Christchurch Earthquake Day 8

Wow! Have to say sorry to everyone!  Did not get to blog yesterday. Decide to have an early night so headed off to bed at 12 for a good nights sleep…NOT! Bloody aftershocks….8 during the night! I think I woke up for 5 of them….but in aggregate 7 hours sleep…the most since 22 Feb.

It’s been a full on 2 days with the motel being pretty much full, and lots of cancellations and booking enquiries.  The reality has become clear and there is far fewer accommodation options available in Christchurch post quake and we are adjusting to this.

But back to the disaster.

Life inside the cordon continues in its restricted way.  Life outside the cordon would definitely be easier!  I was able to walk up to Peterborough St to get a few pics.  Glad I did because it is not so easy to walk up there without being stopped by the police now.  Looking at what has been done, the destruction of a special part of Christchurch is almost complete.

Tuesday was 1 week since our lives irreversibly changed.  My god what a week, I don’t think I can remember a week with more in it!  We stood on Colombo St. to remember those who were no longer with us, we stood to think of the disaster that was visited on us….we stood.  From where we stood we could see the Cathedral Spire Stump, from where we stood it was only about 400 metres to the PGC building where so many had perished.  We stood in silence for 2 minutes but the tradesman across the road did not have his radio on and was noisy for the first minute!

Afterwards Naomi and I hugged each other and cried for everyone and everything.  One of our friends who we went to rugby games at AMI with was in the CTV building and no doubt there will be more people we know.  We also cried for what was not anymore.  We will go on and maybe it will be better but still we cried for what was not anymore.  We cried together and that was important.

And then we moved on, knowing that while we had paused, we will still have reason to pause again in the future. There are so many people and so much to remember!

This day, in the morning, we were visited by the USAR team.  They never visited us after the September 4 quake and so when a uniformed person with a sledgehammer turned up in the office saying *we are clearing the place,* we were of course surprised.  It took a few seconds to realise what was happening, at first we thought we were being evacuated for some reason! 

This was a part of the door to door central city search to confirm no-one was left anywhere.  They sprayed the driveway to show we had been checked!  And asked me quite a few questions!

In the afternoon we had some good earthquake entertainment with a bloody big digger racing up Salisbury St! 

Wednesday was also the day of the wind which stirred up the dust making a mask a necessity.  It got everywhere and was horrible. Thursday was just soo much better!!

This day I was also interviewed by The Press on life inside the cordon, went shopping for new microwaves and watched as the plans for the clean up continued!

More tomorrow…..

Living inside the cordon

The Cordon with Kiwi & Singapore Army personal, a road closed sign and a few cones.

The area inside the 4 avenues is cordoned off and the barriers are manned by Police and Army personal, including our gracious friends from Australia and Singapore!

Living life on the edge, if I go over this line without ID, I can't get back!

The only way to get in is by having proof of residence and it is very strict.  With personal being continually rotated, we find ourselves showing our ID most trips through the cordon.  It can get stressful because while there are rules they are open to interpretation.  The other day I was told that if I took my car outside the cordon, I would have to leave it outside and walk back in, but the next day I was allowed out and in with the car.  There was also an interesting episode when some guests were told their access may be limited and we had to work hard to get their access guaranteed.  I am not complaining, I know its tough and this hasn’t exactly happened before and there’s a lot of stress.  This is just the reality of life behind the barrier.  On the plus side, it’s real quiet!  We do however, have to abide by the curfew rules which are 6pm to 6am and while I take pics from the gate at night if there is work going on at the Cathedral etc. I don’t go any further.  It’s very eerily quiet inside the cordon at night.

Inside the cordon there is another......cordon.

Today, a busy day dealing with multiple cancellations and bookings, time got the better of me and I mistakenly headed off down to Peterborough St. arounf 6.40pm……here’s what happened as I related it on Twitter.

So close but yet so far, so beautiful but so ruined

Busy busy day.....no time to go out.....so have just been out in the cordon......#eqnz

Work continues on the FB building - taken from inside the cordon

But Fark! I got stopped by three Boyz in Blue! They ask *what do you do?* I look at watch and think....oh shit....curfew....#eqnz

So I very clearly explained who I was and what I was doing........#pleasedontarrestme #eqnz

They ask who the other person was and I said it was my son......#eqnz

They said...*it's curfew time you know*...so I put on my surprised expression, looked at my watch and said.....Oh! shit its this time! #eqnz

They let me go ..... and I cycled home ...... #nottakentojail #eqnz

Today's lesson - don't go biking in cordoned area after curfew time without a cycle helmut on! End of report from inside the cordon #eqnz

Was gonna ask for a pic with the iphone but the steely stare and cold voices told me *No! not a good idea!* #eqnz

Oh! When they asked me what I was doing I said *just getting some #eqnz pics for Twitter & Facebook* #GoSocialMedia

If I was arrested, judge would ask *what WERE you doing?* & I would say *Promoting the reconstruction thru social media, your honour* #eqnz

Lots of noise inside the cordon tonite from down past Peterborough St. 

