Thought we'd better update the blog tonight and let everybody know we are safe and sound in Timaru, around 2 hours south of Christchurch. It's been a very long and stressful day after leaving Kaikoura.
You may now have heard about the Christchurch earthquake that hit today at around 1pm. Barry and I were on our way into downtown Christchurch and missed being there for the big quake by about 20 minutes. We thought our car had a flat tire when we were just outside Christchurch, but that was actually either the first quake or the aftershock we were feeling. Barry could barely control the car as we were swayed left to right going 100km an hour on the highway! It wasn't til we had pulled over and got out of the car and saw others doing the same that we realized it was a tremor. Silly us, we thought tremors were normal around here. Unfortunately, this was a shallow earthquake that caused much more devastation than the 7.2 magnitude quake they had in September. So far, 65 people are confirmed dead and more are expected. Others remain trapped in downtown buildings. We are truly blessed to be safe tonight. There are so many distressed people in Christchurch right now, everyone is talking about it and many have been affected by it. Keep them in your thoughts.
Take care all, and be thankful if you don't live in an earthquake zone!
Nat and Barry
Wow! We are glad that you two are safe! Keep the blogs coming :-)
ReplyDeleteHey everyone, just want to say thanks for all the great comments on the blog. If we don't respond, don't worry, we are reading them but just don't have time to comment back.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking you might be in the area, happy everything is alright for you...
ReplyDeleteYou know how much i want to go to New Zealand....but if possible not on a rescue mission thx
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