A year to the day

This day last year I (along with everybody else in Canterbury) was blissfully unaware of how life was about to change for all of us. My husband was overseas and I had just returned from a very enjoyable few days visiting family in Wellington. I went to bed happy and relaxed after a busy Friday spent house cleaning and buying groceries in preparation for my other half's return on Sunday.

I'll never forget the shock of being woken in the middle of the night thinking that the house was going to fall down around me. First I heard a roar like a train somehow passing through our garden, and then I was being thrown from side to side. Not knowing the first thing about best practice during an earthquake or that I was supposed to "drop, cover, and hold," I stood frozen with fear in the corner between my bed and the window. The whole house was full of the noise of crashing (which turned out to be roof tiles clattering as well as bits of furniture falling down inside) but that was almost drowned out by the roar coming from the earth itself. It only lasted for a matter of seconds but they felt like very long seconds to me.

When the shaking stopped, I gingerly stepped out of the bedroom to see was the rest of the house still standing. Flicking on the light in the living room, I was greeted by fallen bookcases and DVDs thrown everywhere on the floor, but the house itself looked fine. I went straight to the telephone to call my brother in Wellington. Christchurch had no history of earthquakes like this so my immediate assumption was that we had caught the tail end of what must have been a devastating earthquake along the Alpine Fault. Imagine my surprise when my brother's sleepy voice answered the phone, and he hadn't felt a thing!

We still had electricity and internet access so I went straight on to Facebook to tell my friends what had happened and compare notes with other people. While I was doing this we were having frequent powerful aftershocks, but I had no idea if this was normal or not. I didn't even know if what I felt was a large earthquake or just something small - I had nothing else to compare it to. This confusion only increased when I put on my dressing gown and slippers and took a walk down to the street. Houses were dark and quiet, and there was no sign of any activity. Perhaps I was overreacting and should just go home and go back to sleep like everybody else apparently had.

It took several hours before I felt calm enough to sleep, and during this time the aftershocks kept coming. I felt so powerless in the face of Mother Nature; there was nowhere that I could go to get away from the shaking. And yet I still had no idea that we had just survived a 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

The following few days revealed the extent of the damage to the oldest and most vulnerable buildings in the city centre and out towards Darfield at the epicentre of the quake, and to the land in the riverside suburbs in Christchurch and in Kaiapoi. People had lost their homes and businesses, and we were all scared and traumatised - but we were all still alive. We had survived. The miracle had happened and a terrible quake hit at a time when few people were out and about and those who were awake managed to escape with their lives, even if some people were badly hurt. We would pick up the pieces, deal with the ongoing aftershocks, and get on with things again.

Little did we know what was in store for us six months later...

A verdict on the city's land

The first official government report on the state of the city's land came out today. It doesn't cover everywhere (some places haven't been assessed yet, or have to be re-assessed after last week's shakes) but it is a start.

For some people it will represent a sense of closure, knowing that the land under their home is in such bad shape that they should leave it. The government will buy them out if they have insurance, and they can move on with their lives. For others in the orange and white zones, it means nothing except that the wait for a decision goes on.

We are incredibly lucky - although we are relatively close to the Avon river, we aren't close enough to be in the red zone that follows its path. Our house is in the green zone. But I really feel for the people who have to leave a house they once loved in an area where they may have spent their whole lives and have so many memories and so many friends and neighbours. Whole communities are going to be torn apart and it will take a long time for many of the displaced people to feel at home somewhere else.

Of course some people have had enough and will be delighted to take the money and run. They have been living with broken houses, few services, and wet silty ground since September, and they don't want to spend any longer in that situation than they have to. Who can blame them?

I hope today's decision is good for most people even if it represents bad news about their house. But I don't envy anyone outside of the green areas.

June 13th Aftershocks

I have been meaning to update this blog anyway, with non-earthquake stuff, but that can wait for another day.

Yesterday we had two major aftershocks here in Christchurch; a 5.7 followed some time later by a 6.3. I was working from home for both of them and was by myself in the house. Both times I dived straight under the dining table to ride it out. A year ago there is no way I would have dived under a table -- it just wasn't in my mind or my muscle memory -- but now there's no hesitation whatsoever. As I clung to the table leg, both me and it bouncing around on the floor, and listening to things crash down in the kitchen beside me, I was glad to have some solid wood between me and whatever might come down over my head.

