Tuesday night Roberto, Peta, Gord, Mandy and I assembled in our flat because it has two double doors to the patio. We listened to Roberto’s explanations of the engineering of structures and how design limited damage to the newer buildings in town and the Canterbury Campus in general. As pictures came in on the TV there were plenty of examples for the tutoring session. We managed to get a G3 connection and downloaded the earthquake data available from USGS and Geonet.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/usb0001igm/#detailsThe aftershocks kept coming. Roberto was in Conception after the 8+ quake and had experienced two 7+ aftershocks. Rumbles that night produced races through the door into the rain. Mandy tended to sense them coming first, but Roberto was quicker and usually first out. Peta developed a strategy of sitting between Roberto and the door.
With stiff drinks in hand we examined the data and speculated on the damage. The curious thing about this disaster was our lack of knowledge of what was going on around us and a kind of fatalistic unbelief. The tele had few facts but many images of destruction. No one could sleep. Roberto put a bed by the door. I saw Peta across the patio a couple of times that night. The rumbles continued, many 4’s all night long.
Milo showed up around 11AM Wednesday to check on us. He needed to go to the house in Red Cliffs to check on his tenants and Jackie, the boys “Nanny.” Red Cliffs is the basaltic hill with the crushed yellow building and the buried RSA (VFW equivalent) on the CNN coverage. It was a fight to get there. Lucky we filled up the car Monday. With map in hand we dogged traffic and liquefied streets, pothole and fissures to get round Red Cliffs to Sumner. There were lines of people waiting for water. Huge sections of the rock had given way. The fissures are perpendicular to the ground and large sections just sheared away. There were pine trees stuck to the side of the hill, roots exposed. Turning up Milo’s street all seemed normal! He is renting to some Residents at the hospital, one was home for a two hour nap after an all nighter at the hospital. His rental suffered no damage. Reminded me of a tornado that wrecks a house and skips a house - Poo-tee-weet?
Behind the house, volunteers were mustering in a field. They check every house and help those in need. The kindness, concern and care of Cantabrians reminds me of Nashvillians after the flood – except – these people are organized! They are on the ground and in the streets immediately. They know where to go and what to do. On campus, after the quake someone cleared every floor immediately. At first I thought it was random. I learned later these functions are assigned. As we exited the buildings, proctors in lime vests were stationed at the doors preventing re-entry.
We found Jackie in her car on the street napping and charging her cell phone. The interior of her house was a shambles. We shoveled debris into bins, cleaned as much glass off the floor and carpet as possible without a vacuum and got the place in manageable condition. Another hour on and off the road, through mud puddles and water holes and we were back at Milo’s home in Avonside. The river was near the banks. River road was destroyed. The shallow quake liquefied the road bed and Raleigh instabilities buckled the road in a series of ribbons. The house, an old “villa” on the river survived well. Old wood structures fared well. The foundations were a different story. Many on the street were split apart and fissures running through yards and driveways were unimpeded by concrete foundations. Engineers were walking the road marking uninhabitable houses. One man came out of his house after they were gone and said, “I wish they wouldn’t do that. It attracts looters!”
Gordon and Peta headed to Hammer Springs to escape the aftershocks. Tuesday we had two 5+’s, Wednesday was down to 4’s on average. Milo and family loaded up to come to the Academy lodge where there was power and water. Mandy whipped up plates of pasta to feed all the boys. Dinner discussion was about using shape memory alloys to reinforce building structures. We did not sleep that night either. We only had 3’s and two 4’s, not enough to dash for the door, but enough to make you wonder what was next or if it would keep shaking and build in intensity.
Thursday was fine. Supermarkets were opening and petrol was available. Milo had a scheduled flight to the US and with Kate and the boys secure decided to keep it. Mandy had had enough, and found a $50 flight to Sydney to meet up with her mom. Air New Zealand canceled may of its flights to concentrate resources on getting people out of Christchurch. The offered $50 fares to any domestic location + Sydney. Amazing to have a socially responsible airline!
I stayed for a briefing for the Erskine Fellows at 3PM. They checked us into the building, badged us, and escorted us to a conference room to meet with the vice chancellor. These people must have had sensitivity training on dealing with traumatized students and staff. I mean, we were handled like babies! Truth is, we needed that. Few are aware of their own dislocation. Sometimes I feel like Billy Pilgrim. The VC put the best face on things; the dorms are open, all essential building are structurally sound, occupation by staff is expected next week. He asked for questions and a 4.2 rumble shook the building. No one moved.
The big unknown is the total effect on Christchurch. While the University and Riccarton areas are functional, 1/4th of the city is without power and water. The town center is sealed off. If you watch the news you can see why. One multistory hotel is listing and will come down. The CTV building and the Cathedral are now sacred sites as bodies are pulled from the rubble. The city realizes the missing are dead. It is sobering.
Roberto met with the Civil Engineers Thursday night and informed me that they do not know the extent of the damage in the city centre. They have concentrated on rescue, and will start evaluating structures building by building Friday. He is very pessimistic about the chances for the centre. Gordon called me Thursday night to tell me to leave town. I jump with every rumble. I’m not getting up for fours anymore, but there is anxiety when a Huey thumps overhead. So, I am writing this on the bus headed south. I met a man at the bus stop with a fractured arm on his way to the hospital in Timaru. He was downtown and part of the memorial bridge crushed his left arm. After that he pulled two boys from the rubble. They had skipped school and paid the ultimate price.
So many heroes, so much resilience, so much devastation. I’m going to the mountains to find myself again.
