More Tremors!

The last 24 Hours have been very exciting here in Christchurch. Yesterday afternoon I was at home with Aya and Rowan, and the city was rocked by yet another substantial aftershock. It was a 5.5, and the epicenter was again virtually inside the city, just a few hundred meters off the beach at Sumner. Aya, now an earthquake veteran, was under the table hugging a table leg like a shot! They have earthquake drills at Aya's daycare, and she responds instantly now to large tremors. Rowan and I just stood there, though. We're not as well-prepared as Aya, clearly! Shelley was at work at the time, and she was under her desk pretty quickly (another earthquake-ready Cantabrian). They started to evacuate the University (as they do after major tremors), so Shelley came home. We read the news on the internet, and were relieved to see that there had been little damage - a church collapsed, trapping a few people for a short while, but no major injuries.

She had only been at home for an hour or so when a second, larger tremor hit the city. This tremor was noticeably stronger - I was upstairs looking out the window (again, I just sat there), and was fascinated to watch all the trees in the neighborhood sway violently. This time it was a 6.0, which is certainly large enough to do some damage. Several buildings (and a small bridge) collapsed downtown, but they were buildings that had been previously been red-stickered and were unoccupied. Again we watched the news, and were again relieved to hear that no one had been seriously injured. Whew! The epicenter for this one had been in Lyttleton, and was very shallow, hence the 'jerkiness' of the tremor. (Yes, you really do get a feel for the 'texture' of earthquakes after you've been through thousands of tremors.)

For the first time, there was real damage in our house. Our hotwater tank ruptured, and water was running down through the house. The leak wasn't too big, and we were able to contain the mess with buckets and towels while we figured out how to turn the hot water off.

So today, we're all at home. The university is closed for a day or two (they have to inspect the buildings), so I popped out to the (excellent!) french bakery just down the street to get pastries for everyone for breakfast. Chocolate croissant, pain au chocolat, and custard brioche! Delicious!

We're still a bit sick (our flu has become lodged in our sinuses and won't leave), and my ankle is still a little injured (I can walk, but not easily), but other than that we're doing OK here in ChCh. Shelley says 'earthquake days' are like 'snow days' in Canada; there's nothing you can do about, so just enjoy it while it lasts. She's on the couch, reading a novel as I write this... :)

Still no date on a move back to Canada, though we should know in a week or two when we're leaving.

I've added a link so you can watch the earthquakes unfold in Christchurch. You can adjust how much 'earthquake-time' you want to watch.

If you can't see the link, the website address is http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

Cheers!

Trent.

PS> Just had another tremor... not so huge, but caught me by surprise!