Earthquake!

(stealing smokers moments)

(stealing smokers moments)

Wellington is experiencing gale force winds at the moment, incredible weather these days. Hail, lightning and thunder on Friday afternoon. The winds fill the office with sound.

Most of you already know that on Friday night a 7.1 earthquake stuck Christchurch on the South Island. New Zealanders found this particularly odd, how could such a flat place get a major earthquake? Of all places Christchurch? The earthquake could be felt as far north Wellington, where a major fault line lies. My bed shook at 4:30 in the morning, it felt much like being in the back seat of a van on a dirt road. The quake was loud, doors opened and closed for about 15 seconds. I could not go back to sleep, worried about and aftershock and all those book above Julia's bed.

Don’t fret, everything is ok here, but not so much for Christchurch. A chimney fell on a man, and the glass is proving to be major problem. Buildings in New Zealand have windows that are made to “fall out easily” in the case of an earthquake. The windows are intended to fall forward, in hopes that they be replaced quickly, without the “hassles” of smashing them out. These easy falling forward windows sound just plain dangerous.

If a big tremor rips through Wellington Julia has noted the following:

1. There will be a sea of glass from major modern buildings, it’s best that I do not live downtown, or go downtown.

2. Our house will fall forward, but there will be room to put up a tent in the front yard.

3. We have enough lemons

4. There are 12 water jugs near the compost pile in front yard, away from the building. (I had a scary North American reaction when she told me this- I thought aloud, “We can sell them!” What great use money is during an emergency….)

5. Note pad and pen and buried in the yard and must be used to let Julia know I am alive if something happens when I’m away from home. Phone lines will be down.

6. A tent can be found buried in the yard.

7. When the sewage goes out we can use the back yard as a toilet.

We’ve had quite a few disaster conversations. They are not light- and when the PhD candidate on Well-Being and Natural Catastrophes came over one night for a chat I became a little more paranoid.

It is what humans have made that is so dangerous, as long as we can get out of the things we put ourselves into we should be fine. It is best to have a plan, get the thinking out of the way, so then you can just focus on surviving.