Finally Heard From Andrew!

As soon as I heard about the Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake, I dashed off a quick message to Andrew:

Just heard about the quake. I hope you are all right. Presumably utilities and the Internet are down, so I don’t when this will reach you. Let me know when you can!

Today, Andrew replied:

Yes it was a large earthquake but I am okay and just a few broken glasses in the house. I was at a hotel at the airport (just landed from Sydney a few hours prior) when it struck and it was very scary indeed. The airport closed after that so I drove home rather than flying to Queenstown for the weekend. The house is okay but there is a lot of damage in Christchurch itself. I have power and water etc but no internet so am using my cellphone internet connection which is more limited than a proper connection but at least it works.

We get aftershocks about every 30 minutes which are also scary and at night you lie awake in bed not knowing if a large one is on the way! It is no fun at all. But at least no-one has died so we are blessed in that.

I hope you are well and thank you for your thoughts and prayers at this challenging time for Christchurch.

Best regards,
Andrew

I replied:

Hi Andrew:

I’m greatly relieved to hear that you are well! I thought it likely your house would be fine (on the hillside, there is little chance of waterlogged ground amplifying the ground movement).

I’ve been trying to follow the news on my iPhone (I finally broke down and got one). There is discussion about destruction of the Godley House and also pictures of a small rockfall on the drive into Diamond Harbour. I hope Lincoln University is OK (considerably closer to the Darfield epicenter).

...Thinking good thoughts for you, and everyone in Christchurch!

(no need to reply at this time – save your phone’s battery!)

Marc

It looks like Andrew's house is about 30 miles from the earthquake epicentre, near the rural crossroads of Darfield. His workplace is about 16 miles from the epicentre.