Friday, September 10, 2010

And the earth moved...

Last Saturday morning, 4th September at 4.35 am, we were very rudely awakened by the most violent shaking and loud noise as a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck near Christchurch.

The damage for some has been enormous - not just to property, but to people emotionally as the aftershocks continue - 6 days later. many people have lost homes as well as businesses. Virtually new homes have been lost to subsidence of the ground underneath, as new fault lines are discovered.

We were very fortunate that we did not sustain any real damage to any of the property apart from a couple of glass vases and a large planter in the garden.
In the spare bedroom, the large filing cabinet that sits in the corner of the room was tossed forward, possibly due to the weight of the drawers that opened with the force of the shaking. Books on top of the cabinet were tossed onto the floor, but the TV set stayed put!

The door to the outside has a cat flap in it and the cat was still able to exit because the lowest drawer left a gap that she could fit through.

In the lounge, a bookcase was thrown forward and came to rest against the sofa. A glass vase was thrown from the top of the bookcase and came to rest on the arm of the sofa. Other ornaments were also tossed onto the floor and only one thing sustained any damage - a small chip in the top of a pottery bottle. The bottom of the bookcase crashed against the wall and has left a small hole that is fixable!  My old guitar didn't get any more scratches! The vase of flowers that was on the coffee table didn't move. Photos and a large, very heavy crystal vase were thrown off the piano - again, little damage there - only the stand of one photo frame - which is mendable.

Outside, one of two relatively new plant pots fell over and smashed onto the concrete paving. It is totally wrecked and we will have to try to replace it with another the same to match the one on the other side of the BBQ.

So, we were extremely lucky to have so little damage in such a severe quake. We are very thankful for this and our thoughts are with those who are not so well off at this time.

3 comments:

crafty creations said...

You certainly were very lucky Janet - a few fixable things is nothing compared to some of the things that people have had to cope with

take Crae hugs Hilda

Shairon said...

Gosh Janet, you sound so calm about it all. I would have been petrified! I guess that you did probably get off fairly "lightly" compared to many others. Hope it is soon all over.xx

sue law said...

Hi Janet....that must have been very frightning! Just looking at your photos I'm amazed you didn't have more damage!

Hope you are getting back to normal now!
Sue
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