Canterbury Earthquake - One Year On

My thoughts will be with those in Christchurch still suffering one year on, those who lost loved ones and those who lost beloved possessions.

My DS was actually born that morning (not in Christchurch) so the best thing we will be doing on the 22nd will be celebrating his birthday.

The day started off as any other, my midwife came to visit me and my 1 week old baby, she stayed and had a chat with me, my baby, my mum who was over from the UK and my 18 month old. After my midwife left we played together, I fed bubs and life was normal. We had a our lunch then my eldest was put down for her daytime sleep at 12.30. My mum was on the sofa cuddling my youngest and was contemplating putting her in her bassinet for a sleep but was enjoying the cuddles so kept a hold of her (thank goodness). I decided to put my head down for a little while so curled up on the sofa. If anyone had of put their heads in the door they would have come across a very quiet chilled out house; then it happened... It started out as the tell tale rumble that I was so used to, then it hit and man, did it hit. I live in Redcliffs so was within 5km's of the epicentre. My mum started squealing and I lept up to run to my eldest who I knew would have woken during this one (she hadn't through the others). I told mum to get into the doorframe once the main shaking was over and she could walk carefully. I got to my eldest who was sitting in her cot looking very confused. I stood in her doorframe talking to mum in the living room doorframe then there was a knock on the door, it was my neighbour checking up that we were ok. He only stayed to check on us then rushed back to his wife. After all of that things became a blur. I know I managed to get that really important text to and from my hubby who was working in town, luckily he had cycled in so he could get home easier than if he was in the car. I know other neighbours visited too and then somehow we all ended up in a neighbours house as another neighbour had a gas stove with a kettle on it! Then my hubby got to us and he helped our elderly neighbours move their bricks that had come off their house (nearly the whole house). We went back home and sat in my eldest daughter's room for quite a while playing with her teaset on the floor, as the shaking didn't feel quite so bad in her room being the middle of the house. As I said though, it all becomes a blur... Mum and I ended up sleeping in my bed and my hubby slept on the floor with our eldest for 2 nights. As we had no water or power my husband ended up organising for us to go to Auckland on the Friday, but on the Thursday night we stayed with some work colleagues by the airport. When we left our suburb the roads were full of liquifaction and the cracks along the causeway were huge so the going was very slow. The normally 25 min journey took 1hr 30 mins but we arrived in Fendalton safe and sound and it was most bizzare, the bins were being collected, people were clean when we hadn't washed for 2 days, people were smiling when back in Redcliffs most people I saw were just shocked, it was hard to believe it was the same city. The shaking was hardly felt and we all managed to get some sleep ready for our flight up to Auckland on the Friday. We got to the airport only to be told that we had to go through the international departures as we were getting on a jumbojet to get up as there were that many people trying to 'escape'. The goodbyes with my husband were horrible, probably one of the worst things I have had to do, but he said we should go, so off we toddled. We arrived in Auckland and people were falling over themselves to help us which was lovely, we got spoilt rotten but I just wanted my hubby with me and to know he was safe, blame it on the hormones after just having had a baby or the quakes but the tears flowed so much while I was in Auckland, it was horrible, but life carried on. I called my neighbours to check on their nearly daily and my hubby went to see them daily too. The following weekend my hubby came up to Auckland for 3 days which were wonderful, it was so good to see him, but again the goodbye was awful. Remember, he had spent only 1 week and 3 days in his now 3 week old's life :o( I started to get really annoyed at being away from Chch and told him so regularly so he said that the day the water was back on we could come 'home'. I ended up saying no as we didn't know when that would happen so I organised flights from Auckland on the Friday (2 weeks after we had arrived) and that morning I got a call with a very excited husband running the tap and saying 'listen, listen' :o) We landed back in Chch and wow, what a difference in just 2 weeks, the roads were cleared and the journey back home was normal, the cracks were still there and houses were in tatters but people seemed different. The kitchen in our house was a no-go zone for the children due to falling bricks in there but I didn't care, we were all home and together again. It was only 6 days later and my mum left for the UK as planned, it was hard to say goodbye to her but I was glad she was getting out of the Shaky City, she seemed to be more affected by it all than she let on. Anyway, 1 year on and my 1 year old is a happy little walking girl and my eldest is always talking. Whenever we get shakes through my eldest tells us if it is a big one or little on and does a little dance! The resilience of Cantabrians is amazing and the community spirit is very much alive here in little old Redcliffs. We don't have a library or supermarket anymore but they will be rebuilt in the next couple of years. The water pipes are slowly being replaced and we will have containers around the cliffs for the next who knows how long, but we are all alive and for that we must be thankful.