Only the new light will tell.

As a footnote, lucky it wasn’t the policeman (use nice word) that I had a discussion with at the cordon yesterday….of I may well have ended up in jail!!  And that is outside the cordon!

Christchurch Earthquake Day6

Its been another interesting day, the day before we meet the 1 week anniversary since the ground shook.  We will take time to hold hands together and think of those who ended their time with us a week ago.

We started the day in fog but it soon cleared to show activity at the Colombo Peterborough St. intersection and the Australian Police Officer said the block may be cleared today.  It was not to be as it turned out.  The whole block looks really munted, and we hope that a few of the buildings are able to stay with us.

A rubbish truck drove up the street today.  They have a really distinctive whirr and everyone immediately know what it was.  The driver said they’d take anything so we and the neighbours all wheeled out as many full bins as we could.  We even refilled and dumped again! Great to see the council is getting things done and not sticking to rules too much.  Good on them!

The news is slowly coming out about which buildings we will be loosing from the CBD and the surprising thing is that some of the most modern buildings are also on the list.  It appears that the liquefaction do not discriminate and likes new buildings as much as old!

Today we have been talking by email with a few of our guests about room availability.  We have been asking people to not stay with us because we are behind the cordon, there is nothing to do here, we are concentrating on the rescue process, and we figured that most people should be able to arrive and drive straight out of Christchurch.  Similarly, we assumed that people would be able to drive directly to the airport instead of staying in Christchurch when leaving the South Island.  But today we had the case of a guest who would be joining and leaving a tour in Christchurch who needed 1 night at both the start and end of the tour.  We realise that cancelling at this stage would be difficult in some cases and so will be reviewing our requests inline with this. More info tomorrow.

As we close in on 1 week, I have taken particular notice of the 2 cars parked outside the motel that have not moved for 6 days.  One of these cars has a learner tag, probably indicating a young driver.  We hope the only reason they are here is because they can't get thru the cordon to pick them up.

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!

Christhcurhc Earthquake Day 4 - The recovery Continues

If you have been following our homepage you will notice that I omitted 1 point from yesterday’s blog – we have water!  The first drips appeared Thursday night only to dry up again Friday morning.  By Friday afternoon ½ the rooms had water and by late last night all had at least a trickle.  An important step.

We now need the gas so we can have hot water but this may take some time due to our proximity to the centre of town.  The plan is to have hot water flowing on Monday.

Hopefully it’ll work!

I also omitted mentioning yesterday that we were visited by the Fire Department.  They were going door to door making sure everyone was ok.  On top of that, this morning we were visited by the City Council for our building inspection.  2 council employees and 2 structural engineers spent about 10 minutes here checking the building for safety.  We were awarded (??) a green “safe to use” certificate.  Stuck to the window with colour coordinated red tape, we are prevented by law from removing it.  So there it will stay.  So the good news is that our building is safe!

We were talking about it tonight but these 2 visits show how well organised the disaster response is.  By dividing the city into manageable areas, the council is able to quickly work out just what is happening.

In a matter of days, our motel has morphed from a popular tourist base close to Christchurch's heart to an emergency/recovery support centre.  This has changed the flow of what we have been doing completely.

Many people have been contacting us asking what they should be doing with their booking.  It’s a really tough call because the situation is so fluid.  It may change, it may not.  All we can recommend is that you wait a few days and see what is happening before you make your decision.  Being inside the cordon we are not the best place to be as you options will be severely limited

I’d like to write more but exhaustion has got me nodding off as I write this.  Must be away and get some sleep…more tomorrow.

Christchurch Earthquake Day3

It’s Friday and usually everyone would be at the pub, looking forward to a weekend of fun and leisure…..but not today.  We don’t even really know its Friday.  Time has become a blur.  There was Super15 Rugby tonite but we forgot about it – doesn’t feel like Friday.

First of all I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has sent us a message.  Yesterday I said I would read them but, to be honest, I have not.  I will try again tomorrow.  I did read a few today and they were truly uplifting but they also brought me close to tears.  Being busy, cleaning up the mess, taking care of guests and flushing toilets is great because it takes your mind of the reality and makes it easier to get through the day.  I’m glad I don’t have time to think.

We’d also like to say thanks to those who have cancelled with plenty of advanced notice.  This allows us to plan and is appreciated.  To be honest there are some who do not cancel, do not turn up and these people, maybe without realising it, take a lot of our time that we could spend on more productive jobs.

So, what’s today been like?  It’s been a day of aftershocks, the shallowest at only a depth of 1km which is closer than the distance to our local Fish ‘n Chip shop.

