Earthquake

At 4:35am on Saturday morning my home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, was rocked by a massive 7.1 earthquake. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ima…

My best friend, Von-Chan, rang me to let me know, as I'm living in Australia now. After an hour of trying to contact my family, and that of my boyfriends, we finally got through the downed/jammed phone lines. Thankfully both our families and all our friends emerged unscathed.

My family house was undamaged, except for a slanting chimney and one broken ornament, however my partners parents brand new house has over $50,000 worth of damage. Some houses were untouched, others were completely ruined.

To date I don't believe anyone has even died, with only 2 people seriously injured. Which is miraculous, considering the damage done. Had the quake hit at 4:35pm it would have been a very different story. The fact that the streets were deserted and everyone was tucked up safe in bed probably saved hundreds. The earthquake was of the same magnitude as that which hit Haiti, to give you some idea of how amazing the contrast is in damage and loss of life.

It was hard being stuck over here knowing that my family and friends have been going through hell the last few days. They have had hundreds of aftershocks, many over 5 on the Richter scale. And it's amazing to see photos of streets I used to walk down nearly every day now destroyed, with the city on lockdown.

It's the sort of thing you expect to see on TV, happening in other parts of the world. Not in your home city to your own family and friends. I'm just so glad everyone is safe.