so for those dat have been living in a hole, chch went through a huge earthquake last week. the biggest one since the napier earthquake in the 1930s. so it's been a pretty big deal and considering the amount of damage it has caused, it has affected a lot of people's lives. but the amazing thing was hardly anyone got injured.
so i was fortunate (or unfortunate) enuf to have experienced it. it just so happened dat i had planned a weekend in wellington dat weekend. had even taken mon off so i was looking fwd to a 3 day weekend, catching up with frens in welly. drove up to chch after work on fri nite. had dinner date with my boy at tatsumi and then went home, thinking i would wake up early to pack for my trip as well as have a shower before my flight at the ridiculous hour of 7am. (it was grabaseat flight)
little did i kno dat an earthquake would occur at ard 4.35am. i was asleep in bed and yes the earthquake did rouse me from my sleep. but the funny thing was i thought i was still in timaru, sleeping in my timaru bed so i was evaluating in my mind whether i should get up and run to the door. but then there's a whole pile of stuff on top of the wardrobe next to the doorframe so i thot dat would be a dangerous place. so i decided to just stay in bed. and then while the room was shaking, something fell on me but it wasnt very heavy so i thot it was just a shoebox or something dat had dropped from on top of my wardrobe (i was still thinking i was in timaru). and then the shakes finally settled for wat seemed like a while. i kept thinking to myself, yes this is an earthquake but im sure it will pass. the last time i experienced an earthquake, i was sitting in the toilet and it only lasted 5 seconds.
and then once it settled, i realised oh wait, im in chch. oops. and then i get up to realise my clothes hanger stand had fallen onto me and the heater had toppled. oops. i set everything upright and looked at the time on my cell phone. another half hour to sleep before my alarm was due to go off. so i went back to bed. haha. and then i hear a kafuffle from the next room. my parents asking me if i was alright. i shout out yes. my mum enters my room and i was on the phone by this time cos ppl had started txting me. and she's amazed dat i haf light. our torches in the house had useless batteries. how useless. so my dad starts taking batteries from the clocks and replaces the useless batteries. so no light and no electricity. at this point, im still not worried. until the bf calls me and says his fren's water pipe burst and ppl are fleeding from new brighton cos of tsunami warning. and then i realise OMG, we just experienced an earthquake. i txt my timaru flatmates to see if they r ok. everyone is ok. my frens who are already in the north island txt me asking if im ok and if i can still fly. then i realise oh crap, my weekend may be ruined. airport service was down. i still half heartedly hope dat flights would still be ongoing so i skip the shower (thinking there may not be enuf hot water and no light anyways) and pack my bags and the bf drives me to the airport. and then i see power lines on the roads, no traffic lights. the severity hits me. i get to the airport, the airport is closed. till who knos when. my heart sinks. i then spend the next half a day trying to get hold of the airline, to arrange an alternative flight. the earliest i could get is the following day. a screw up of my welly trip. i spent a few hours in bed, trying to catch up on sleep.
in terms of damages, things were on the floor. my jewellery box on the floor. not much broken stuff. but my dad notices the chimney bricks are unstable. my mum has a panic attack dat the chimney is gonna fall through the house. i was just annoyed my welly trip was ruined. so the ppl i was meant to catch up with still went ahead to welly and enjoyed their weekend. i decided to just go ahead and spend a day there since chch was too depressing and i didnt wanna waste a day of leave.
one week on, the aftershocks are continuing. sometimes i feel them in timaru but rarely since im such a deep sleeper. the chimney is fixed. buildings in chch haf to be demolished. i was driving past the city the other day and it saddens me to see wat the city has become. to see the damage on the news is just heartbreaking. to see the consequences and the snow ball effect of a simple earthquake still astounds me. to see ppl lose their jobs and their houses and everything dat they kno of, it's sad. im glad and grateful dat i still haf a stable house to return to. im thankful dat my roads have not been uprooted and dat my house is not flooded. im super duper relieved to kno dat no one i kno has been physically injured. it still amazes me dat the timing of an earthquake is so important. if it was during the daytime, things could haf been a lot worse.
but silly me still gets annoyed dat i missed out on a longer wkend in welly or dat i cant go to the city or eat at some of the restaurants i like. and dat my facial place is closed when i wanted to haf a facial last wkend.
but really, it's definitely hit a lot of ppl in chch. and it just shows how life can completely change after a few seconds. or in this case, after 40 something seconds.
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