As it turned out, we had no structural damage to the house and no damage to contents either, which seems miraculous, especially as I am certain I heard glass smashing. I can't find any broken glass now, so either it is hiding until I let my guard down or else I was mistaken. It could have been the roof tiles crashing around a few feet above me -- they do sound like breaking glass when they shake against each other.

My husband was at work for both shakes and they had no significant damage either, although a window cracked and I believe some insulation tiles in the roof came down.

Since yesterday we have (so far) had more recorded aftershocks than I can count. In the last 24 hours we have had 44 of them. Check out the action on the quake maps -- there has been a very significant change in the last day or so!

What's working / what isn't

On a personal level:

• We got electricity and water back a few days after the earthquake. Going to the toilet in a plastic bag became the new norm for people in this city, but people on our street only had to do that for a few days. Some people are still doing it now.
• Tap water has been chlorinated in the last few days but is still not safe to drink or cook with. Everything has to be boiled before it can be used, but that's not practical in the shower. I come out of the bathroom wondering if I'm less clean than when I went in. The boil water notice should be lifted once the chlorine gets through the whole system, but then we get to smell like a swimming pool at all times. Lovely.
• Our house shows only very minor damage (apart from to contents which were flung everywhere), just a few cracks in the plasterboard where boards join, and some flaking paint in the corners.
• Our garage, despite being badly cracked in September's quake, shows no new damage now. We were told by EQC in early February that it would have to be demolished and rebuilt, but I assume that has been shoved way down the list of priorities. It's certainly less important than fixing somebody's house.
• My husband and I are both working fairly normal hours in work that is reasonably close to what we normally do.

On a grander scale:

• Our part of the city is very badly damaged. I don't know how we escaped so lightly, given what surrounds us. Liquefaction, broken walls, broken buildings. Five minutes on foot will take me to our local park, which has ruined rugby pitches and badly cracked and slumping paths. The little drain that runs along the perimeter, which is normally a stream with ducks swimming on it, is now an open sewer. Another couple of minutes on foot takes me to our local shopping mall, which has to be partially demolished, and our local shops which have collapsed on one side of the road. 
• The city centre is a complete mess. A month after the earthquake, building and business owners still don't know what is happening with their property or their livelihood. The CBD is cordoned off for safety reasons (not just overly PC safety reasons but very genuine ones, given the huge aftershocks we are still having and the risk of people being electrocuted or otherwise harmed by broken power connections) and nobody knows when it can be reopened. It must be a really awful time for those who own irreplaceable stock or personal items and are terrified -- with good reason -- that the building will be demolished before they have a chance to rescue anything.
• My office building, housing well over 1000 staff, will not reopen for at least a couple of months. It has some minor damage but is surrounded by buildings that need to be demolished. Even if my office had no damage at all, which is not the case, it would not be safe to go anywhere near it. So all the staff have been distributed around various locations in the city, often without their own computers or any access to the staff network (computer network and also people network). I'm working from home this week but have no idea where, or on what, I'll be working next week. Right now I'm just grateful that my employer is still in business.

February 22 Earthquake: My Experience

Hereford St just after the quake

My husband and I had popped out to buy some lunch, and were walking along Hereford Street heading towards the river and our office building. We were almost outside Mythai Thai Restaurant & Monkey Bar (which was red stickered in September and still cordoned off while being repaired) when the quake hit. Almost immediately we could hear and see debris crashing down around us. We tried to run into the road but it was impossible to direct ourselves because the ground was moving too much. We managed to stagger away from the buildings and were not hit by anything but it was extremely frightening. I'll never forget the sound of glass and bricks shattering around us, and the screams of other people on the street.

Damage to Mythai

When the shaking stopped we realised that Mythai had been severely damaged. If it hadn't already been cordoned off then we probably would have been on the pavement right beside it and been killed. The concrete kerbstones on Hereford Street were buckled and broken. We had to cross the Hereford St bridge to get back to our office building and see what had happened there and it was also buckled in the middle -- we had to jump over it.

Buckled bridge

At this stage I knew things were bad but had no idea just how badly that part of the city had been hit; we happened to be walking away from the worst of the devastation rather than towards it. It wasn't until we walked home along St Asaph St and saw what had happened in Colombo and Manchester streets that I grasped the magnitude of it. I still don't know how we got through the day without a scratch.

