 9 aftershocks last night. After more than 4500 from the first series of quakes I had enough. So far I have spent 2 weeks previously without water or power. Now I am 200 km South in Oamaru. It is a beautiful seaside town. I am staying in a backpackers and will gradually make my way to Invercargill the most southern of all cities in the world. I am going to explore there until things settle down in Christchurch. I am not sure what to do or where to go from here. It will take years before my insurance claim is settled and my home was already destroyed but was ok to live in. Now I am not sure. I am due to visit the States in Mid May so am holding out for that to take a break. Hope all is well with you. Love, Marc
this is what marc wrote after the last earthquake, in 2010:
Greetings from Marc in quake ravaged Christchurch. I just got back on-line. I am ok. I am still without water. The phone and internet went back on yesterday. I live in the Eastern suburbs of Christchurch along the Avon River. My neighborhood was one of the hardest hit and featured in the news. There were other hard hit areas such as Bexley and Kaipoi. The houses on the Port Hills fared very well and there was little damage to these homes. Many of the homes on my street were destroyed and will need to be knocked down and rebuilt. The good news is that there was not a single fatality anywhere! My home survived with some expensive damage but is still structurally sound. I may be the only surviving house on my block. All my neighbors had to leave their homes. I remained here with my two flatmates. We are presently hauling in water and purifying it and using a hole I dug on the side of the house as a toilet.
The day after the quake was a lovely warm sunny day so I took a bike ride around town to survey the damage along with hundreds of others. There were bridges down, buckled and sheared roads, power lines and trees had fallen over. Lots of brick chimneys fell down along with bricks from old buildings. There were lots of sightseers the next few days. My street in particular was a major tourist attraction. Two days after the quake I sprained my ankle pretty badly coming down my stairs so have been in a lot of pain and hobbling around. The following few days all I could manage to do was to pull weeds in my garden. I have been entertaining myself by reading the fabulous Anastasia series of books of the Ringing Cedar series by Vladimir Megre. These are some of the most life changing and profound books I have ever read!
Everyone was so helpful. The emergency teams worked flat out to restore things back to normal. Teams of students roamed the neighborhoods with shovels to help clear all the sand which rose from the liquefaction of the ground. It squirted out of the ground like little volcanoes. There was water in the streets and the Avon River was almost empty of water. The water and sand came up from the ground and the water from the river sank into the ground. People came by and delivered food and the city set up portable toilets at the top of the street. Lots of workmen around trying to restore services. Things are back to normal for most residents of Christchurch except in my area. New Zealander's are such kind and gentle people and everyone pulled together to minimize the trauma and effects of the quake. There were only 3 people caught looting. If you have have to go through a major quake, NZ is the place to do it! We are so well prepared and our government turned down the offer of assistance from the US. We have an Earthquake fund that insures homes that are damaged. My home is also fully insured so there is no worry there.
The initial quake was 7.1 around 4:30 am on Saturday morning. I woke up a few minutes before it hit. It toppled my bookcase sending my glass cased model boat flying across the room and smashed to bits. The floor lamp and my computer fell over and things fell from shelves and broke. The damage was not too bad except for the model boat, which was a family heirloom and can be repaired. In my home, the conservatory (sun room) separated from the house and will involve major repairs since it holds up the second story balcony. Also my bay window separated from the house as my property moved 6 inches closer to the river while the house remained behind firmly attached to the footing and pilings. I am surprised the house did so well since it is made from concrete block and still has only minor cracks.
The city has been shut down and cordoned off all week but it is open now. We lost many of our old historic architectural buildings. It is really going to change the character of the place. Even some of the newer buildings didn't survive. There was extensive damage everywhere I went.
We have had over 270 aftershocks which include several in the 6 range. It seems the main 7.1 quake set off another fault system so now we are getting quakes from three different locations. We had a large 5.1 quake a few days later which did even more damage. We have had 10 aftershocks between magnitude 5 and 5.5, 60 between 4 and 4.9. This morning there was even a 4.6 quake from two locations simultaneously! The new locations are even closer to Christchurch so while the intensity is less, the effects are more damaging.
It is amazing how the quakes occur. It is as if they have a vindictive intelligence to them. After the initial one, they are mostly quiet during the day until the sun sets. The first night there were three major aftershocks all spaced a few hours apart as if to prevent the unnerved people from getting any sleep. The next day it was pretty quiet and that night there were only slight tremors but in the morning just as the sun was up and you thought you were safe we got hit with a major 5.4 one as if to warn us that it is not over yet. The ground is still shaking at night and they say we could still get some 6.0 quakes for up to five weeks after the initial one. Some people like myself aren't too concerned but others are totally freaked out and jump out of their skins at the slightest tremors. Today I noticed that the birds have started singing again after a dead silence all week. The young children did well after the initial shock.
I had a idea this was coming and have been trying to sell my house for the past year. Now that my area has a reputation and the prices have dropped, I will probably be here a while longer. I am grateful that I had the foresight to purchase a Berkey Light water purifier just two months ago. It performed great and came in very handy especially since the shops sold out of drinking water within hours. I can purify just about any type of water except sea water. The city was not recommending people drink the tap water even if they had it and to boil it before they did. You can not live for long without clean water to drink so I think owning a water purifier is a very prudent thing to do for everyone no matter where you live. They are not expensive and can save your life. If you ever have to go through a major quake, the only clean water will be in your hot water cylinder and the tank of your toilet. Unfortunately one of my flatmates used the toilet just seconds after the quake. We have instant hot water system so we didn't have a tank of reserve water. I was lucky to have a container of distilled water in my clinic which came in handy as the Berkey purifies water a drip at a time and takes a few hours.
If I had my choice, I would have preferred to lose electric power instead of the water. My flatmates stayed in their room with their TVs and stereos blaring and kept cooking their usual rice and fatty fried meat meals until every kitchen utensil in the house was dirty. Then I recommended they change their habits and start snacking on fruit, nuts and simple uncooked foods. Losing the Internet also meant I couldn't transfer any money and my mortgage payment bounced. I am going back to the old fashioned check system as soon as I can. All this new technology is extremely vulnerable and the old fashioned ways are the best. I was surprised how robust the cellular phone system was in the crisis and everyone mostly used it to check on loved ones.
Thanks to everyone who sent articles about the triangle of safety which clearly debunks the myth of standing in door ways. You don't have much time. Our first quake only lasted 30 seconds. Being out doors is safest. Quakes are mostly a danger to human structures. My neighbor planted $50 worth of Pansies the day before the big one and not a petal was damaged while his house was demolished. The only trouble I had was with a modern Kiwi superstition. The phone company wouldn't repair my phone or internet because they said that can't cross the path of orange cones in the road! Apparently crossing the path of an orange cone brings bad luck. if they did something bad may happened to them they could get into trouble with the government regulators or legal system! You wouldn't believe the number of people here who think like this and how often they use this superstition to justify not doing something that needs to be done. A common version of it involves not doing something because of the fear of losing insurance coverage or some other imagined catastrophized event. The phone company had to find another contractor who wasn't superstitious about crossing the path of an orange cone and now I have my service back.
The worst is over and we are on the road to recovery. Overall it was a positive event and I have been through much worse. This event really brought out the best in people. NZ is a great place to live and I love it here. We will be good as gold in just a few months. The frequency and intensity of quakes are on a historical increase so take a lesson from my experience and get prepared. Thank you for all your concerns and best wishes. Love, Marc
