22.02.11 - the second one.

Christchurch City looks like a bomb ripped through it.

Pictures available here.

Was in central city, working when the earthquake hit. You know those moments where you will remember for the rest of your life what exactly you were doing? Yes, well I remember thinking minutes before it hit "gosh, it's lunch-time soon! Can't wait for my salami sandwiches. I am hungry."

At first I thought it was a strong aftershock.....but then as I ducked under the table and held on for dear life, the room shook, the whole building swayed, plaster cracked and the air turned dusty....computer monitors fell over, and furniture and stationery arranged themselves around the room.

I left with my bag, my two cellphones, and a shoe. I walk barefooted in the office (we're temps, and this is NZ...so I don't think anyone cares. :D), and amidst the debris and confusion, I could not find my shoe.

So we left, quickly. Broken glass everywhere, broken water pipes...it honestly looked like something out of a disaster movie. It took me 2-3 hours to get home, on what usually is a 20-30mins commute. The city...was an absolute shocker. Brick walls tumbled over...rubble everywhere.....liqufication...streets broken like chocolate pieces.

My boyfriend had his laptop smashed by falling books...and ran outside with his colleagues, while dodging falling chemicals. He was on the 8th floor of the Chem block.

Death toll stands at 65 people.... 2000+++ people are in Hagley Park for the night - they are without shelter, and it is raining outside. We're helping out too, we have two tourists staying the night at our house. And no, they aren't weird, their middle aged career people. Long story that.

Christchurch will take a long time to recover from this. Damage done was much worse than the September 4 earthquake - and people were up and about. And this is in addition to what we haven't cleaned up from Sept 4.

How I wish I could be helping out at the triage centres in Christchurch....but unfortunately my expertise does not lie in that area...so I will just stay put at home.

More updates likely to come. As I am off work now, tomorrow will likely be icky weather.