Damage to Colombo Street

February 22 Earthquake

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm still alive. The earthquake has been utterly devastating. I will post more when I have the time and energy, but that might not be for some time.

The earthquake's back

We had a lovely relaxing December and a glorious calm Christmas Day. Swimming, barbecue, relaxation, calls to family elsewhere around the world -- it was great.

On Boxing Day in the early hours of the morning we had a very big aftershock. Then at 8am we had another. Then at 10.30am we had a 4.9, shallow and located right under the city and therefore both frightening and damaging. People are freaked out and lots more buildings are cracked or otherwise damaged, but thank God nobody was killed (despite bricks raining down around tourists in Cathedral Square), and the infrastructure is fine.

Here are some photos from today. Lots of damage high up on buildings, cracked parapets and fallen bricks.

(Note: the street in the first photo was already damaged before Boxing Day, but not as badly as this.)

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: Two months on

Things have been relatively quiet recently, but two months on we are still getting aftershocks. Just after midnight we got a 4.2 and just before seven this morning we got a very shallow 4.1 which woke most people up. It reminded me of the bad old days in September when I was woken before my alarm on a daily basis. The first time that I slept right through until morning was wonderful!

Two months on and the rebuilding process has barely begun. The nightmare of red tape for doing anything with heritage buildings or any other work that needs consent is way more than I can go into here, but it is badly affecting a lot of people. It wouldn't surprise me at all if some building owners end up committing suicide because of the pressure they are under from all sides. Safety barricades are blocking the roads and preventing access to shops and businesses, people can't live or work in dangerous buildings, businesses can't reopen, the insurance companies won't pay out until they know what they're paying for, rebuilding can't happen without consent, consent can't be granted without money to pay for the consenting process, building owners can't pay out of their own pocket because they don't have any money left... It just goes on. I don't know what is going to happen to the unlucky folk caught in the middle.

I'm still waiting for the time to change on the clocks that were stopped by the first earthquake.The clock tower on the old train station on Moorhouse Avenue still reads 4.35ish on two faces (I think the other two read 6). It's a constant reminder of what happened.

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: Manchester Courts

Manchester Courts is a seven-storey building on Manchester Street in the city centre. It was built in the early 1900s and at the time was the first "skyscraper" in Christchurch. It's a listed heritage building, but unfortunately it was badly damaged in the earthquake and is very dangerous at the moment. A 5.5 or bigger aftershock would probably send it crashing to the ground.

This is how it looked before September 4th:

This is how it looked straight after the earthquake:

And this is how it looked last time I saw it:

 

That is normally one of the busiest streets in the city centre, and it is very strange to see it blocked off and completely empty of cars and pedestrians. Obviously the businesses in the immediate vicinity have been forced to close as well, which must be causing a lot of problems for their owners, staff, and customers. I found this out the hard way when I went on a lunchtime trip to Dick Smith's to buy a new pair of earphones, completely forgetting that Dick Smith's was located on this corner.

The demolition was bitterly opposed by those who thought the building should be saved at all costs, although I don't remember seeing any useful suggestions about how to raise the many millions of dollars that would require. If the building had a steel frame there might have been some hope for it, and newspaper reports from the time it was built suggested that there might actually be a steel frame, but that turned out to not be the case. Engineers used radar to scan for a steel frame and saw nothing, and then they drilled into the supporting pillars and found nothing but brick. The only steel is in some horizontal beams and internal columns, not in any of the load-bearing features.

The demolition is expected to take six weeks or so, assuming that Mother Nature doesn't speed things along. There is a webcam here where you can follow its progress (use that link, don't rely on this photo updating itself):

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: A very bad aftershock

Just before lunchtime on Tuesday we had a very violent 5.0 shake, shallow and close to the city, that caused minor damage in my office building and forced the evacuation of all staff for an hour while structural engineers were brought in to check the place. I understand that it caused more damage around the city to places that were already vulnerable. I took a half day from work so I could go home and check our own house. We have some more minor cracks and damage to plaster but nothing that looks serious.

I found this clip of a liquor store during Tuesday's aftershock. (For comparison, here is video from another branch of the same chain on the morning of the 7.1 earthquake.)

