A Communicator in Lyttelton

The following was received from John Bullock who is living in Lyttelton.

The “main street” in the Port of Lyttelton where I live, is cordoned off. An old pub here, the “Empire Hotel” the façade facing the roadside is about to fall on to the footpath and road. I had a drive around this Sunday morning, the roads are ok, and the amazing thing was, many old buildings made of bricks and mortar appear to have no damage at all. Says a lot about today’s building standards. Some those buildings are over 100 years old! A few of the business area such as old buildings with verandas over the footpath have been cordoned off as well. We have only one supermarket here, but “charges like a wounded bull”, it had many of its shelved products over the floor, and has a structural problem at the rear. So if we have to purchase the essentials, we have to travel thru the Lyttelton tunnel to a Countdown at Ferrymead, about 10 minutes’ drive from where I live in Lyttelton. The tunnel was closed initially, but after safety checks they have reopened it. That was quite an experience driving thru the 1.8Km tunnel, hoping there was no tremor whilst driving thru it. Water has been on since the initial earthquake, but some unknown reason this morning, Monday, it has been turned off. We have to boil from tap for 3 minutes to make it safe. Power has been restored, thank goodness; telephone, internet, airport and those things are ok. A lot of people have only cordless phones these days. Well they do not work when the power is off. It pays to have an “el cheapo” normal phone that is hard wired into the fone socket. It is powered from the DC `voltage from the exchange. Fortunately, we have battery-powered transistors to keep up-to-date with all the necessaries in such times. The funny thing was, not having power we were getting phone calls from all over the world from friends and relatives, before we actually heard from people within NZ. They were all getting live video streams of the disaster. It seemed funny around there, because all the residences appear to be ok and appear visibly “normal” on the exterior, yet in wider Christchurch area the scenario is quite different.

We have been getting tremors about every half hour, but not of the same level as the original quake, thank Christ. Most of which are between 3 and 5 on the Richter scale. I had to go thru the Lyttelton tunnel (1.8Km) to the supermarket yesterday Sunday, that was closed immediately after the original 7.1 quake. I was praying (I am not religious by the way) the tremors stay way while I negotiating the tunnel. The speed limit thru the tunnel is 50. I do not think I was looking at my speedo, just the light at the end of the tunnel. Christchurch CBD has copped a lot; especially some of older and historical buildings might or will have to be demolished. The Christchurch CBD will remain closed today Monday, and schools closed as well. The night the earthquake hit I was dining with some friends in an old part of the CBD in Christchurch. Well that got hit pretty badly. Restaurants have been advised to cook with bottled water. Fontera have been trucking in by tanker water for all the centres that are catering for people who had to leave their dwellings.

As to be expected by everybody, is the unknown, when is it all is going to stop. I can tell you, you cannot sleep at night, only because of these on-going regular tremors reminding you something is amiss!

We have a large Sony tube TV in one of the bedrooms. It is so heavy you need two fellas to lift it, and then you struggle some. Well that went airborne on to the floor. Fortunately, it goes, and no marks or visible damage. The higher in this 3-level house the more stuff was flung around, so with that in mind, I spend most of my time at ground level for obvious reasons.

Exterior of this house seems to be fine, but a few hair-line cracks in the wall plaster board indoors. A few broken glass thingies in the pantry, etc. Taken photos to make a claim. So it will be interesting to see what happens with that. The house is a pole-house, and weather boarded. I think that is the only way to go if you live in an earthquake zone, i.e. pole house wood exterior and steel roofing, not tiles. The tremors seemed to have sub-sided somewhat, the time between each tremor is further apart, but now we got the varying winds, with few more creaks and moans …. can’t win! You do not know for a few seconds whether it is the wind or another tremor.

Have a look at this link to see recent quakes/tremors and the epicentre on the maps associated with each tremor. At this point in time, since midnight, to give you an example we have had nine tremors/earthquakes. The epicentre varies, but all in the same area around Darfield. Even has I am typing this, just had another tremor, 3.8, SW of Christchurch.

In summary, the whole situation gives you an unusual feeling in your gutz, it is the not knowing what is going to happen next, whether to dive for cover, or run for safety after each tremor. We are very lucky it has not rained, it is just the strong winds we are getting from time to time that keeps you alert. Strong winds do make the house creak, and then you ask yourself, “Is it the wind or just another tremor”?

John

Thanks John for the update and keep safe.