Christchurch...
So, as a lot of you probably know by now, there was a massive earthquake in Christchurch yesterday afternoon. A lesser one than the 4 September quake last year, richter scale-wise- but this one was only 5km deep, and not that far from the central city. So, the damage has been absolutely horrific. The CBD area has been all but completely flattened- tonnes of buildings (including many lovely historic buildings) have come down, 75 people are confirmed dead (that number will surely rise) and 300 people are reported missing, mainly trapped in buildings that have come down. One of the buildings, the Canterbury TV building which completely collapsed, has now been abandoned by rescuers.
And, well, it's awful. I've been watching all the news footage, and clicking "refresh" on our national news website every five minutes. There have been many tears (and certainly not just from me, I assure you!), and I've barely been able to concentrate on my regular work. For those that don't know, and for the benefit of the non-NZers, I'm based in Wellington, which is on a completely different island- so no damage here. But, I was born in Christchurch. My grandparents, and some extended family, still live there. I spent many great holidays in Christchurch as a kid. I went to Canterbury University, in Christchurch, where I had so many good times, and met so many amazing people. I have a handful of dear friends who still live there, plus a whole lot of old friends who I'm not as close to, but I still keep in touch with via Facebook. So, to see such damage and devastation in a city in which I spent a significant amount of time, a city I care about (even though I hated the place at times!), a city where there are people I love, and a city I visited only a couple of months ago...it's been surreal, and absolutely horrible. :(
Thankfully, my mates (including my dear friend buzzy_bee_nz and her young family, and my ex-flattie and good mate fallbackschism, and many old Uni friends) all seem to be fine. Thank God for Facebook...without which I wouldn't know if some people were still alive. My darling grandparents are also fine - traumatised, yes, but alive and with no damage to their house (in Rangiora, 20 minutes north of the city). However, they were in central Christchurch that morning, visiting a friend in Christchurch Hospital. Had they not left the city an hour or so before they did...well, who knows? Needless to say, there were many more tears after hearing that little update from Mum.
So...yeah. It's not been a great couple of days. I can't stop thinking that among those 75 dead are probably people I know- people from my Hall of Residence, classmates, lecturers, old friends of our family. I guess we won't know for some time. But, I don't want to be all "woe, poor me" at this time. My heart, along with all our hearts, is aching for those who have lost loved ones, and those whose loved ones are trapped and missing. I texted all my parents this afternoon to tell them I loved them- as it's constantly on my mind that this could so easily be us, y'know?
I wanted to cry yesterday while reading about a young dude whose fiancee (whom he was due to marry this Friday) was trapped in one of the collapsed office buildings. And, I wanted to jump up and down on my desk at work when I found out his fiancee had been rescued this afternoon. Cos, well, if it were Matt that were trapped, I'd be beside myself. I rang Matt to tell him about this young couple...and, you guessed it, cried some more.
It's seriously so cruel...I mean, the quake that struck in September was exactly the same size as what struck Haiti. And no-one died. Sure, a lot of homes and buildings were damaged, and it was a really hard time. But, no-one died...and we were all absolutely astounded and, frankly, overjoyed that such a miracle took place. But, now...it's different. And it's just so unfair that so many people survived such a massive disaster, only to lose their lives in another, less than six months later. :(
Anyway, I'm off to cook tea. Thanks for listening, guys. Matt and I will obviously be doing something concrete to help out- we'll probably make a donation, and also send down some food, via the Sallie Army. There may also be lots of knitting in the near future- I mean, I can't dig through all the mess and rubble and bring people back. But I can send a whole bunch of hats to people keeping vigil outside. Even just a few.
Talk soon, loves.
And, well, it's awful. I've been watching all the news footage, and clicking "refresh" on our national news website every five minutes. There have been many tears (and certainly not just from me, I assure you!), and I've barely been able to concentrate on my regular work. For those that don't know, and for the benefit of the non-NZers, I'm based in Wellington, which is on a completely different island- so no damage here. But, I was born in Christchurch. My grandparents, and some extended family, still live there. I spent many great holidays in Christchurch as a kid. I went to Canterbury University, in Christchurch, where I had so many good times, and met so many amazing people. I have a handful of dear friends who still live there, plus a whole lot of old friends who I'm not as close to, but I still keep in touch with via Facebook. So, to see such damage and devastation in a city in which I spent a significant amount of time, a city I care about (even though I hated the place at times!), a city where there are people I love, and a city I visited only a couple of months ago...it's been surreal, and absolutely horrible. :(
Thankfully, my mates (including my dear friend buzzy_bee_nz and her young family, and my ex-flattie and good mate fallbackschism, and many old Uni friends) all seem to be fine. Thank God for Facebook...without which I wouldn't know if some people were still alive. My darling grandparents are also fine - traumatised, yes, but alive and with no damage to their house (in Rangiora, 20 minutes north of the city). However, they were in central Christchurch that morning, visiting a friend in Christchurch Hospital. Had they not left the city an hour or so before they did...well, who knows? Needless to say, there were many more tears after hearing that little update from Mum.
So...yeah. It's not been a great couple of days. I can't stop thinking that among those 75 dead are probably people I know- people from my Hall of Residence, classmates, lecturers, old friends of our family. I guess we won't know for some time. But, I don't want to be all "woe, poor me" at this time. My heart, along with all our hearts, is aching for those who have lost loved ones, and those whose loved ones are trapped and missing. I texted all my parents this afternoon to tell them I loved them- as it's constantly on my mind that this could so easily be us, y'know?
I wanted to cry yesterday while reading about a young dude whose fiancee (whom he was due to marry this Friday) was trapped in one of the collapsed office buildings. And, I wanted to jump up and down on my desk at work when I found out his fiancee had been rescued this afternoon. Cos, well, if it were Matt that were trapped, I'd be beside myself. I rang Matt to tell him about this young couple...and, you guessed it, cried some more.
It's seriously so cruel...I mean, the quake that struck in September was exactly the same size as what struck Haiti. And no-one died. Sure, a lot of homes and buildings were damaged, and it was a really hard time. But, no-one died...and we were all absolutely astounded and, frankly, overjoyed that such a miracle took place. But, now...it's different. And it's just so unfair that so many people survived such a massive disaster, only to lose their lives in another, less than six months later. :(
Anyway, I'm off to cook tea. Thanks for listening, guys. Matt and I will obviously be doing something concrete to help out- we'll probably make a donation, and also send down some food, via the Sallie Army. There may also be lots of knitting in the near future- I mean, I can't dig through all the mess and rubble and bring people back. But I can send a whole bunch of hats to people keeping vigil outside. Even just a few.
Talk soon, loves.