The shaky isles

Lately all my spare brain space has been taken up thinking about my family and friends in the shaky isles. Christchurch seems to be being shaken and stirred then shaken again. Just when people seem to be able to relax a 5.1 shakes them up again. From talking to family, this seems to be happening so regularly that the whole city is on edge.

There's been some useful coverage in the newspapers and news channels in New Zealand so those of us who are away can get a picture about some of the happenings, the impact of which will be felt for many years to come as people lose their homes and livelihoods. Someone told me that the landscape of Christchurch is changed forever and that makes me really sad. The lovely old buildings, the garden city heart seems to have fallen to the earths thrusts.

The thing that makes me feel heartened is the stories of those helping others. The university students who manned shovels to clear the silted streets and knocked on the doors of strangers offering their help and support. The civil defense people who worked all hours to ensure that people were safe and those in the essential services who are still working around the clock to make sure my family have power to take the chill off the Christchurch winter.

Know that I'm thinking of you all, wishing I could be there to help but thankful I'm not there to add to the feelings of fear. I'm just very grateful that the quake struck when it did, in the early hours of the morning. The thought of that happening, of the destruction, in the daylight hours when people were going about their business just doesn't bear thinking about.