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Earthquake again.
Feb. 25th, 2011 05:15 pmI haven't put in details of what the quake was like for me yet, and although I'm a bit iffy about it I can always lock them later. Basically, I'd just walked into a large glassed-in foyer, intending to go up to the mezzanine, and then the quake hit, and three of us just hung on to the bottom stair rail and listened to glass breaking (fortunately, none of it near us). I texted my sister straight away, and then tried for Twitter, but everything was going down. Told juniors to go home, made sure work was safe once we were allowed back in, tried again and again to get phone messages through or access the internet. I heard the Cathedral was down and assumed it was a rumour. In hindsight we could have put on the radio, but none of us were thinking all that straight.
About an hour after the quake I started walking home. Initially there was just minor damage, and then I saw my first collapsed building - on Durham Street - and it all started to sink in. I had to divert to get home, and there was silt and water everywhere - fortunately I'd picked that day to wear boots. Got home, hugged my neighbours, got someone to kick in my jammed gate, tidied (the mess was worse than the September quake, with a lot more breakages, but still better than I'd feared), ate large quantities of melting ice-cream, listened to the radio, packed an emergency bag and then set out to pick up the dog by foot. Usually I drive the 2.5k in about 5 minutes, depending on lights, but it took me almost an hour of walking and back-tracking, and talking to others. The dog was thrilled to see me (and pretty blase about the earthquake - with both this and the other one, he's been with other dogs), and even more excited at getting to walk a long way with lots of mud and lots of people standing out on the street, particularly those ones with barbecues.
Walked back, listened to the radio announce a cordon around the central city, tidied some more and packed ineffectively, then managed to make contact with a friend who could offer me a place to stay. Pulled all the boxes off the car, stuck the dog in the back and started driving to their place. This a complete mess. The roads were heavily flooded, with sinkholes and cracks, and cars stuck on the sides; lots of traffic, and all of it slow. The loaner car I was driving had only come with a quarter tank of petrol, and I'd already had it a couple of days; the petrol light came on before I'd made it 5k. I headed back, through more flooded streets, and then got stopped by the army - they wouldn't let me back home, but directed me to the one open petrol station they knew of, on Blenheim Road. I got there before running out of petrol, joined the queue and filled the tank. I also bought two Easter eggs and some powerade - water, milk, bread etc had all sold out long ago. Started driving again, and from this direction the roads were much better, practically normal until I was about 2k away from my destination. Drove cautiously around more sinkholes and cracks, cut my finger on the gate of my friend's, got the dog out.
All this through constant aftershocks. You could hear them, all Tuesday night, growling in the distance just before the shake.
I took photos on my walks that afternoon. These are some of them here, if the link works - haven't used Flicker before. I suspect they're also going to be out of order.
About an hour after the quake I started walking home. Initially there was just minor damage, and then I saw my first collapsed building - on Durham Street - and it all started to sink in. I had to divert to get home, and there was silt and water everywhere - fortunately I'd picked that day to wear boots. Got home, hugged my neighbours, got someone to kick in my jammed gate, tidied (the mess was worse than the September quake, with a lot more breakages, but still better than I'd feared), ate large quantities of melting ice-cream, listened to the radio, packed an emergency bag and then set out to pick up the dog by foot. Usually I drive the 2.5k in about 5 minutes, depending on lights, but it took me almost an hour of walking and back-tracking, and talking to others. The dog was thrilled to see me (and pretty blase about the earthquake - with both this and the other one, he's been with other dogs), and even more excited at getting to walk a long way with lots of mud and lots of people standing out on the street, particularly those ones with barbecues.
Walked back, listened to the radio announce a cordon around the central city, tidied some more and packed ineffectively, then managed to make contact with a friend who could offer me a place to stay. Pulled all the boxes off the car, stuck the dog in the back and started driving to their place. This a complete mess. The roads were heavily flooded, with sinkholes and cracks, and cars stuck on the sides; lots of traffic, and all of it slow. The loaner car I was driving had only come with a quarter tank of petrol, and I'd already had it a couple of days; the petrol light came on before I'd made it 5k. I headed back, through more flooded streets, and then got stopped by the army - they wouldn't let me back home, but directed me to the one open petrol station they knew of, on Blenheim Road. I got there before running out of petrol, joined the queue and filled the tank. I also bought two Easter eggs and some powerade - water, milk, bread etc had all sold out long ago. Started driving again, and from this direction the roads were much better, practically normal until I was about 2k away from my destination. Drove cautiously around more sinkholes and cracks, cut my finger on the gate of my friend's, got the dog out.
All this through constant aftershocks. You could hear them, all Tuesday night, growling in the distance just before the shake.
I took photos on my walks that afternoon. These are some of them here, if the link works - haven't used Flicker before. I suspect they're also going to be out of order.