I can't help but feel that I partly brought this one on! I was at a vendor presentation that morning by an Australian company who are hoping to sell us some very expensive software, attended by about 20 local staff. The two presenters had just arrived in Christchurch and I thought to myself, "I hope we have an aftershock just so they see what it feels like." Twenty minutes later, BAMMM! The place felt like it was about to come down around our ears. Of course we had to stop the presentation because the building was evacuated, and I never went back. I wonder if the presenters (who had never felt an earthquake before) were able to hold it together for the rest of the session when they had just seen half their audience panic and run for the doors!

The panic reaction was quite interesting. I am not a panicker by nature (except inside my head), but I could feel the actions of those around me influencing me. A couple of people lost all dignity in their haste to run for the door and they spurred me into action, although in retrospect that was not the smartest thing to do at all because you're meant to duck and cover where you are even if there's nothing to duck under (I had been aiming for the nearest wall). At least one chair was knocked over and one lady had to be escorted out of the room afterwards because she just fell apart. If there had been a larger audience today that could quickly have become dangerous if the crowd lost control of itself.

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: Ongoing in October!

We still rock and we still roll. It's not to the same extent as last month, thank God, but still noticeable.

On Friday night I was playing pool with a few friends when a shallow 4.6 struck. The whole venue wobbled noticeably, resulting in what would have been a hush if the band hadn't kept playing, and the slight displacement of all the balls on the pool table, then a sudden burst of conversation. I have to say one thing about this earthquake: it has given us all something to talk about. No matter who you are, what you do, or who you know, there is common ground ripe for discussion. Over the last few weeks I have had heartfelt chats with friends, colleagues, cleaners, taxi drivers, neighbours, sales assistants, and random strangers at the bus stop. It's way better than the weather as a subject for small talk!

Most of the weekend was quiet, but this evening we had a 3.something that made the ground wobble as if we were at sea. Most of the aftershocks are shaky but some of them have a very rolling motion which leads to queasiness. It can go on for 30 seconds or more and leaves me feeling a bit strange for quite some time.

Looking back at the 7.1 and the immediate powerful aftershocks, the worst memory for me is the lack of any way to get away from this. There was no refuge, nowhere to flee to. Roads were broken (at the time we did not know how badly), the airport was closed, the port was out of action -- but even if those places had been available I would have been too scared to travel to them because the ground was so unstable. There was literally nowhere to go that would get me away from the earthquake. It's a horrible feeling to be scared and insecure in your own home. If your home isn't a refuge then what is? That first night I made a nest for myself in the bedroom, with emergency food supplies, torch and batteries, cellphone and charger, laptop and charger, and I holed up in there for the night. The ground woke me up on probably an hourly basis, but I felt safe there because nothing had fallen on the bed during the 7.1. Other things did fall in the room but nothing actually fell on me. I was by myself for a day and a half, until my husband got home from Ireland, and I barely left that room the whole time. I just didn't feel safe in the living room or kitchen, where so many things had already fallen over, and it took about a week for me to relax in those rooms or anywhere in the house outside the bedroom. As I said, it's a horrible feeling to feel insecure in your own home. I hope I never feel like that again.

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: And still we rock and roll

Three hours after my last blog post we were hit by a 5.0 aftershock, the biggest in weeks. Clearly this isn't over yet.

At any other time a 5.0 would be a newsworthy earthquake. But because it followed a bigger one we have to just shrug our shoulders and put it down as an aftershock. It doesn't seem fair, does it?

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: One month on

It's hard to believe the earthquake happened a month ago. It all seems so long ago, and yet it's fresh in my mind too. We haven't had any noticeable aftershocks in a couple of days, but that doesn't mean they've stopped -- they're still going on and there's no guarantee that we won't have any more big ones. The three we had last Saturday night did some visible damage to the plasterboard in our living room, so I do hope we don't get any more like that, but nobody really knows.

Damaged plasterboard with the panels visibly out of alignment (ignore that bit to the left of the light switch)

The city feels largely back to normal, but of course it isn't normal at all. We're just doing better at looking past the broken buildings and the rubble. Many people still don't have basic sewage services in their homes, or even homes at all -- every day there are more stories of people packing their belongings and moving on. It must be very difficult to spend such a long time not even knowing if the house can ever be repaired, or even if the land can be built on again if the house is demolished.

