The Earthquake in New Zealand - An Eyewitness account

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Kaikoura - radionz.co.nz

We imagine our followers, especially those living overseas with little experience of such things, will be interested in the earthquake overnight which struck around midnight and was surprisingly severe here at Raumati Beach - surprising, because we live around 200 kilometres from the epicentre.

The big one came through when we were in bed, though not asleep. The first sign was an odd vibration, which generated a moment of dither, because it wasn’t clear what was going on. But then it became very clear, as a rolling motion set in. It felt as if the sea was lifting, then pitching the house around, though at first it was gentle so we just waited for it to settle. We are familiar with earthquakes like this on sand dune country where the force seems to concentrate in certain areas, with others, even a mile away, relatively unaffected. Most just fizzle away to nothing but when this one didn’t and began to gather force it started to get scary.

15 seconds in, it suddenly up the ante. 

The light in the centre of the room began to gyrate wildly, and when the bedroom door started flapping around on a 30 degree arc, we bolted for it. This was about thirty seconds in. We stopped under the door frame (like you’re supposed to), but there was quite a noise now and it just kept getting worse, so we made a run for it down the hall, and out through the front door..

House destroyed north of Kaikoura -radionz.co.nz

We were greeted by an eerie sight. The power had gone, so the neighbourhood was in darkness, but with a full moon, the garden and drive were still clearly lit. Shrubs and small trees were swaying violently from one side to the other, though overhead a most extraordinary lightning show was taking place. This was so unexpected and strange, that we thought it must be from broken power lines, but a friend calling this morning confirmed that she too had seen it, from up in the Tararua’s about 10 kms away. It was as if the lighning was sparking up behind the clouds.   

Culverden supermarket - at the centre -radionz.co.nz

After about a minute, that seemed an age,  the ordeal began to settle and we ventured back into the house. With our emergency torch we found curtains, lights and hanging plants all still swinging wildly, though fortunately there seemed little damage, other than a few things falling from shelves to the floor. But our long night had just got underway, because we needed to know how family and friends were faring. Here the cellphone came into its own and over the next half hour we managed to contact everyone from Wellington, through as far south as Timaru. 

The all night national radio service had begun calling in its reporters and they provided a wonderful service in keeping everyone informed and calm, even as the news reports remained sketchy.

Kaikoura scenic highway slip -radionz.co.nz

The first reports centred a 6.6 quake around 80 km north of Christchurch though after two hours was upgraded to 7.5.  The big worry was the coastal town of Kaikoura, which harbours a whale sanctuary. It appeared to have disappeared off the communications map.  But there were many aftershocks. They were coming through every five to ten minutes  and a particularly large one at the top of the South Island, appears to have badly affected Wellington. 

Damage in Wellington - radionz.co.nz

Damage on Wellington waterfront  -radionz.co.nz

Lifts were out of action, the Cook Strait ferry terminal had been damaged, liquefaction was being reported in reclaimed areas and people were being evacuated from apartment buildings and hotels.  Another report placed one aftershock as far away as Taihape on the North Island’s volcanic plateau: but then an hour in and a tsunami warning was issued. 

Blenheim road closure  -radionz.co.nz

Families sheltering from tsunami - Wellington -radionz.co.nz  

A two metre tsunami had been reported in Kaikoura and because worse could be on its way, the entire eastern coast of New Zealand was deemed at risk. People began to be evacuated from around Wellington and Christchurch and then we were personally affected as a report came in that the tide had gone out an hour early (2.30am) at our local beach. We are on the west coast and very close to the beach, yet on a hill, so felt we’d be ok. Fortunately we were; this time. By four o’clock we managed to grab some shut eye, though the cellphone was bleating at us again at 5.30, with people wanting to know if we were ok. 

Road damage Kaikoura - radionz.co.nz

How regrettable it is that this generation is perhaps the best off ever, in terms of relative affluence and access to health care, along with all the things that should make life a pleasure; yet it takes something like this to bring out the best in them.

It is now nearly 14 hours since the first quake hit and aftershocks are still coming through, with two big ones over the past hour. They are very disconcerting.

Postscript

We would like to express our thanks to Radio New Zealand for providing crucial well sourced information as this calamity played out. It played the major role in keeping our communities up to date on on the rails. This organization, one of the last of the old style, non aligned, professional news organisations in the country, has been under attack from a conservative Government for years now, with no increase to its funding since 2008. It has maintained its integrity by slowly selling off assets, which can’t of course continue. How different this is to this Government’s help in keeping a derisible commercial media company, previously owned by one of its cabinet ministers, out of bankruptcy…