For those of you who know I am now living in Christchurch, my family and I are safe and fine after the 6.3 quake yesterday afternoon. 

My father was trapped in one of the collapsed buildings (Pyne Gould), but was thankfully rescued after an hour with only cuts and bruises.  He’s hobbling around like an old man today!

TV still of aerial footage of destruction from 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch.

The Pyne Gould Building, my father was in the top right hand corner.

I went around to my sister’s place and we spent the afternoon outside, as the aftershocks were frequent and strong.  Phones weren’t working properly so for several hours we only knew Dad was safe because my aunt had seen him climbing out the window on the TV.

I’m house-sitting for a friend and not working yet so I was at home.  I tried to get to a doorway but fell over and couldn’t stand up.  The dresser beside me was swaying and I put up a hand to catch it, but it fell on top of me.  It didn’t hurt as it’s not heavy but I had trouble lifting it off me as the centre of gravity was all wrong.  Only my knees are hurt,  skinned from the carpet and bruised and swollen.  Funny how much skinned knees hurt, I will be more sympathetic to my niece in future!

My place has power, phone (and surprisingly, internet) so my Nana and her dog are here with me.  Looking outside (and I’m not far from the CBD) it doesn’t look as bad as you see on the TV, but driving to pick Nana up this morning, there was a lot of liquidifaction and cracks in the roads, I saw one car that was half inside one crack. (Most of the cracks are small but some of the bridges are unsafe)  It is a very strange and surreal feeling.
No-one got more than two hours sleep last night, there were lots of aftershocks.  Still some today but not as frequent or as strong.
My thoughts are with the families and friends waiting to know if someone is safe and those who have lost someone.