Christchurch had another earthquake todayâfor you non-Kiwis, they had what was supposed to be the Big One, in September, and theyâve juuust started rebuilding. We heard about it at work and watched some of the footage, before anyone knew what was going on in terms of deaths or injuries, and it was already pretty brutalâChristchurch Cathedral, right in the city centre, has lost its top, and lots of buildings have collapsed entirely; like I said they had a major earthquake six months ago. The last time I saw the news on TV (at an outdoor seating area at a pub on Courtenay Place) a couple of hours ago they were starting to pull bodies out of the rubble, out from crushed cars and buses. I donât have TV at home so I am following the newsfeeds and Twitter and Facebook, as you do. In September everyone kept saying what a mercy it was that it happened at four in the morning when there wouldnât have been many people on the streets; today it happened at lunchtime on a Tuesday, when people were driving around and going to lunch and doing their errands and doing the touristy stuffâjust like Iâve done, several timesâright in the city centre, where they still donât know how many people have died. I canât concentrate, I canât think about anything else.
It was sunny all this past weekend but itâs raining now, here in Wellington, where everything is fine, where weâre all safe, and I keep checking my email for no reason at all. I want to be with my family right now, very badlyâany sort of of family, blood relation or otherwise. I want someone to talk to. I want someone to cuddle with, for the entire rest of the evening. Instead I am waiting for a call from the airport, where theyâve asked for volunteers to host people stuck there on their way to Christchurch. I keep thinking about what will happen when the big one hits Wellington, weâre right on a fault line, right by the harbour and the Sounds. Youâd think that growing up somewhere where we have hurricane season six months of the year Iâd have emergency supplies, but no, not a candle, not an extra granola bar. Iâm going to the Warehouse tomorrow and buying a thousand batteries and eight hundred bottles of water and six million apricot Bumper Bars and it wonât matter, it will never be enough. I mean at least you know when a hurricane is comingâyou can at least try to evacuate. All the extra buckets and pocket knives and camping stoves in the entire Greater Wellington Region canât make much of a difference with something like this.
Watching it all on TV at work this afternoon I started thinking about the hurricane when I was a kid, right before my senior year of high school. No one remembers Hurricane Andrew anymore I donât think, but at the time it was The Storm Of The Century. I wasnât there for it, I was on a church mission trip in Jamaica at the time. When we talk about that hurricane, in my family, what we often remember is that I called my mom from Jamaica to ask her to save my paper journalsâbecause you have a little time to prepare, with a hurricaneâand that when we finally could fly back to Miami, of course there were no cell phones at the time and I didnât really know where my mom was and I donât even remember how we got in touch. I just remember getting stopped by the National Guard in the church van because we were out after curfew and we didnât even know there was a curfew. Somehow my mom got me thoughâand now, at almost-thirty-six, I have a lot more empathy of what that must have been like for her, trying to find me, than I did at seventeen. Weâd had another major freaky incident with one of the kids on the mission trip itself and I spent the whole car ride up to the motel where sheâd evacuated telling her about that, not even thinking about what she must have gone through to come get me.
Or even 9/11âand thatâs ten years ago in September, how weird is that–we had cell phones by then, (even though I personally didnât) but we couldnât get a hold of my dad for a whileand didn’t know if he was dead or alive. My cousin Anthony’s dad sped through the city trying to find him, driving on the sidewalks, anything, anything to, to get to his kid. There are all these messages online right now about kids trying to reach their parents, parents trying to reach their kids, videos of people trying to walk out of the city centre, crying and frantically texting, people trying to scream their way from out of the rubble, people trying to find each other, and I canât stop thinking about that, what it would be like not to know where your partner or kid was, not to be able to get an ambulance, not to be able to go home. And New Zealand, of course, is in a first-world country, where ambulances exist and where evacuation plans exist. My brain does not have the capacity right now to imagine what it would have been like in Haiti, what itâs still like in Haiti.
I donât know why Iâm even typing any of this, why Iâm about to hit Publish on this. I donât know why I am so upset or why I started leaking tears sitting on the couch with a big bowl of pasta right up to my chin. None of this is about meâI am so grateful that weâre okay right now in Wellington, for however long. That hurricane I hardly ever think about was twenty years ago and my freaking out about this at home on my couch doesnât do any good for anyone in Christchurch–all I can do right now is donate to the Red Cross. Iâm just so sad and sick in my heart for Christchurch tonight, and basically for everyone everywhere in the world who is scared and can’t find their people, and I have no one to cuddle, and I feel very far away from everyone.
In between refreshing the Twitter feed and waiting for a call from the airport I canât help selfishly wondering if (when) something like this happens in Wellington, who will check to see if Iâm all right? Who will stop at nothing to make sure Iâm safe?
Comments
7 responses to “Christchurch Earthquake”
I’m also a little unsettled by this I think. I mean, I think I always just assumed that if ‘the big one’ hit , it would definitely be here in Wellington. And for some reason I was ok – or at least unknowingly ambivalent – with that.
But now that I’ve seen the destruction and terror that’s poured out of Christchurch twice now… Well it’s a little freaky.
Our flat finally got a disaster supply box together, and worked out our emergency plan. I’m working on my work disaster planning, and I’m trying to be more aware of the issue here in Wellington… And somehow KNOWING all that stuff about where to go, and what to do, and how to give myself the best shot of survival, well that’s scarier than floating along in an uneducated little bubble.
Boy I miss my bubble.
Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. I’m thinking of you. I would hug you except even I’m too far away. But I’m with you in spirit and almost with you in time zone.
It is horrifying, Chiara. And I know how you feel about wanting to help, and not having anything to DO. That’s how I felt after Katrina. There will be things to do soon. And the action will help make you feel better.
I remember Andrew. I was in the Maritimes on a sailboat when the tail end of it hit Nova Scotia and PEI. That was incredible. It was a terrible storm for Florida. When I worked for the architect, I had to research Dade County construction codes that I believe were put in place after Andrew.
I was so sorry for the people of Christchurch. When you see such destruction on the news, there is such a feeling of helplessness that comes over you.
I am glad you are safe and will keep the people of Christchurch in my thoughts.
Susan
Boston, MA
Oh, Chiara. I was so sorry to see this news, and I agree, the Christchurch photos and messages are just so devastating. I’m thankful to know that you’re okay, girl, and I hope that you’re able to find a good way to feel like you’re making a real difference with your help soon.
Love and strength to you — and to New Zealand.
All the above.
And, for what it’s worth, I am the very definition of a complete stranger and an occasional lurker here, but the first thing I thought of when I saw the headline about the earthquake was, “Oh, no! Chiara’s in New Zealand!”
You know I’d check on you babe. Even if I couldn’t get there, I’d check on you…