Vibes for NZ: Earthquake in Christchurch/Lyttelton

[Ramsey]

It's just a jpeg photo dude - no viruses. I linked it because it's very wide. Peace.

Yeah, works fine here too....No viruses....

This mornings update: 102 dead, 200+ missing with little chance of finding anyone else alive.... Even if half of those missing are found in hospitals and shelters it's still a massive figure for a city of 400,000 people..... Vibes again.

[leftfield]

Vibes, this sucks.
I lived and worked in Christchurch for 6 months in 2008, skied the club fields every week. It was and still is a home and a family to me. No bad news yet beyond property damage but it breaks my heart to see all the devastation.

[Lane Meyer]

All reports is that this is as bad if not worse as the news makes it out to be. I lived in ChCh for 1.5 years during the first half of my last bit of grad school. Lived in South Brighton. Drove across and through the CBD every day to work. Friends lived all over town, Redcliffs, Sumner, Lyttleton - all of which did not fare well. I've managed to finally hear back from all of them as of last night, and all are OK, but many of their friends and family and colleagues are not. Most people I talked to have serious damage to their houses. The CBD is thrashed, and will never look the same. It's so bad.

The research program that sponsored my Phd was a joint effort between GNS, NIWA, and people from the EQC (many of whom were in a meeting in the ChCh CBD during the EQ). I was part of a large group of scientists working feverishly to develop software that facilitated risk assessment from natural disasters, so that high-risk buildings (like the ones that collapses I would imagine) could be identified and retrofitted. My end of the program was volcanoes, not earthquakes, but the goals were the same. No one ever though we would have to work fast enough to get that done before these earthquakes struck - something that presumably was an impossible task, as the program is still in beta stages. It's totally heartbreaking for me on so many levels to learn of the devastation and death, despite the best efforts of my colleagues. In fact, EQC sent me overseas several times to places where disasters had struck to study them in order that NZ could learn how to better prepare for the inevitable day when they happened there. I can't believe that day has come so soon. I wish I could get on a plane with a shovel and some work gloves to go lend them all a hand.

Please consider donating to the NZ Red Cross, via the link Casey posted above. Cantabrians are some of the most self-reliant, resilient, strong-willed people you will ever meet, and they'll take care of themselves - but this is going to be too much for them and they will need all the help they can get.

edit -

read these if you want to get an idea of how truly horrible it is down there:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/chri...e-earth-roared

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/chri...ve-trapped-man

[Ramsey]

I wish I could get on a plane with a shovel and some work gloves to go lend them all a hand.

This is exactly how I feel....

[jerr]

Friends have been steadily feeding into Wanaka from Christchurch, to get an emotional break/get some proper-unbroken sleep/get out of the way/homes are trashed.

They smile, but the smiles only are only skin deep. Many days later, and 400km away, their eyes are still focused on survival; those eyes don't smile at-all.

Wanaka's spare beds are filling up, as will a lot of beds around the South Island that are simply away from Christchurch.

Luckily, the damage is contained to Christchurch. The rest of the South Island is working normally. So support, even if it's just a motel to stay in, or a port-fuel-installation are working sweet.

Chch airport is operational luckily.

The top 40 NZ companies have met with the government, to address infrastructural & supply considerations firstly, and get people's businesses & jobs back on track also. This amalgamation is charged with the all important - "repair the economy & get peoples incomes back to normal" gig.

Specialist Urban Rescue crews are on the ground from; Australia, US, Japan, England, Malaysia, Singapore and a few more I've forgotten probably. It's nice to have friends who care. You only appreciate the international connections, that are usually just words in news articles, when something happens to your people and all these guys turn up to help.

Over-all, I want to run up there and help, and I'm close enough too. Lifting rubble or driving a shovel is a healthy remedy for a concerned soul, but there are many hands there, only they must be there. They are as committed to Christchurch's reparation as their lives are based in her. I'd only be another mouth to feed, hydrate, and house. Most of those who have travelled up have returned, or taken loved ones else-where. Unless you've got a needed skill you're just another mouth to feed and toilet to provide for.

And that makes it harder, being close enough to help but only a burden if I try. So, I've done the only thing I can do, offer my home to friends or family, should they need it.

[jerr]

It's cool hearing people say they give a shit

[bodywhomper]

bump
vibes and condolences to all affected. I spent only a week in central christchurch. it was a beautiful city and i have very fond memories of it. following this initial disaster response, i hope the recovery effort will go better than planned.

below is FEMA's brief summary of the situation from this morning:

Current Situation:

The multinational response effort is ongoing
-USAID/DART USAR searched Christchurch Cathedral and a 16-story building; secondary searches of 8 city blocks in Christchurch were also performed and secondary, building-by-building searches are nearly complete
-There are 154(+7) confirmed fatalities, 70 people rescued and 240 people are reported missing
-Of the 200 homes evacuated in Sumner, all but 20 have been able to be reoccupied
-Three welfare centers are open with over 300 occupants
-Power has been restored to 85 percent of homes and businesses and will reach 95 percent soon.
-Sixty-six percent of water is back on across Christchurch; boil water advisory is in effect.
-New Zealand has not requested further international assistance.
(USGS,USAID, NZ Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management)

on a related note, if a similar event were to occur in the SF bay area, things could be just as bad or worst.