Christchurch Earthquake Day5

When it gets to this stage – day 5 - rather extreme exhaustion starts to creep in.  Usually I would have given up long ago but the adrenalin, the need to get things done and the feeling that if we do slow down we will start to really think about what has happened.  

Hot water! Yes! We are now, in terms of basic services, back to what we were before the ground shook.  I had recieved an indication from our gas supplier that we would maybe get the gas back on Monday and so it was a pleasant surprise to see a repairman in the office and a truck full of gas tanks in the driveway!  I kissed the truck and I like it! It was truly wonderful to see!  We had been using piped gas but the pipes are useless now and so we needed to change to bottled gas.  The changeover was done in just over an hour!  We now have hot water and all guests, and ourselves can have a shower!

But then our phone system went south on us – meaning it broke.  We were unable to receive any emails!  A call to the supplier resulted in a visit by the boss.  He took an hour to hook up a temporary system.  He said the insides had been damaged by the shaking! Another quake victim.

We have also spent a long time sorting out emails and sending emails to many people.

Naomi and I are constantly overwhelmed by the wonderful messages of support we receive throughout the day from so many people – many of them ex guests.  We like to be able to reply to everyone of them although some of the replies are very short (sorry!)

We’d like to take this chance to ask people who still have not cancelled their visit to Christchurch in the near future to hurry up and do so.  Christchurch is just not ready to accommodate tourists at this stage.  After the September quake, we tried to get everyone to still come to Christchurch but this time we want everyone to stay away.  That is the best way to help us at the moment.  But please do not leave NZ, please still come and see the other wonderful areas in the South Island!  Eventually we will be ready to have you all to stay again, but this is just not the time.  Here’s an article I found about it, http://www.dotwnews.com/news/Christchurchanogoarea.aspx

On the not good side of news, what we call the Munster’s house, the beautiful building across the road is on strange angles, has a red sticker on it and has probably reached the end of its life.  But it will live on forever in the photos that so many visitors to Christchurch have taken all over the world!

This after noon I headed out to the supermarket – but limited market was a better word.  Not much on the shelves!  On the way there I passed the cordon, manned by  NZ Police, NZ Army and Australia Police!  Yesterday there was a Singapore Army Soldier on cordon duty as well.  It is truly humbling to see these people from overseas helping us out.  Although it is a bit strange to see the different uniforms!  By the way, the Australian police have been invested with the same powers as NZ police – now that’s how to get things done!

And that about wraps up day 5 – a landmark day for us as the motel returns to full service level!

This photo was taken about 11.30pm on 27 Feb.  The white glow in the middle is the stump of the Cathedral Spire, lit up as the rescue continues.

As for me, I’m going to have a shower before going to bed!