Posts by Lilith __
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Fantastic to hear from you David, and that your sense of humour seems miraculously intact!
Over here in Woolston the damage is really minor except for a few Victorian brick places (mostly commercial premises on Ferry Rd). I was appalled and horrified to see pictures of what's happened in Avonside.
I hope you soon have all utilities and comforts in your own home. Thanks for posting at a time when you must have many pressing things to do!
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Well thanks, Mr Tulip. :-) And irkstyle.
One of the best things about the updates he's posting is that they sort out the truth from the rumours. Rumours and misunderstandings are propagating like crazy. I just had a worried call from my Mum who'd been told by a neighbour that there'd been a huge earthquake in Wellington. And apparently there's been a rumour that Chch is running out of petrol. None of this is true.
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I know a few people who have bailed, including one of my flatmates who'd got to the "screaming at every aftershock" stage. Personally, the idea of leaving town hadn't really occurred to me and seems like too much work. My house is fine and I don't feel particularly unsafe, but I'm very very tired and mentally scattered. I'm basically reading and watching DVDs, browsing the internet, and talking on the phone: not doing anything that requires more than token amounts of concentration.
I am amazed and impressed by our CityCare workers and engineers and CD and S&R and the army and police and all the volunteers who have been working so amazingly hard to keep services and infrastructure working. Kia ora and bouquets to you all.
One website that has been great for rolling information updates is this one, I don't even know who's running it, but it's fantastic.
And great post, Emma.
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Oh thanks, Phil. From the (residential) bits of Chch I've seen, the seriously damaged homes are a tiny, tiny minority. Thousands of homes will have lost a chimney, tens of thousands will have had a few possessions broken, which may or may not be worth claiming for.
I struggle to imagine that the 100,000 figure is likely.
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Do any of the smart people out there understand this figure of 100,000 damaged homes in Canty?
Do we even have that many homes?
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BTW The Civil Defence website has the best rolling updates for Cantabrians. And the buses are back on tomorrow.
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Also, Lilith, you live quite close to us, I think.
Huh, and I thought you were a West Chch girl, Emma! Don't know why I thought that, must have made it up. That's nice to know you're nearby! I like Southeast Chch a lot, it's a good place to live.
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Spot the difference:
What Colin Espiner from the Press said: "Whole sections of the older parts of Christchurch had buildings with rubble all over the road." What the Sydney Morning Herald reported: "Whole parts of Christchurch were reduced to rubble."
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I think people didn't need the Prime Minister to tell them to look out for their neighbours.
One thing we would have appreciated was more of a focus in the media on civil defence info. They had an opportunity to warn us to do things like boiling water, and such advice was buried near the end of reports, if it was there at all. A lot of us were wondering if it was OK to flush our toilets, and if we needed to make alternative arrangements. National Radio was about the only news outlet that got stuck into CD information and practical advice. It was really appreciated! The finer points of emergency sanitation may be embarassing or dull for those outside of the affected area, but getting these things right becomes terribly important if you might actually need to use it.
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I've just taken my cat to the vet for her routine surgery. The vet's running as normal, the rubbish trucks are doing their regular round, builders down at the school are back at work building the new hall, things seem semi-normal in our area.
There are a few old brick buildings near my place in Woolston that have serious damage, and there are a few brick chimneys that have fallen around the neighbourhood, but on most streets you really have to hunt for any sign that anything's happened.
The confusing thing for those of us in the middle of the "devastation" is that most stuff just isn't devastated. There is some severe damage in patches, especially in the CBD, Bexley, Avonside, part of Brighton, and Kaiapoi, but most of Chch is much as usual.
We have all been fielding worried calls, texts and emails from all over the world, which is lovely of course, but also slightly confusing! I keep wondering if I just haven't noticed how bad things are.
One of the great strengths of Twitter and Facebook is that you get to hear from a range of voices, which gives some perspective. TV and newspapers focus on the worst-affected places, and their viewers and readers assume what they are seeing is representative: it isn't.