Early on Saturday morning, our hometown of Christchurch was hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. There has been a lot of damage, and about 20% of houses are uninhabitable. Sewage pipes and water pipes have burst in some areas and this has caused some flooding. Because it happened early on Saturday morning, there were very few people out and about, and providentially nobody was killed.
All our family memebers are safe, though nobody has escaped without some damage to their houses or the contents of their homes.
It was a similar magnitude as the recent Haiti quake, but NZ has a good building code for earthquakes, so the damage was much less severe. There’s a lot of damage to brick buildings and older buildings, and lots of things fell off shelves etc, but again, no loss of life.
What an appropriate verse Psalm 99:1 is: The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble; He sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. We know that God is sovereign and in control. Please remember Christchurch people in prayer, as they get over the shock, as they heal and as they get their homes back in order (or tearing old ones down and building new ones in the worse cases!).
To all the Christchurch folks, know that you are in our prayers!
Comments (4)
We have been praying. We tried to get through to the Daveys by phone, but were unable to do so. We’re so thankful that none of your family was injured.
Wow, what a quake! A very big fright waking up at 4.35am.
Brighton, Avonside, Sydenham, and the CBD are the worst-hit areas in Christchurch. We heard your house was fine. I hope that’s the case! Our family is fine.
Kaipoi and Darfield are by far the worst-hit areas all round, from what I’ve seen.
Thanks for your prayers!
Bry, what was going through your head when or after you woke up during the quake?
Well, your house does move a lot. Been pretty freaky. The floors that were crooked are now fairly level…. nah just kidding, they just slope the other way. hahaha.
Seriously though, so far no major damage. A few of the cracks that were there have been growing though with the aftershocks following so we are praying they will stop soon. (although news reports don’t seem to be promising in this area). Feels like mot of Christchurch has not been sleeping well and seem to be in a constant state of anxiousness. Anyway, hope to get your place checked out just to be safe.
Much love, Miriam and a shaken family. However, baby has not been shaken out yet despite a record 21 births at Christchurch Womens in the 24 hours following the earthquake. Kinda would like it to stay put as things are difficult enough at present without a newborn around.