Earthquake Part 2

Then (22 February)

We talked with other teachers we knew in the crowd and made some decision

s. My little group of four decided to head towards my car which I had parked in the Arts Centre car p

ark near the Worcester Boulevard-Rolleston Avenue corner. We did not want to walk under the Convention Center overbridge on Kilmore Street, but were uncomfortable about going over bridges. We watched people crossing the Colombo St bridge and decided that we would risk it but shoul

d walk quickly over it. As we moved in this direction see could see people up high in the Forsyth Barr building and also that

the top of the cathedral spire had fallen down. Once over the bridge we moved into Victoria Square picking our way carefully around the liquefaction and commenting on our inappropriate shoes. We found some more colleagues and sat down on the grass to consider what to do next. It was cool and grey, the air felt damp, and people wandered past and stood around in small groups.

Now

Awoken by something, I got up to check GeoNet for the size of the quake at 10:42 pm - it was 4.6 and centered closer to our place than most. The ability to see where a quake was on Google maps is a useful feature that encourages many further minutes of earthquake-obsession.

NB This spellcheck does not know how to spell Google, which is intriguing when Google owns Blogger!

An earthquake hits Christchurch

Last Tuesday, an earthquake struck Christchurch. I was in the Town Hall Auditorium with fellow teachers waiting for our Paid Union Meeting to start when the lights went out and the polygonal sound baffles hanging from the ceiling started to sway. After unsuccessfully trying to get our heads under the seats (when you are not sitting on them, they fold up) the four of us left the building and joined hundreds of other people in the middle of Kilmore Street. I remember waiting for someone to come and tell us what to do next - it took me a while to realise that the disaster had not just hit us, and that we needed to look after ourselves.

Some of us went to the corner of Kilmore and Colombo to check out the collapsed buildings for trapped people. Some of us found colleagues and wondered about doing a roll check. Some of us headed home in determined fashion. Some of us stood and wondered what we should do, and eventually moved around the corner to Colombo Street directed by a man with an armband on. We wept, hugged, shared handkerchiefs and continually tried to text or call people we love.

I am going to write my earthquake story in installments between doing useful things.