First and foremost, I am safe and okay! I was lucky enough to be in school that day and not much damage was done to the University. So I will tell you my side of the story.
School had started this week and I was pretty excited to get back into a routine and have a schedule. My first class was at noon and only lasted for an hour. We were dismissed a little before one and I hung around because I wanted to speak with my professor and introduce myself. All of a sudden, the room started shaking and I grabbed onto the table closest to me. The shaking kept getting worse and I probably would have fallen over if I wasn’t holding on. Growing up in California, I had Earthquake training since kindergarten and I knew I needed to hide under a table. However, as I glanced around the room no one was jumping under tables and my professor was just standing there staring at the ceiling. So I thought maybe this was just one of the aftershocks from the previous earthquake. I didn’t want to be the “overreacting American.” Finally, what seemed like an hour the shaking stopped. Everyone in my class started clapping and cheering. My professor told us to head outside and not stay in the room. I still hadn’t gotten to talk to him so I waited in the hallway while all the students around me went over what just happened. Out of nowhere some guy in a suit comes sprinting down the hallway yelling, “GET TO THE CARPARK NOW. GET OUT OF THE BUILDING. GO GO GO!” So I followed the crowd of people as we were pushed out of the hallway like a herd of cattle. I had no idea what was going on and stood outside waiting for direction. I had another class in an hour and I wanted to go back to my apartment to get a raincoat. I headed home and instantly texted a few of my friends to hear where they were when the earthquake hit. My friend Carla called me and she was telling me her story when the ground started shaking again. I froze where I was and watched buildings and cars sway. It looked like the whole school had been evacuated because hundreds of students were outside looking like lost sheep. I told Carla I’d meet her at the apartment and once we got back everyone was standing outside freaking out. We were told we weren’t allowed back into our rooms until they checked each building. People were saying the earthquake was somewhere between a 6 and 6.9. I decided to call my Dad and let him know I was alright because I knew once the news hit the US they might freak out a bit. At the time no one was aware of the damage that had occurred downtown.
After a few hours we were finally allowed back into our apartments but since I lived on the top floor the aftershocks felt even worse. A group of us piled in the lounge area of my apartment and cuddled in blankets and watched movies to get our minds off everything. We had no power or running water so once night fell it was a little creepy. Some girls had radio on their phones so we listened to the emergency stations. It was then we discovered the sad news. About 60% of the buildings downtown had been destroyed. 65 deaths had been confirmed and people were trapped in buildings. The aftershocks kept occurring about every 20 minutes, some worse than others but I was starting to get used to it. The power finally came back around 9pm and we were relieved. No one wanted to sleep alone so we had a giant slumber party on our floor so we made the situation the best we could. We turned on the TV to get an update and were depressed to see all the destroyed buildings. The beautiful Christchurch Cathedral had fallen which was very sad especially because the day before I had gone to see it and took pictures inside and out and now it is ruined. It was unbelievable. Most of the worst damage was downtown and only a small amount of damaged was done to the university. So everyone did the best they could to sleep even though we were woken up about every hour to aftershocks.
This morning we all woke up and felt a little lost. School has been cancelled for the rest of the week and potentially for all of next week. We decided to get out of Christchurch for awhile and let things calm down. We booked flights to Dunedin and are leaving tomorrow afternoon. The aftershocks aren’t as extreme as yesterday but they are still around. Most of us are used to them by now and don’t really pay attention to them. The water is still not safe to use so I feel like we are camping in our own home with bottles of boiled water lying around the kitchen and no showering. The town is like a ghost town and only the grocery stores are packed as people are stocking up on food and water. But despite all this, we are making the most of it and can’t wait to escape for a few days and hopefully come back to a better situation.
So that’s that. However! Before all this happened. Things in Christchurch are great! I love this town already. All last week I spent time getting settled into my flat and meeting my neighbors and making new friends. We went to the mall and found it entertaining that the escalators are on the opposite side just like their driving. And even when you pass someone on the street that is coming towards you, instead of moving to the right, you move to the left. Weird. We also went to the beach for a hike called Taylor’s Mistake. We never found out why it was called that? We climbed to the top of this hill and had the most beautiful views. There were gorgeous houses on top and I picked my future home…haha! As I mentioned before, on Monday I went to the city center and saw the cathedral, which was beautiful. It was definitely weird seeing all the buildings on TV destroyed when we just saw them standing the day before. Hopefully in a few weeks we can go back and take some “after” pictures. That’s all for now!
Views from the hike:
The coolest place for night life.. Sol Square :)
The fanciest Starbucks I've ever seen
Yes. ALL BLACKS.
The beautiful cathedral, day before the quake. :(
I can't believe this is all destroyed now!
As always, look to Facebook for more pictures!
No comments:
Post a Comment