I woke up super excited that day as it was my last half day of work before I was due to have my baby due 17 March. I went into the city and started work as normal. At 12.30 I had just finished with my last client and was about to finish as I had a midwife appointmnt at 2pm. I was just tidying up my desk and it started to shake, it was so violent and the windows imploded we were covered in glass and there was plaster falling fom the ceiling, i ran outside as I thought the building was coming down and triped over on a big hole that had formed and landed on my stomach. Everyone was screaming and it was very dusty we could also smell gas and everyone was yelling that there was going to be a explosion. We tried to run but at 37 weeks that can be hard. I felt a huge pain in my stomach but it turned out to be the baby moving to a standing position. We walked to hospital through ruined streets and water to get the baby checked and I could not get hold of any family as the phones were so busy. I got to hospital got checked we were both ok. I ended up in hospital a week later as my wee baby kept moving around "unstable lie" and after 3 weeks I had my amazing son. we had no power, water or anything for 2.5 weeks and our street was full of liquefaction. I love my son to bits and hate each earthquake, people keep saying why don't you just leave chch, but We have family here my partner has a job, it's not as easy as packing up and leaving. If it were only my choice we would have left straight away and I don't think we would have come back .

The day started as any other school day. Rushing around getting the older two (8 and 5) off to school. Normally on a Tuesday I would head down to The Palms Shopping Mall for a coffee with some friends and then a wander with my 8wk old baby around the mall but that day I had Plunket coming. So stayed home.
Baby was asleep in her bassinet and I could hear the school kids playing (we're next door).
I don't remember hearing it first but when it hit, it was horrendous. The house starting jumping straight up and down. There was no sideways movement at all. The table I was sheltering under hit me on the head a few times, the 3 seater couch in front of me was off the floor.
When it finished I remembered my daughter still in her bassinet. For the first time everything was on the floor, Sept barely touched our stuff but Feb we had drawers out, the Fridge was across the kitchen, pictures were on the floor. For the first time in my life I was hysterical. I remember running down the hallway screaming my baby's name, thinking about the clock above her head. It was the ONLY thing in our room still on the wall!! I grabbed my sleeping child (yep she slept through it), blankets and all and ran out the door as an aftershock hit. I was standing on the deck sobbing and shaking when the neighbour saw me. He was at our house in seconds holding me.
His wife came and took the baby while I raced to back where we have a gate. That was jammed and I had to kick it. My 5yr old daughter who had coped really well came running to me crying and my son was just hanging onto a blanket with a friend.
I managed to make a short call to my mother before the phones went dead. Her and her 93yr old father loved by the river and were severely damaged in the Sept earthquake.
We had no power, no water, no sewage. the street had liquefaction but our house although a mess was still standing. The ceiling's came down at Mum's house. And Grandad had just got home from the TAB. The outside wall of the TAB crumpled so that was a scary thought.
We ended up going south for a week as we had still had no facilities with a baby.
It was a week before we had power and water and longer before we had sewage. Not an easy life when you have a 5y old who hates portaloos.
My husband wanted to leave, move away. But where do you go? He was one of the lucky ones and work was still there. We couldn't afford to pack up plus our families in Christchurch and this is my hometown. I've lived here most of my live.
My brother summed it up. He said "the Heart has been ripped out of Christchurch" and he's right. We're still here and standing but so much of our heritage is gone that its hit us hard.

And after all that I still didn't get a visit from Plunket

Edited by Guest_66521

I would like to talk about resilience and hope and rebuilding, but all I feel is great sadness and loss.

I cry when I see signs advertising rememberance events.

I cry when I drive into my city from a break away - 2 days gone and as I reach my side of CHCH (the eastern side) I jut start tp get tears in my eyes as I realise what is gone - Churches - Buildings - Houses - People - smooth roads - and what is in their place - dirt - dust - weeds - dirty bumpy pot-holed sunken roads.

My city is not this city anymore - I have lost my childhood memories (and I am not that old!).

