4 September 2010

Earthquake

We woke to the news that Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island (about 8 hours from us - 3 hours by ferry and 5 hours driving, or 1.5 hours flying) has been devastated by a huge earthquake, approximately 7.1 on the Richter Scale.

My sister and brother-in-law live not far from Christchurch: fortunately they are unharmed and their house appears relatively undamaged, unlike a number of other properties in and around the city. There has been fairly extensive infrastructure damage - burst watermains and sewage pipes, damaged bridges, and a lot of older buildings extensively damaged. A state of emergency is in force. So far no casualties but that may change as the Search and Rescue teams go in.

Further information on Stuff if you want to check the latest. If you're a praying person and you read this, please pray. The following photo comes from Stuff.


1 comment:

Ramblingon said...

Indeed I shall. Thank you for the information.