Our City O-Tautahi -- an old council building, propped up from all angles

There are many businesses that can't reopen yet because they are beside or underneath something that has been damaged to the point of being dangerous. Ordinarily those dangerous buildings could be pulled down (although that is a huge job in itself), but the difficulty lies in deciding what to do with the ones that are a valuable part of the city's heritage. It could take years to make those right, but what happens in the meantime to the people who are affected by the very presence of a tottering mass of bricks?

The old Civic Building, with smashed and boarded-up windows

Just about everybody has minor damage to report even if there aren't any structural problems. As well as the damage to our plasterboard at home, there's clear evidence of it at my workplace and in just about everywhere else I've been. Of course it's hard to tell what cracks were there before the earthquake! But I'm sure most of the damage to concrete and brickwork is only a month old.

Emotionally I'm doing okay but not great. Loud or sudden noises make me flinch, and a rumbling lorry going past gets my attention now where before I wouldn't even have noticed it. It's hard to keep my mind from going back to September 4th and reliving the terror and uncertainty of the hours after 4.35am, and I don't know if it would be better to let myself think about it or to try and shove it away. Cycling to work through the city centre (my route takes me past many broken buildings) brings me to the verge of tears almost every day -- I feel wound up like a clock that is almost but not quite wound too far. All it will take is one more turn of that key and I'll go BOINNNG!!! and it will all come out.

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: Still ongoing

You may think that the aftershocks would have died down three weeks after the 7.1 earthquake. You'd be wrong.

Within the space of 15 minutes tonight we had a 3.8, a 4.1, and a 4.0 -- within 5km of us. They were centred on Oxford Terrace which is smack bang in the city centre. I wonder if they did any more damage to the buildings in the CBD... They really rattled our house quite vigorously and made a couple of precariously perched items fall off their perches.

My day up until this point was extremely relaxing (an aftershock woke me up at half nine but other than that it was a fairly quiet time) and this has completely wrecked my peace. Adrenaline is still pumping more than half an hour later!

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: More than two weeks later

The earthquake was more than two weeks ago now -- 17 days, almost -- and at last I find myself thinking of other things for most of the day. We have yet to go long without detectable aftershocks, and we had a 4.6 magnitude less than 24 hours ago which left the whole house wobbling for at least 30 seconds afterwards, but they are definitely less frequent.

I am back to my normal job in my normal office building, although not at my own desk. The earthquake damaged important things like fire stairs so some areas of the building are still out of bounds. I'm currently sitting on the fourth floor mezzanine, with a huge concrete beam and cracked plasterboard directly above my head.

The city is no longer in a state of emergency, as things have been downgraded to a state of urgency. This is probably small comfort to the people who have been made homeless, or who still don't know if their house is safe enough to live in. In some cases they are hoping for a demolition order, which will at least allow them to take the insurance money and move on. The alternative is living in a damaged house on a street that nobody will ever want to buy on, but there will definitely be people stuck in that position too. Property values for houses that border on demolition zones are going to plummet, as with every subdivision built on land that we now know is prone to liquefaction. Who is going to want to buy a house there? Nobody who can afford to live elsewhere, that's for sure.

Walking around the city centre is surreal. Life is going on as normal almost everywhere, but then there are pockets where it's only a matter of time before the demolition equipment moves in. These buildings are just around the corner from my old office building (the one we only moved from a week before the earthquake). It's hard to see the damage in the second photo but up close the building is cracked and broken. There is a red placard on the door and little hope that it will be made safe for business anytime soon:

And here's my old office building itself. Poor old girl, she has seen better days, but she's still standing! I don't know what the future holds for this 1934 structure but I do hope it escapes demolition despite the current damage. It's a heritage building so worth saving if that's possible.

Although we are still getting aftershocks, the last fortnight is starting to feel like some crazy dream. It's not a dream that I ever want to experience again in my lifetime but it's starting to feel like this is almost over for me. I am one of the lucky ones, for sure.

Christchurch earthquake September 2010: Civil Defence

I thought last week that I wouldn't be on Civil Defence duty much as I didn't see how I had any practical skills that would be useful, but I was wrong. As part of my normal job I spend a lot of time working with people from all parts of Christchurch City Council, and I (and the other people in the same role as me) knew many of the people working at the Emergency Operations Centre. This made me a natural choice for working on the front desk, acting as an  interface between the public and external organisations and the inner sanctum of the EOC. I've put in more hours there this week than I would put in at my normal job, but it's all to the good. I've been delighted to be able to help.

