Mother nature gave me and other local residents a swift wake-up call saturday last.
At 4.33 am I was woken by a severe earthquake,unlike any I had experienced before.It took a little while to sink in what was happening,then i got the wife and myself out of bed and into the doorway.The main quake lasted just over a minute,though it felt like hours.
We lost power,but this was restored to us by 3pm saturday.We were very lucky,in that we only lost a few ornaments to the quake.
Some people had their house destroyed to such an extent,they will have to have it pulled down,and rebuilt from the ground up.Some districts are still without water,and all residents have been warned to boil all drinking water for 3 minutes.
What amazes me even more though,No one was actually killed in this event.I think the time of day had a lot to do with that.
If more people had been at work in the inner city,deaths would have been a certainty,as much of the business district suffered badly,being mostly old buildings without earthquake protection.
If nothing else,this has made me look at life in a different light.I realize now that nothing is as precious as life itself.I think of all the minor inconveniences that used to annoy me,and hope to change my thinking,so that these things will no longer bother me.
Now some 48 hours later,we're still getting aftershocks up to 4 on the scale,but people are starting to come to terms with it.There are hundreds of small tremors which are simply ignored.
My thoughts go out to the people who've lost their home,and hope the trauma isn't permanent.
The only other quake of such magnitude in modern times was in the north island city of Napier,in 1931,which killed 256 people.
I must also comment on the great job done by the emergency services.They managed to restore some semblance of order within hours,and are continuing their selfless work without let up.A huge pat on the back is a but small token of appreciation of their work.
At 4.33 am I was woken by a severe earthquake,unlike any I had experienced before.It took a little while to sink in what was happening,then i got the wife and myself out of bed and into the doorway.The main quake lasted just over a minute,though it felt like hours.
We lost power,but this was restored to us by 3pm saturday.We were very lucky,in that we only lost a few ornaments to the quake.
Some people had their house destroyed to such an extent,they will have to have it pulled down,and rebuilt from the ground up.Some districts are still without water,and all residents have been warned to boil all drinking water for 3 minutes.
What amazes me even more though,No one was actually killed in this event.I think the time of day had a lot to do with that.
If more people had been at work in the inner city,deaths would have been a certainty,as much of the business district suffered badly,being mostly old buildings without earthquake protection.
If nothing else,this has made me look at life in a different light.I realize now that nothing is as precious as life itself.I think of all the minor inconveniences that used to annoy me,and hope to change my thinking,so that these things will no longer bother me.
Now some 48 hours later,we're still getting aftershocks up to 4 on the scale,but people are starting to come to terms with it.There are hundreds of small tremors which are simply ignored.
My thoughts go out to the people who've lost their home,and hope the trauma isn't permanent.
The only other quake of such magnitude in modern times was in the north island city of Napier,in 1931,which killed 256 people.
I must also comment on the great job done by the emergency services.They managed to restore some semblance of order within hours,and are continuing their selfless work without let up.A huge pat on the back is a but small token of appreciation of their work.
