Contractors work to clear a Bexley street of silt
yesterday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Fear. Curiosity. Anger. Optimism. Sadness. Disbelief.
Reporter Tania Butterfield found the full gamut of human
emotions as she toured Christchurch in the aftermath of
Saturday's earthquake.
It just seems so surreal.
The scenes I have witnessed, the cracks, the buildings, the
devastation looks like something you would expect to see
overseas, not in little old New Zealand, not in Christchurch.
But it is real. And now everybody is waiting. Every
aftershock makes you jump. Everybody is expecting another big
one.
When I woke on Saturday morning to the soft tremors of my
room on the second storey of the house, it took a few seconds
to register.
Then the violent shaking began.
It felt like the two storeys were grinding, trying to get
away from each other, moving like opposing magnets.
I live with my grandmother so I called out to Nana to get in
a doorway. The quake lasted a good few minutes and I went
into auto-mode.
"Do you have a torch? A battery powered radio? Anything?" I
asked.
Nothing. With no power, no light, I suddenly realised how
important it was to be prepared. It was pitch black and I
expected strong aftershocks to follow within minutes, so I
felt my way around the house, removing anything I thought
might break or fall.
We live in the seaside suburb of New Brighton and cars were
heading towards the beach and others were leaving the area.
People had only one thing on their mind tsunami.
The aftershocks came, but not as strongly as I expected. My
Nana was set up on a stool in the doorway, her duvet wrapped
around her. It was freezing. With pyjamas, dressing gown,
jacket and two duvets around me I don't ever remember being
as cold as I was that morning.
When all seemed to have stopped we relocated into the lounge,
waiting for daylight.
I have never been so pleased to see daybreak.
By that stage, I had found out from friends the quake was 7.4
on the Richter scale (it was later downgraded to 7.1) with an
epicentre 40km west of Christchurch.
My aunt in Kaiapoi texted me about the mudslides and flooding
they were facing there. My parents also had damage to their
property.
We, in New Brighton, had been lucky.
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