The first shift that I was there, I brought supplies of fruit, water, and muesli bars with me, but I quickly realised that wasn't necessary. We have proper catering! Staff at the EOC get a proper meal at lunch and dinner, and I've heard there's a proper breakfast as well but I have been doing shifts from 1pm onwards so missed that. The food has been excellent and is a vital part of the whole operation, keeping staff properly fuelled rather than relying on energy drinks and junk food.

The response from the public has been incredible, too. We have had all kinds of people coming by with offers to help, offers of free/discounted services, or heaped plates of goodies for the staff. Lots of people who don't know how else to help have been baking cakes and biscuits and scones and muffins and bringing in sweets for us. There was also a lovely lady going around giving us free shoulder and hand massages to ease the tension! It really does mean a lot to know that we are in their thoughts, and the generosity has been astounding. If I am ever on the other side in this type of situation I'll try to remember this.

Christchurch earthquake September 2010, day ten

I can hardly believe it is Day 10 already. Ten days of trauma, stress, aftershocks, Civil Defence, uncertainty, and unity. We are still getting detectable aftershocks, but not as strong (nothing today has exceeded 4.1 so far) and not as frequent. I hardly dare to say it but it seems like we are getting back to normal. The scientists say there's still a risk of another 5 or 6, but with every hour that passes that risk lessens.

Today was a day off Civil Defence duties for me and Skry. We spent a few hours righting in the inside of the house (putting the bookcases back up if undamaged, throwing out the broken one, replacing things that have been on the floor for more than a week), and then enjoyed a couple of hours reading on the deck in the sunshine. It felt like summer holidays, not a state of emergency. He is off for another day but I'm back on the front desk tomorrow afternoon. I have been doing front desk duty at the Emergency Operations Centre, directing people to the right place or finding the right person for them to talk to. The army is helping me -- army reserves in camo uniform man the sign-in/sign-out desk -- and it has been quite enjoyable knowing that I am doing something genuinely useful. It can be upsetting when people come in who are facing the loss of their business or all their rental properties, but thank goodness I haven't had to deal with anybody who is losing their home. That must be horrible for everybody talking to them as well as the person themselves.


It will be a long time before Christchurch is back to normal, but for now I am just enjoying the normal feeling that we got today. I can deal with the ground shaking so long as nothing else falls down.

Christchurch earthquake September 2010, day seven

Did I tell you about the 5.1 mag earthquake we had on Wednesday morning? We thought we'd had a terribly strong aftershock from the original quake, but it was actually a quake from a new fault only a few kilometres from here and did lots more damage around town. Buildings which survived the first quake with no damage didn't all survive this one, and it badly frightened a lot of people including me. For many of us this quake was just the last straw. The Civil Defence emergency headquarters at the Art Gallery had to be evacuated while the building was assessed (thankfully it stayed safe), and staff members were reduced to tears.

The 5.1 struck just before 8:00am when we were asleep. I dived off the side of the bed onto the floor, and Skry froze where he was to see what would happen. The whole house was rocking quite violently and making a tremendous noise, but although it was bad it was nothing like Saturday's earthquake. Nothing fell on the ground, probably helped by the fact that we haven't put anything back up that fell on Saturday. It's all just lying there, waiting for the aftershocks to stop.

My nerves were completely shattered by this and I couldn't bear to stay in the house just waiting for the next one. Skry came with me for a walk around the neighbourhood instead, where we saw many chimneys just barely keeping their balance, and some big cracks right across the road at the bottom of Linwood Avenue where it reaches the river. That is the edge of the Avonside area which has been very badly damaged this week.

By lunchtime it was obvious that I needed to get away from what was going on for the sake of my mental health. Skry and I joined the steady stream of people leaving the city (the queues at every operating petrol station were impressive) and fled to friends in Scargill, about 1.5 hours north of here. The aftershocks were barely detectable at their house, which I always love anyway because it's so relaxing in the countryside there. We had two wonderful nights of unbroken sleep and my nerves feel in a much better state now. I am so grateful to have friends in a position to give us the gift of sanity!

We are still getting aftershocks on a regular basis, of course, but I feel better equipped to deal with them. I know that many people haven't been lucky enough to get away, and the strain is definitely starting to show on those who have lost homes, businesses, or both. It must be devastating for them.

Here is a picture that I pilfered from the Stuff website. It shows the aftershocks we have endured this week. An impressive collection, isn't it?!

