We moved from the hotel of the previous night to get closer to the Picton Harbor so we can watch the big cruise ships and passenger ferries come and go. It is pouring rain and we can’t get into our hotel room until later in the day so we decide to go see The King’s Speech at a movie theatre in Blenheim, the next town over. The movie was wonderful but as we were walking back to our car, we caught the news through a store front window about the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that happened in Christchurch at about 12:59 pm.
It is more devastating than the earthquake in September 2010
because the epicenter is closer to the center of the city and much
closer to the surface of the earth. To give you a sense of the
difference in magnitude, 65 people are dead so far with an estimate of 200 plus dead and no-one died in the last quake.
A pall has descended on the country with a sadness and sense of
shock touching all of us. Maybe it is because Christchurch is only
200 miles away from where we are now, but this disaster is
hitting close to home. We can’t imagine what the people in
Christchurch are experiencing but from our little experience when we
visited the city, we feel a more intimate connection than we have
felt in the past viewing earthquakes from afar.
We have friends in Christchurch now and even celebrated the New
Year together with about 12,000 of its citizens in the square where
most of the rescue work is now being organized. The Christchurch cathedral, which has been partially destroyed and you will see it shown on television, was right across the street from our hotel, the Millenium Hotel. We walked all over the town sightseeing and getting to know some of the spots you are now seeing on your
television screens.
In honor of Christchurch, we are posting some of our photos taken
on New Year’s eve 2010. It is a stout city with a good hearted, solid group of people and a very competent government coming to their
aid; they will recover and rebuild their small city more quickly than
most would in similar circumstances. Please keep them in your prayers.
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