Saturday 4 September 2010

Christchurch Earthquake

This morning we planned a leisurely drive to town. We intended to go via a French Cafe en route to drop off our guest at the ferry terminal. At 7 am when we checked our internet news, we were faced with the chaos of the biggest earthquake in a built up area of New Zealand since the Napier quake of 1931.

Christchurch sustained a 7.1 earthquake at 4.35am which was only 10 kms deep - in other words shallow. It has caused major damage, but miraculously no loss of life. We have family in the city, and they are OK but their house isn't. We both feel incredibly helpless. The whole of the country has been touched by this disaster, in the sense that most have family and friends in Christchurch and surrounding areas. The airport was closed temporarily, the rail network is closed and many of the roads. Bridges in certain areas are impassable.

The quake was felt as far south as Invercargill and as far north as New Plymouth on the N. Island. For more details, please check the following link.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4096600/Frustration-in-damaged-city

2 comments:

Henk Schaap said...

good to hear you're ok. praying for you. love Hanneke and Henk

Northwoods Girl said...

Glad to hear you and your family are unhurt. Praying for your neck of the woods!