More on Christchurch Earth-shake

Peter Wu

25 Feb 2011

More on Christchurch. The rescue efforts are continuing. The numbers of fatalities have been revised upward. Scores are missing, thought to be mostly foreign students studying English over here. The damages are extensive because the epicenter of the earthquake was very shallow at 5kms deep and very close to the city. After the initial coverage on the CBD where many buildings and offices either collapsed or tethering on the brink, the coverage is now moving to the suburbs where damages have also come to light. Yesterday, about 80% of the households are without water and residents were told not to flush the toilets as the sewerage network has been damaged. The Civil Defense Minster told people to ‘dig a hole’ in the backyard and go ‘alfresco’. For once, living in Kiwiland has one advantage because I can dig a hole. You can’t do that in HK or Singapore, can you? About 20% of the households are still without power.

The earthquake has done untold damage to Christchurch’s economy and as a place to live. People are leaving the city in droves. Numerous after-shocks followed the first earthquake on 4 Sep10. The latest one is also considered an after-shock because its magnitude, at 6.3, is smaller than the first one at 7.1. People are wondering if more may be in store.

Like the Aussies’ attitude towards the flooding, the Kiwis take this latest disaster in stride. There are no wailings, chest-thumping, ranting and raving, cursing. People queue patiently for water, foods and essential services, foods, petrol, or get a flight out of the city. They accept it’s a vagary of nature where there is nothing you can do about it. But having insurance coverage really helps to cushion the damages.

International search and rescue teams have been well and truly hard at work trying to find survivors. The Japanese rescue team is dedicated to trying to find survivors in a building which used to house a language school. Numerous Japanese students are thought to be buried among the rubble.

As in the September earth-shake, liquefaction, where mud and water simply oozes to the surface and turn suburbs into semi-dry mud-pool, is making live difficult for the rescuers and survivors. It smothers everything and makes road impassable.

One gadget which shines throughout the earthquake is mobile phone. It allows people to locate one another, it allows those trapped in the rubble to contact the rescuers, it allows emergency services to talk to each other. We are able to locate our son who was somewhere in the South Island when the earthquake struck. He is fine and making his way back home.

A few welfare centres are open, to accommodate the homeless. In the September earth-shake, a few people unaffected by the earth-shake simply moved in and took advantage of free foods, drinks and hospitality, until their cover was blown. It doesn’t surprise me some will do the same this time.

Except one, all ASB Bank branches are closed until at least next week. All staff working in those branches was given a $1k grant as emergency relief. One colleague had his home destroyed by the shake but there are no known casualties among the staff.

So much for these random thoughts. Will tell you more if I come across something interesting.