Earthquake Report, 17 April: 'Just When You Thought It Was Safe …'

To be honest, I didn't think it was safe.  I have read up a bit on what the earthquake pundits say and also listened to a few in-depth expert interviews on the radio—Radio New Zealand, of course, the only media outlet in this country where you consistently get real news and information—so know that we can expect a number of 5-point plus earthquakes for up to a year following the 6.3 earthquake of February 22nd.

Knowing, however, is one thing—having to go through last night's 5.3 shake quite another. Yes, we emerged unscathed, although part of the city lost power, several water mains burst and already damaged roads were damaged further, but really, I think we've all had quite enough of the earth moving. The phrase "so over it already" definitely seems relevant. I also think that for every aftershock of this kind, more people will ask themselves: is this really where I want to be? And for those who have lost livelihood, home, or both, the anchors that tie people to place will be increasingly fraying loose.

Personally, I am still a long way from that point. To paraphrase the words of the Bruce Springsteen song (from the Album Born in the USA), "this is my hometown" by choice, and my partner's in terms of both "born and raised." We're still feeling like we're here for the long haul. But everyone has a tipping point, so I guess for many of us a lot will depend on how long this goes on and how bad the after effects are.

So far, I feel like Christchurch as a community and NZ as a country, supporting us, are doing incredibly well. Within seven weeks of what was a really major earthquake and probably NZ's most significant disaster in terms of level of damage, we have potable water and power back on for the whole city. I have been amazed at the progress made on the roads and I know that the teams working on the sewage system are out there doing their durndest under incredibly difficult circumstances: I'm talking around 2/3rds of the city's pumping stations taken out in the February 22nd 'quake; significant numbers of mains blocked with silt and mud; and even when they're cleared there's still a very real risk of subsidence—especially in heavy rain like we're experiencing right now. And in fact there was a major subsidence incident following the rain earlier in the week.

So everyone's doing their best and I have absolutely no complaints about that, even though the day-to-day amenity east of the Hills-Fitzgerald line is still a very long way from ideal. For those who don't know, Hills Road and Fitzgerald Avenue mark the rough boundary between those parts of the city (outside of the CBD) that are basically ok, i.e. west of the line, and then the city east of the line which is basically not ok.  And of course with winter coming on, no one's going to be ok  if we don't all continue to conserve power and water and not overload  the sewage system.

So that's us here in the shaky city: boxing on day-to-day, despite non-ideal circumstances, and as for a stop to the shaking—the day before yesterday, last month even, would be mighty fine.

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