Christchurch earthquake September 2010, day four

When I said yesterday that the aftershocks were smaller and further apart, I was wrong. We got slammed last night.

11:24pm 5.2 mag
11.38pm 4.0 mag
11.40pm 5.4
11.47pm 3.7
11.54pm 4.2
00.21am 4.7
00.47am 3.5
00.51am 3.9
01.39am 3.4
02.52am 3.1
03.14am 3.7
03.24am 5.4
04.17am 3.5
05.14am 3.9
05.17am 3.3
06.22am 3.5
08.14am 3.6

As you can see, there were three aftershocks overnight of magnitude 5.2 or higher. These are big enough to qualify as earthquakes in their own right -- any one of them would be newsworthy, and we got three, along with plenty of smaller ones. These aftershocks caused more damage to the buildings that have already been damaged, and led to a refuge centre being evacuated, the airport's domestic terminal being temporarily closed when cracks appeared, and damage appearing in houses that had seemed unscathed up until now.

We are very fortunate to still have no visible damage to our house. The garage is damaged, but it was damaged already and it's hard to tell what was caused by the earthquake and what was caused by subsidence years ago. When we bought the house the garage was already cracked and broken along both long walls because one end of the building had sunk a little, but that could have happened any time since it was built. Anyway, we now have a broken window pane along the side, and I'm pretty sure the gaps around that window frame are bigger than they used to be, courtesy of either last night or Saturday morning. But honestly the garage should really be knocked down and replaced anyway, and we should be grateful that it's still standing after the battering it received this weekend.

Skry and I both ended up at work yesterday, helping at the Civil Defence headquarters based in the Art Gallery. He works in IT support and is very useful to them, but I don't have any skills that are particularly in need right now. I thought I'd end up making cups of tea for people, but even that was all in hand! It's a very well run organisation and I have great admiration for those in charge and all the volunteers doing their civic duty.

It's strange to see the Art Gallery used for this purpose, and it's not perfect because of the lack of desk space and IT equipment such as printers and network ports, but it's working so far. And for a building with so much glass in its frontage, it has held together wonderfully. There is no visible damage at all.

Skry has been rostered to do more shifts but I don't think I'll be called in again. Last night I volunteered, but I am really not the most useful person to be in there. If something comes up that I can really help with I'll go back, but right now I'm leaving it to those better qualified.

Today has mostly been aftershock-free since this morning, but it always seems worse in the evenings and overnight. There is no reason that should be, that I know of anyway, but I'm not looking forward to tonight if the pattern holds. I suppose we'll find out.

Christchurch earthquake September 2010, day three

We are starting to feel a bit more normal today. Aftershocks have been fewer, smaller, and further apart. But does that mean this is almost over, or are we still facing a second big quake? Nobody knows.

All we can do now is get on with life as normally as possible in a city where the central business district is closed off, businesses in Christchurch must not open until they have been assessed and deemed safe by a structural engineer, and those of us lucky enough to have running water have to boil it for three minutes before using it.

My employer has advised us not to come to work until the 13th unless we are specifically requested to come in. There are lots of people who have been called in because they are needed to help with the assessment and cleanup effort, but I can't see how my skills are helpful right now so I probably won't get called. Will wait and see.

My colleagues are all fine, at least the ones in my department, but two of them are out of their houses. One (and his wife and family) had chimneys fall through the roof, not sure about the other. Other people are without running water.

My brand-new office building has structural damage, which must be hugely disappointing for the people who worked so hard to make it perfect for us moving into it last week. But I have heard through my friend Fiona, who is at work now to do heritage assessments, that it should be okay. Let's hope her information is correct. The building I left a week ago was badly damaged and nobody is allowed back in, not even the people who hadn't moved yet and still had all their things there. It's another example of how lucky we were that this didn't happen during the day as I can't see how everybody would have lived through it.

Here is what's left of one of my favourite restaurants:

At least the owners have retained a sense of humour. Here's what it now says on their website:

ALVARADOS IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT (and has been totally remodelled).
Was a must for authentic traditional style Mexican Cuisine.
New menu out now! (if you find it blowing around on the street, could you return it please?)

Was fully licensed and BYO (wine only).

Was open Tuesday - Saturday from 5.30pm

Alfresco dining apparently isn't an option. Something to do with the lack of access, water, power and hygiene.