Luanne and I are staying in Christ Church for two days at the end of our seven weeks in New Zealand.  We are hoping the fly to Sydney on Thursday for five weeks in Australia.  When we left for New Zealand many of our friends said, New Zealand just had an earthquake why are you going there?   Of course we said, that was last fall and things are fine now.

 

We have had a wonderful seven weeks travelling throughout the North and South Islands and we headed to Christ Church to spend a couple of days before we took our flights out to Sydney.    We were thinking about the fact Christ Church had an earthquake last fall but really did not consider the risk of a second earthquake.

 

We are staying approximately two miles from the Central Square in Christ Church and this morning we had planned to travel to the town square and of through the tunnel to the seaside village of Sumner.   When we woke up it was raining and Luanne decided that this would be a good laundry day and that we would tour tomorrow.   Thanks God for your guidance, the two areas we would have been in when the Quake hit have both been devastated with many fatalities.

 

During the earthquake we were tossed from side to side in our room and we really believed the building was on the verge of collapse.  We have since learned it was built to withstand this kind of an earthquake. (Thanks God)  Once things calmed down hydro was down and we decided to walk towards the downtown area.

After 36 years in policing I have been conditioned to expect the worse but I was shocked to the see the devastation to the inner city of Christ Church.   The wonderful  Kiwi population are rallying together to help each other in this time of crisis. 

 

I was totally shocked to have Kiwis stopping us on the street and apologizing, "We are so sorry that this happened while you are visiting our country."   They really are the nicest people in the world!

 

We have had a 5.0 aftershock every hour since the earthquake and it is hard to believe we  are just accepting them as something that is normal.  

 

There have been close to a hundred fatalities to date and there are hundreds of people missing, our hopes and our prayers go out for the citizens of Christ Church, it makes one wonder how God works, this is one of the most beautiful places in the world with such wonderful people they deserve  better. 

 

I watched with pride at the professional response of Police, Fire and Ambulance Services who drove into the danger areas to help save the lives of their citizens.

While I am closing in on my 65th birthday it was very difficult to resist my instinct to join in on their rescue efforts. 

 

Ken Robertson