Another Christchurch Earthquake - This time the American block buster movie became reality...but without a happy ending for thousands

I was 20 min into my meeting with a client, Kevin, at Christchurch City Council’s building on the third floor, when the whole building started shaking. I assumed it was another small aftershock from the Sept 4 quake, which we have become too familiar with in the last 6 month in Christchurch. However, this time the shaking got worse. A row of decorative plants crashed down on the floor outside our meeting room followed by books from the surrounding shelves. Kevin and I dived underneath the table whilst my heart was racing and my hands were shaking. Everything was moving around us and I could only repeat the F word again, again and again. My client asked me if I was OK and I just said – Yes, I am OK, but I really have to stop swearing…

The evacuation from the building was controlled. Most of us didn’t realise what had hit Christchurch and I understood that it was fairly serious when we got out on the street (Hereford Street, Corner of Dux de Lux). The neighbouring building had massive cracks throughout and the recently built council building was also damaged, but not at all to the same extent. Water pipes burst below us which quickly flooded the street. I managed to get to my bike which was parked nearby. Since it was lunch time and I never told anyone where I had gone, I thought that I had to report back to the office so I cycled towards the MWH office.

The traffic was manic and close to grid locked. Everyone was trying their best to leave the city. Dux de Lux appeared very damaged as well as parts of the Art Centre. Whilst passing the Botanical Garden another big quake hit. The ground and all trees were swaying side to side. I had to stop the bike to no fall off.. I met a woman who was crying and she nodded when I asked her if she was OK. A van rushed past close to the hospital and I saw a pair of legs sticking out through the open back door.

When I got to my office building, I already knew where I would find everyone. We have evacuated the building a couple of times before after some of the bigger aftershocks. Katie told me that she had seen a nearby building go down as all MWH staff were standing out in the street. Charles, who just had lunch at our top floor of the office building reported seeing massive dust clouds over the city. This is when people stated talking of buildings collapsing in the Central Business District, CBD. My brain was trying to process what was happening but was not successful.
The photo above was taken by a tourist from the Port Hills just after the quake struck. The dust clouds were formed after hundreds of buildings collapsed.

We were given the clear to briefly access the office to pick up our belongings before heading home. Whilst the majority of MWH staff joined the long and painfully slow queues to get out of town, I got on my bike. It was about 1.30 pm I think, about 40 minutes after the 6.3 magnitude quake had hit us.

Since houses in our neighbourhood in Mt Pleasant have always been OK in the past through the 4,000+ aftershocks we have experienced since 4 September’s 7.1 magnitude quake, I had this naive idea that our house would be fine with nothing damaged. I therefore didn’t rush home. Instead I visited as many friends as I could on my way home. I really didn’t feel like coming home to the house alone. I knew that Charlie was OK and I was waiting for him to come by.

I went past a couple of friends places, both which were fine with only a few shelves fallen. About a km down the road, when I continued through St Martins, the picture was entirely different. Dark heavy silt was pouring up from the ground and covering half of the street. It was like quick sand to bike through. I saw our friend Paul walking through all the liquefaction with in his gum boots. Their house was surrounded by the silt up to a foot deep. He couldn’t get into his house or open the gate to their back yard. A picture from a couple o days after the quake when we helped Paul and Lara to remove some of the sometimes half a meter deep liquefaction from their section.

My friend Mark showed up since he had been scared out of his Huntsbury Spur house after experiencing walls peeling off, huge cracks showing in the drive way and the kitchen appliances (fridge, dish washer, microwave) deciding to go for a jog.

Mark’s girlfriend, Anna, had walked from the city center since the traffic was so slow. Anna looked very shaken when we saw her. She had witnessed Chch turning into a disaster zone. A building had collapsed in front of her and crushed a bus with people in it. In Latimer Square, she had seen dead bodies covered by sheets. The picture of this earthquake rapidly changed. Mark had the radio on in his car and they reported that many large buildings had come down as a result of the quake. They were talking about 30 dead people at this point, but it was steadily going to rise to the 167 as of when I am posting this.

All cell phone lines were overloaded and I could only keep contact with Charlie via text messaging, although messages were often severely delayed. Charlie finally showed up and when we drove towards Mt Pleasant we noticed that the devastation got increasingly worse the closer we came to the hills. The radio informed us that the quake’s epicenter was in the Lyttelton area which was just a few kms away from where we live.

Castle Rock which crumbled badly after the September quake looked even smaller now but we also saw evidence of rock falls from many new areas above Heathcote Valley. Driving up to our house 120 m above sea level, we noticed that almost every house on the hill had some damage. Every second house appeared inhabitable.

Roof tiles suffered from the quake..what would our roof look like? Two houses amongst the ones that were badly damaged on our way home.

Finally we got to our house which was to our relief still standing!! The back of our garden had collapsed under the force of the quake. On a positive note, I thought that the landlord cannot force us to do any gardening if it looks like this. Yeah! The roof had quite a few holes. Oops, the back wall of our garage didn't make it and almost all bricks had fallen down.
Charlie's 23 L home brew beer didn't make it and was found mixed with car shampoo on the floor. The smell was rather interesting.
The kitchen was a bomb site. Hardly any plates, glasses or cups made it intact.
The side of our bedroom wall was making a dash. A large crack was visible from the top of the roof down to the corner of the house. Hrm...what would another good aftershock bring down?
The house was pretty badly damaged and first we thought the house was unsafe. With some advice from a structural engineer we understood that the house was still structurally sound and still habitable.

It has now been almost two weeks since the devastating 22 February. It has been a very tough time for us all. I feel incredibly lucky that we and all our friends are safe. It is just a matter of time before I will hear about someone I know who happened to be in the CBD at the time of the quake and still is missing.

It is times like this when we have got to know our neighbours much better. We have all helped each other and everyone have stayed positive despite severe damage to some homes. Street BBQ on the day of the quake to celebrate that were still alive. <

Christchurch will never be the same again. 755 buildings are likely to be demolished. Thousands of people have moved out of the city. Our local running tracks have been wiped out by rocks and scree. Beaches and waterways will be contaminated by waste water for months. /p>

The last two weeks feel like the longest ones in my life. We have listened to the radio hours on end. Without power and water, even simple things takes time...going to the loo becomes a mission.

I still have so much more that I want to write, but I will stop here...for now. I just want to thank you all for all nice emails, text messages and facebook messages. We are resilient and will not let this drag us down. We are staying strong and positive to help Christchurch. Lots of love to you all.