We were woken at 4.35am by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. I heard it coming and jumped up and got Luke out of bed, and stood with him in Emily's doorway. I could see she was ok, and she woke up and came to us. Neil was slightly slower- "What's going on?"- and grabbed Ben down from his bed (he sleeps in a mezzanine bunk thing) and came to the doorway too.
The earthquake seemed to go on forever and was very rocky and it made a loud rumbling noise, like a truck. The big kids were pretty scared, and Luke was just grumpy that we'd woken him up! We all jumped into our bed once it was over- next time we get a new bed, it needs to be bigger ;) Luke was grizzling and carrying on, so after the first few aftershocks I put him back to bed. The others were still scared and the aftershocks kept coming for the rest of the night. In fact we have just had another as I sit here, and it's 5pm. I felt bad putting Luke to bed but he was perfectly safe and I am just on the other side of the wall from him. I thought about how it would look if anything happened to any of us and the 4 of us were together and the little one with DS was not- would look a bit suspicious, but that's not the case at all. He is the one I went for first because he is the littlest.
Anyway we have not had any damage, but my step-sister and her partner's house has been damaged, with the concrete floor buckling and the walls having big cracks through them. The lines in the centre of their street are now wiggly I've been told and there are cracks in the road and driveway. We live an hour away from Christchurch, so luckily we have less damage than they do. Mum and Chris had no power all morning, and as it snowed there yesterday it was pretty cold. The sun came out today though, so that warmed everyone up.
You can see some of the damage here if you haven't already: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4094986/Army-wanted-in-quake-hit-Canterbury
We haven't had much sleep since the earthquake hit, so there are some very tired kids and parents here- think it'll be an early night for us all.
A Buckeye Legacy
5 years ago
3 comments:
So glad you are all safe. What a nerve wracking experience.
I hope you can get some sleep!
How frightening! I'm glad to hear you are all safe. I looked at pictures of the aftermath, amazing & scary.
Oh Mel, I saw this on the Irish news a few hours ago, and immediately thought of you, wondering where you are exactly and if you were near... Sorry but a bit ignorant of your geography. Is Angela (of Trisomy Tribe) and her family near as well? I don't think so but can you reassure me?
Glad you are all ok. And no major casualties from what I heard... It’s hard if your house is damaged, but it’s only a house, as long as everyone is safe. As for Luke, you did what you had to do, instinct kicked in... Some fright it must have been though!
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