I have lost my friends who have moved away from one of the red zones (around the road from where I live).

I feel great sadness and grief, great stress and trauma of the earthquakes I have experienced (all the big ones so far).

I am constantly waiting for the next big quake.
I worry about the buildings I am in.
I can't read quake survivor stories.
I worry about how long it would take me to get to my children.
I worry about leaving my children and if they will be safe.
School trips fill me with separation anxiety even if my daughter is actually going somewhere safer than in chch itself.
Driving is horrible. I used to love to drive - really enjoy driving. Now you constantly have to be vigilant, looking for holes, jeeping your distance from other cars so if another big quake hits you won't crash into the cars in front of you when the ground moves like jelly.
I hate driving on roads I don't know in case there are detours/holes/road works.....

I try to support small business here in CHCH as they have been hit the hardest. I buy local products, go out for coffee and carry on, but it doesn't change what I feel inside.

Maybe next year, 2 years on, I will feel differently.
Maybe not.
I wil see.

Wow, your stories are bringing tears to my eyes. My thoughts are with all you Cantabrians, I can understand how it must be hard to talk about this all, can't understand what you have felt and gone through, how you just want your city back, and how things will never be the same. But as a city, a nation and a people I know that we will rise up and be bigger, stronger, and better. We can't replace the people, we can't make anything change, but we can have the attitude, care and passion that so many strangers have already shown.

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui

Like so many stories listed here February 22nd 2011 started like any other typical tuesday. Our son was 3 weeks old and we were just finishing off our thank you cards on the internet, which in turn meant my husband was running late for work therefore I would drop him off. This meant we were up and about earlier than we intended so headed out to do some shopping at Northlands Mall. I had previously mentioned around the time of the Boxing Day quakes that one place I would not like to be is in a shopping mall but as it turned out I feel I was in the right place at the right time. Due to my love of sweets I decided to get some and had just stopped by the sweet stall in the centre of the shops when the earth moved. My son was in the carseat pram so I lay myself over the carseat as much as I could to stop anything falling on him, a very kind lady from the stall next to the sweet shop covered the front as well so he had extra protection. Looking back now there was nothing that could have fallen on us (thankfully!). It is very surreal as I watched this massive building i'm in move back and forward I had a complete sense of calm that we would be okay and that everything would be alright. Initially I didnt realise how big the earthquake was, it wasnt until the first aftershock hit about 10mins later when i had finally managed to get outside and get to my car that the true reality set in. As I was sure all the cars were going to 'jump' out of the carpark, at that point I knew I had to get in my car quick before the car got damaged and we were stuck. Our usual 15min journey home took about 1.5hrs, due to amount of cars on road, liquefaction (all over the place), no power so no traffic lights and I had to cross a fair few main roads. But the common courteous was unbelievable considering what we had all just been through. Residents had already started getting their rubbish bins (with red, yellow and green lids) out on the road to use as cones to deter motorists from getting stuck where liquefaction had caused big holes. Once I finally got home I knew something was wrong as we had condensation on all our windows. Our house was a complete mess with the pantry on the floor, bookcases and drawers strewn everywhere. Thankfully our rental apartment (2 storey) had sustained no obvious damage and no liquefaction but the hot water cylinder had burst which had sent hot water everywhere! After a very quick pack, pretty much just took a draw and dumped into a bag we descended on some relatives to work out the next plan and have a drink! We spent the next 2 days in christchurch sorting out our house and giving support to our relatives who had someone amongst the missing, then we headed to Nelson for a few days to have a break. As I was a new mum everyone was worried the stress and worry would cause me to lose my milk supply, thankfully this didnt happen. Was really nice to have that hot shower and sleep without the house shaking but at the same time we felt incredibly guilty for leaving. After being away for 5 days we returned, unfortunately we still had a few more days with relatives while we waited for our house to dry out.

I am the first to admit that its been hard going and can completely understand why some just had to leave. Thankfully my son is too young to understand or realise what is happening. Plus both my husband and I are fairly strong individuals therefore do not let the quakes bother us therefore he reflects this. At the end of the day this is our home and its where our jobs are and one day (hopefully soon) this city is going to be awesome just like it was. The best bit of advice I can give to those who are struggling is talk about it and make sure you get out of the city for a few days every now and then.

Live for today and laugh often as you just dont know what tomorrow will bring...