The Christchurch Earthquake, oh how that was fun! As I’m sure you have already heard, on Saturday September 4th at 4.35 am Christchurch had one of the biggest earthquakes recorded in New Zealand. This, my friends, was a 7.1 on the Richter scale but had early suggestions of being 7.4. I must say, that was the fastest I have ever gotten out of bed. While running (well trying to) towards the doorway, there was a massive jolt and I nearly lost my balance. My heart was racing as I slowly slid down the door frame to sit down. By this time, Libby and Leah were also at their doors; just as shocked as I was. We had no clue what to do, did we evacuate or did we stay inside?
After the shaking had stopped, we saw people walking down the stairs and decided to follow. Silly me forgot to put shoes on (not that I ever wear any) and had to stand outside on the freezing grass for (what felt like) 3 hours. Of course my feet had literally fallen off by then. Seeing as it was uni holidays, Shona and Stacey were off in some other part of the country sound asleep. The city was badly damaged, with the after math still showing now. We were lucky; no damage to our apartment what so ever. Nothing had fallen, we were all safe and we still had running water. Several hours had passed without any power though, so we had no clue that this city was pretty much all over the world.
I still believe that the media hyped it up a bit, but what can I say? Media definitely loves drama. The rest of the world had eyes on us. YouTube videos were being posted and phones were going crazy. I had my share of phone calls and texts to family and friends, I even had a chance to update my facebook status.
What had freaked me out the most were the constant aftershocks. Being the first major earthquake away from my family, it felt really weird and lonely. I mean there were only three of us and I was used to sharing a room with someone else. We found out uni was closed for another 2 weeks so Libby decided to go home and leave Leah and I by ourselves. We were in hysterics after a couple major aftershocks and I decided to camp out in the living room with the t.v on.
It’s nearly been 7 weeks now and we are still feeling aftershocks. Although they are nowhere near as big as they were before, it’s quite surprising. Never thought they would last this long! We are all used to them now, not even feeling some of them. 4’s on the Richter scale feel like nothing to us.
I know we are lucky!! If there had to be another massive earthquake I would definitely choose to have it during the night. So glad no one got hurt and even though people had to evacuate their homes, their attitudes towards being safe and alive are amazing. So yeah, I hope all will be okay for the residents of Christchurch and can’t wait for this concert on Saturday 23rd!
Peace out.
Jezzah
xoxo
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