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- Joined
- 11 Jun 2004
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- 1,332
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- Aotearoa
To the internets...
So we were woken at 4:30 this morning by a sizable earthquake. I woke a few seconds before it hit to what sounded like an approaching freight train. Then the bed was bashed against the wall and I grabbed my wife and ran to the kids room to cover them. Genuinely thought the roof would come down or the windows were going to shatter. The shaking kept up for an age, tipping a bookshelf over and toys rattled off the shelves. The kids night light died part way through and the house was plunged into darkness. I've felt a few gentle quakes before but nothing like this one... I was really packing it.
As soon as it stopped I grabbed a torch (a little OTT but I keep one taped to wall inside my wardrobe for such an occasion). We then got dressed and I filled the bath with water (to conserve it) and killed the mains. I checked in on our elderly neighbour and found her son was staying with her and had it under control. We then chucked the family in the car and drove inland. I really wanted to avoid a rush if there was a tsunami warning. It was eerie as the roads were buckled and dipped in places. There was some surface flooding and you could smell the sewage. Loads of people coming out of their houses in bedrobes with flashlights to assess the damage. We passed one set of corner shops that had collapsed but it didn't look like there was too much structural damage to the homes we passed.
I couldn't find an FM station broadcasting except for a couple that were on an automatic music loop. Thankfully AM radio brought up a couple that were already giving details of the earthquake. It was a centred few miles inland so I headed north to avoid the worst of the damage to the roads. With all the lights out I noticed a glow in the sky from Rangiora so headed towards the town as they obviously had power. My wife by now had checked in with my parents (who were so busy cleaning up the house they hadn't considered a tsunami) and her family in the UK to assure them we were fine.
As we reached Rangiora we saw McDonalds was open and full of people so we pulled in and got ourselves a coffee. The kids were distracted in the playground and we finally had a chance to catch our breath. Everyone there was real chatty and we heard rumours that some buildings in the central city had collapsed and houses had been sinking into the ground in another nearby town. We stayed a couple of hours until the sun was well up and headed back. The radio in Maccas was now reporting there was no danger of tsunami and civil defence was advising everyone to stay at home.
Heading back in the light of day we could see there was a lot more damage to the roads and paths. A lot of the chimneys are askew on our street. Thankfully our house is sound apart from a loose light fitting and a broken picture frame that fell from the falling bookshelf. It's a declared state of emergency here right now but I think that's more to empower city services in rescue and recovery efforts. We've been told to conserve water and avoid flushing the toilet for the time being (I dug a hole in the back of the garden).
The power came on around ten this morning and the radio's been running ever since. There's been a few aftershocks - a couple of good jolts this morning which has been unnerving.
Spare a thought for ricky1981 a fellow forumite who lives near where the earthquake was centred. Let us know when you can that you're safe mate.
Anyway, that's my tale for the day. While I think I was semi-prepared for something like this, if it had levelled the house or damaged our waterpipes then I would have been stuffed. It pays to have some sort of plan in place as this could happen to anyone.
/cool story bro
So we were woken at 4:30 this morning by a sizable earthquake. I woke a few seconds before it hit to what sounded like an approaching freight train. Then the bed was bashed against the wall and I grabbed my wife and ran to the kids room to cover them. Genuinely thought the roof would come down or the windows were going to shatter. The shaking kept up for an age, tipping a bookshelf over and toys rattled off the shelves. The kids night light died part way through and the house was plunged into darkness. I've felt a few gentle quakes before but nothing like this one... I was really packing it.
As soon as it stopped I grabbed a torch (a little OTT but I keep one taped to wall inside my wardrobe for such an occasion). We then got dressed and I filled the bath with water (to conserve it) and killed the mains. I checked in on our elderly neighbour and found her son was staying with her and had it under control. We then chucked the family in the car and drove inland. I really wanted to avoid a rush if there was a tsunami warning. It was eerie as the roads were buckled and dipped in places. There was some surface flooding and you could smell the sewage. Loads of people coming out of their houses in bedrobes with flashlights to assess the damage. We passed one set of corner shops that had collapsed but it didn't look like there was too much structural damage to the homes we passed.
I couldn't find an FM station broadcasting except for a couple that were on an automatic music loop. Thankfully AM radio brought up a couple that were already giving details of the earthquake. It was a centred few miles inland so I headed north to avoid the worst of the damage to the roads. With all the lights out I noticed a glow in the sky from Rangiora so headed towards the town as they obviously had power. My wife by now had checked in with my parents (who were so busy cleaning up the house they hadn't considered a tsunami) and her family in the UK to assure them we were fine.
As we reached Rangiora we saw McDonalds was open and full of people so we pulled in and got ourselves a coffee. The kids were distracted in the playground and we finally had a chance to catch our breath. Everyone there was real chatty and we heard rumours that some buildings in the central city had collapsed and houses had been sinking into the ground in another nearby town. We stayed a couple of hours until the sun was well up and headed back. The radio in Maccas was now reporting there was no danger of tsunami and civil defence was advising everyone to stay at home.
Heading back in the light of day we could see there was a lot more damage to the roads and paths. A lot of the chimneys are askew on our street. Thankfully our house is sound apart from a loose light fitting and a broken picture frame that fell from the falling bookshelf. It's a declared state of emergency here right now but I think that's more to empower city services in rescue and recovery efforts. We've been told to conserve water and avoid flushing the toilet for the time being (I dug a hole in the back of the garden).
The power came on around ten this morning and the radio's been running ever since. There's been a few aftershocks - a couple of good jolts this morning which has been unnerving.
Spare a thought for ricky1981 a fellow forumite who lives near where the earthquake was centred. Let us know when you can that you're safe mate.
Anyway, that's my tale for the day. While I think I was semi-prepared for something like this, if it had levelled the house or damaged our waterpipes then I would have been stuffed. It pays to have some sort of plan in place as this could happen to anyone.
/cool story bro
Scary stuff.