These shakes are taking an increasing toll on the city, decimating any structures the first quake spared….and it adds to the stress.

Today we finished the major tidy up of the residence, it’s roughly back to how it was.  Jeff’s sister and brother in law stayed the night and were a great help in getting life back to normal.  We cannot thank them enough.  We cannot thank them enough. We cannot thank them enough.  They have now gone home to Southland but they have proven the value of having someone around who did not experience the disaster.  Their speed and clarity of mind were a real bonus and really helped us getting back on our feet.

Today I went for a quick walk to Peterborough St.  It’s only 90 seconds walk away but today I felt I was in another world. The block between Peterborough St. and Kilmore St. is severely damaged and probably about 80% of the buildings will be demolished.  Many guests ask us about the old house across the road, we call it the Munster’s House cos it is just so cool.  But we think its time has come, it has a slant on it which is unnatural….another historical treasure gone.

We have a new member in our family.  Yesterday we were visited by a German short stay person whose accommodation had been quaked out.  Her wallet, passport etc are still at her English school and so she has nothing but a pack full of clothes.  She didn’t have anywhere else to go, so we have taken her in.  She looked so scared yesterday that we felt we had to do something to help her.  We advised her to register at the Red Cross and she did.  But other than that she had nothing.  She was planning to stay with some guy she had met at the evacuation centre but when the deal seamed strange over the phone, we decided to invite her to homestay with us.  Yesterday we sent mr12 away and today we gained an older daughter! 

What will tomorrow bring?

Christchurch Earthquake Day2

In the surreal life that we now live, we find we have lost track of time.  We have to remind ourselves that it is Thursday night.  The earthquake was at 12.50 pm on Tuesday which means it’s been 2 ½ days since the quake that has ruined Christchurch.

　　　　　　　　　(Have to get rid of the 'NOT'!!!)


You have now seen the images and know some of the stories and that is what its like.  In September, if you look back at our blogs, we spent a lot of energy telling the world that the media was blowing everything out of proportion, that Christchurch was ok, that people should still travel to Christchurch.  This time it is so different - as you see on the news reports – Christchurch is in ruins and army vehicles patrol the streets.  The best thing about Christchurch now is the spirit of the Canterbury people, and with this spirit we are battling through our darkest hour.

                         (The stump of the Cathedral tower from Motel entrance)

We are battling with the physical pain of the possibility of losing hundreds of our neighbours, friends and workmates.  We are also battling with the uncertainty of what will happen next.  After 6 months of enduring aftershock after aftershock, the period between larger jolts had expanded to as much as 7-10 days and we all finally felt that the time had come that life would return to normal.  Unfortunately we have been proven wrong and we feel cheated by a mother nature we now find hard to like. 

And so we started again and are now at day 3.

                   (The Army at our cordon barrier)

Central Christchurch is cordoned at the 4 aves and there is a 6.30pm to 6.30am curfew.  80% of the city does not have water and 40% do not have electricity and there is no real timetable yet as to how things may return to normal.  The effects of the quake are so much greater than the 4 Sep quake.  That so much damage can be caused in such a short period of time is difficult to comprehend but we are reminded of it wherever we go.  

Here at the motel we have managed to clean out all the broken plates, cups and glasses from the rooms.  We estimate that 98% of these were broken.  Today Jeff’s sister and brother in law came and gave us a welcome hand tidying up - we look a lot tidier now.

                             (Mr 12 cleans up the car park)

Today Tomoki left Christchurch with his Grandma and Grandad, they have headed to Jeff’s sister’s farm in Southland for a rest from the shakes.  The 22 Feb. earthquake’s epicentre was under the Port Hills and both they and my sister said that constant aftershocks occurring every 10 minutes or so, made them feel that the hills were constantly moving.  Here, we are lucky, only feeling the larger aftershocks.

So, where to from here?  Today we spent time tidying up and answering phone calls.  We have been busy taking cancellations and there have been so many it has taken a lot of time.  Jeff has been largely ignoring Twitter and Facebook because there were more pressing issues – a real mess to clean up.  We have received an amazing amount of messages and good wishes from people all over the world but at this stage we have not read them.  They will be read tomorrow.  It lifts our hearts to receive these messages and we thank each and every one of you deeply.

Yesterday and today the motel is full, we are hosting contingents of foreign media from Australia and USA but we are wondering what we will do next week after they have gone – incentives to visit Christchurch are so much fewer now.  We will have to put all our efforts into making Christchurch as beautiful as it was so that we will once again be a favourite travel destination.

In closing, Jeff would like to express his heartfelt wishes and prayers to the Japanese students still trapped in the CTV building only 10 minutes walk from here.  Jeff lived his first 3 years in Japan in Toyama, the Prefecture these kids came from.  That something like this could happen on what is meant to have been a trip of a lifetime is very had to comprehend.  They are so far from home, it is so unfair.