Christchurch Earthquake

“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” Vince Lombardi.

This quote certainly seems appropriate to many people who have been directly affected by the earthquake in Christchurch (New Zealand). It still seems surreal to see the remnants of my hometown reduced to rubble. The beautiful centre piece of Christchurch was the Cathedral, but now so much of it has been reduced to a mass of stone and debris. The majestic spire and its wonderful spiral staircase leading to the top, an adventure for every young boy and girl growing up in the garden city, is no more.

Christchurch is known and loved for its beautiful gardens and wonderfully English feel. The winding Avon River slowly meandering its crooked way through the city, keeping pace with the gentle slow seeming rhythm of this garden city was once just an accepted and normal way of life. I wonder if this lovely place will ever feel quite so tranquil and safe again for those who have experienced either or both of the two major earthquakes in the past few months.

My sister and her husband were in Australia on holiday with us when we heard the news; we spent frantic hours trying to locate their teenage sons and our parents. Watching live coverage on TV as our beloved city was crumbling before our eyes was heart wrenching, like being unable to stop watching a train wreck, even though every fibre of your being is screaming for your eyes to avert themselves from the carnage.

Our parents were enjoying a quiet senior’s lunch at the casino when, with no warning, chandeliers, furniture, gambling machines and people began tumbling to a confused and roiling floor. Amid the screams and chaos my parents managed to take refuge under one of the few upright tables. Long minutes later, fearful and unsure, they quietly tried to reassure themselves and others that the worst was over and all would be alright. It took two hours to clear a path to the outside and four torturous and terrifying hours for them to drive the usual 30 minute route home and they were the lucky ones.

After the September earthquake and through the thousands of small tremors in the following months, Mum and Dad were shaken, more than just in the physical sense. Then after the major jolt of February 22nd they felt completely shattered, lost and bewildered.

My parents have lived all their lives in Christchurch and in the same house for the last 50 something years and had no desire to live anywhere else. Now suddenly they are staying in Auckland, feeling lonely and traumatised and totally unsure of what the future holds. And they are the lucky ones! Lucky to be alive, lucky to have escaped unharmed, lucky their house is cracked and crooked but still standing, lucky they are insured, lucky to have family in another city so they can escape days, weeks or months of no sewerage, no water and no power. Trying to imagine my parents who are in their mid-70’s having to improvise with toilet arrangements by digging a hole in their backyard was heartbreaking, and they only had to endure it for 5 days unlike so many others.

My nephews were travelling on a bus through the city, having been late and missing the previous one which was crushed by falling rubble. Fortune smiled down on my family that day, although the trauma my nephews still face after walking past crushed and broken bodies will always be with them. I was and still am proud of their determined spirit and resilience to reassure their parents that they were okay and their strength of will to get home (a four hour walk) to their home, their refuge, pets and hopefully to safety.

My family and I love Christchurch, it is a beautiful and gracious city and a place I am proud to call home, but do we want to live there? At this time my parents and sister are determined to move elsewhere, they can no longer imagine feeling safe or sleeping well when the city they knew and loved now shakes beneath their feet. Where the suburb they live in is like a war zone, local landmarks are completely gone, roads impassable and friends’ homes completely destroyed.

I remember them having similar thoughts after the September quake, perhaps not as fearfully said or with such stoic determination but life soon resumed to a semblance of normality and a city was being rebuilt with hope for a better safer future. After this quake many lives have been lost and the lives of thousands have drastically changed, but, somehow the human spirit continues with a surge of hope for happier times ahead. Perhaps the real litmus test of human endurance really is “Not whether you get knocked down but whether you get up.”