7.1 Magnitude Earthquake in NZ

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simonw00

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A 7.1 magnitude eathquake hit my home town in NZ at 4.35 on Saturday morning. Our house has been destroyed but we are miraculously unharmed (physically at least) despite bricks, broken glass and our personal belongings flying through the air as we fled for cover in the dark. So twitching is the least of my worries! I won't be back on this board for some time as we will be busy trying to rebuild our lives and comfort our traumatised children.My advice to you all is to put things in perspective and to not worry about your twitching - you don't know what else is around the corner.RegardsSimon
 
Best wishes Simon. Don't worry about us on the board. I'm sure all of us will be having the exact same conversations about the exact same things when you get back. :)Sorry to hear about your house.
 
Simon, I am so sorry for your loss but grateful you and your family survived intact. You are right this does put things in perspective and twitching means nothing in repect to something like this. Please let me know if I can help even in the least little way, and I will be more than willing to try. Good Luck and God Bless you and your family an friends and town.Mary
 
simon,when i heard about the earthquake in the news i thought of you because i remembered that it was your town... all the best to you and your familiy you´re in my thoughts and in my prayers!
 
I thought about you as soon as I heard about the quake Simon, and was hoping it did not affect you personally. So sorry to hear of the devastation it has created for you and your family. Yes twitching would be the least of your concerns, all a perspective thing, absolutley. We do forget about that notion when we whinge and carry on.Hope all goes well, and things get sorted as soon as possible with the minimum amount of heartache and trauma. Another one of lifes challenges...you will get through it I know, stay strong!Your neighbour in aus..Rodger
 
Simon,When I heard of the quake...I immediately thought of you. I am so, so very sorry for what your family has gone through, and will continue to go through. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. I KNOW you will come through this time as a stronger family, tragedy does this, makes you stronger. Hug your wife and kids extra tight tonight, and every day as you move forward with rebuilding your life. You know how to get ahold of me if you need to talk, I know this is going to be a very frusterating time for you.*hugs*~*~Amy~*~
 
I too, thought of you when I heard of the quake, I am so sorry for any disruption it may have caused you and your family but am grateful that no one in your family was injured. Please take care and don't stay away for too long - RB
 
Simon - so glad to hear you are all fine. We went through a similar thing with Hurricane Andrew (we took a direct hit) - my kids were quite young then. If yours are old enough let them participate in the rebuilding if only in small, safe ways, explaining what you are doing and why and how they are helping. I found this helped them feel less a victim, gave them a sense of being able to have a small amount of control, etc. Don't worry about them though - kids are very resilient when they have loving parents regardless of the situation. If you think I can help with post-natural disaster advice let me know (PM me) - I'd be glad to help in any way.
 
Oh my god. The first thing I thought of when I heard about that earthquake was you. I didn't know if it was where you lived or not. Thank god you are ok.
 
Simon,So sorry to hear the news. I'm so happy that you and your family are okay though. Although most of us just have this one syndrome in common I want you to know that we are thinking of you and your family during this traumatic time in your life. Hoping your life gets back to "normal" asap!
 
dear simoni was not around for a couple of days but took notice of the incidents in NZL.what to say to your tragic situation? good you and your family are well. I am thinking of you.laurent
 
SHOCKEDt after listening the tragedy but same time felt good that u and ur beloveds r safe .My best wishes 2 u and will pray GOD ALMIGHTY 4 U.Simon ,iam new 2 dis forum but i know u since last 4to5 mnths as i used to read all ur posts.Take care......Bailyloves.
 
Thanks all for your kind words of support. For those who are interested, here is an update;It's been a busy 9 days but with much help from friends and colleagues we have managed to find a rental home and move most of our belongings into it. (It's bizarre that, even though part of the house literally fell apart round our heads, very few of our belingings were badly damaged... mirrors fell off walls but didn't break, all our glasses remained unbroken in our kitchen cupboard, my wine collection under the stairs was fine...) Having lovingly restored our own home, this rental home will take a bit of getting used to but we are lucky in that we again have power, water, sewage and a roof over our heads. The kids are still quite traumatised - the schools re-opened today and there were lots of tears and lots of separation anxiety. I have gone back to work today, leaving my wife with a thousand boxes of hastily packed belongings to unpack! We are waiting for the Earthquake Commission to come to our home to assess whether the building will simply be bulldozed or whether it should be salvaged. Apparently there are at least 5000 uninhabitable homes to be insepcted (before they even think about starting to look at those people who are still in their homes but are habitable in the meantime) so it may be a few days before they get round to us. Meantime, the rain has done quite a bit of damage to our upstairs ceilings I am no structual engineer but it looks to me like it would cost 100s of thousands of dollars to make the house habitable again - foundation work, an exterior wall to be rebuilt, a new roof and chimney, lots of internal walls and ceilings need replacing... Thankfully the EQC plus our insurance will cover the cost (and are paying our rental fees for the next few months) so we are a lot better off than many others in Chch. From the BFS angle, surviving an earthquake is great therapy for BFS. I assume that I have twitched as much as ever but naturally I have been completely preoccupied with much more pressing things so I haven't noticed! I have spent a week lugging furniture and boxes around etc so there's certainly been no need to strength test (not that I've done that for a long time)! Shame that it's taken a natural disaster for me to go from 'almost completely unworried about BFS' to 'completely unworried about BFS' - the feeling of relief that my family and I are still alive and unharmed makes me realise how much time I wasted last year worrying about my health when I could have been enjoying a life which could have been severely disrupted or ended 9 days ago.Thanks again to all for your thoughts and take care of yourselves.RegardsSimon
 
So happy to hear that Simon, thank you for letting us all know that you and your family are well and safe. Thats fantastic news. :D) Take Care SimonRobynn :D)
 
Great to hear you are slowly getting you and your family's life together. Good luck with all your 'rebuilding' plans.One thing is for certain, the all blacks are still thrashing the wallabies!cheersRodger
 
Wow, some people just have to be the centre of attention. Really, Simon, you had to create an earthquake just so you'd get all this sympathy? :D) Glad you and your family are doing well, bud. Can't imagine how frightening the whole thing must have been. But, you are right, it does lend perspective to how insignificant bfs is. When food, shelter, and safety are ones primary concerns, there is little time for navel gazing. Bfs, in that way, is symptomatic of the success of the Western world, and how through that success we have lost touch with a deeper understanding of ourselves.Wishing you and yours all the best. How wonderful that your family is all safe and sound.Basso
 

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