My city was hit by a 7.1 earthquake at 4.35am. Think the Haiti earthquake, but slightly bigger.
Without a doubt, it was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced and would not wish anyone to go through. Not even my worst enemy.
You are so completely helpless in that you just have to wait it out until it's finished. Miraculously, not one single person died. And I'm pretty sure that's a world first for that magnitude of an earthquake.
A lot of buildings have been destroyed, some are still to be ripped down because they are unsafe. We have one of the toughest building codes in the world, and it's shown how well built our buildings are through the absence of death and how a lot of buildings are perfectly fine. The ones that have been condemned or destroyed in the actual earthquake itself are all old buildings, some are heritage, which makes it harder on the city. This is our history that is being demolished, not just a meaningless building that will have no impact on how the city goes on.
As of 11.09pm last night, we've had 2775 aftershocks.
And this could go on for at least another year. Some are big, some are not even noticeable, but it is the aftershocks that continue to do damage to our homes, our buildings, our roads. Unfortunately it is something that we cannot prevent. It is something that we have come to live with, and will continue to live with.
We lost power, some for hours, some for days, sewerage was damaged, some places still do not have plumbing and drainage in the worst hit suburbs, but have been evacuated to places where they can stay. In total, over four billion dollars in damage was done to my tiny wee city.
My heart goes to those that have lost their homes and their places of work. My house is yet to be looked at and has some significant damage, but for the mean time it is livable. And right now that is all that matters.
And now for some photos...
Once I'm done with school in a week or so, I hope to go around the city and get more photos of everything.
