seaside town goes slipside

here's where yesterday's christchurch/lyttleton earthquake struck. to get a sense of the ongoing physical rollercoaster cantabrians are experiencing, go here & change the settings to the last 24 hours of the earthquake which struck at 12:51 [NZDT] on February 22, 2010. something akin to being in a cocktail shaker. on auto acceleration.

photo: copyright the press

 

photo: copyright associated press

above are current photos gleaned from the interwebs of canterbury seaside suburb brighton [south & new] after the 6.3 christchurch earthquake yesterday. 

 photo: new brighton beach copyright juneh via webshots

this is where my nana nora lives in new zealand. childhood walks to the beach to be invigoratingly dumped by merciless waves onto endless straights of biting sand with my grandfather, coupled with obsessive sea shell collection & racing back to the house for the best pavlova ever pervade early consciousness.

i would deliver elaborately scripted performances with my sister to emotionally coerced relatives & undertake table tennis tournaments at christmas, & escape from the dullness of parental control with walks across the road to the domain [where later i had an epic & somewhat infamous magic mushroom patch]. these are all fond memories. thankfully i have since heard that our grandmother is OK & was rescued by nearby relations.

liquefaction is particularly bad in this area & also in that of nearby bexley. liquefaction as seen in the christchurch september 04, 2010 earthquake is the result of massive shaking & separation of particles and water in the earth. it is a major contributing factor to ongoing damage during & post tremors. eye witnesses have described mini geysers which open up through the earth, erupt and pour an endless sea of stinking liquid mud.

UPDATE: liquefaction now threatens the very stability of the hotel grand chancellor, christchurch's tallest hotel which visibly moved three metres earlier today on an angled slump as it began to sink. it lies within the cordoned off area adjacent to the pancaked CTV building. this further complicates the rescue effort.

photo: cnr manchester & high street - copyright martin hunter/getty images

i have since heard that my close friends & family have survived this quake. at least physically. one of my oldest friend's who i had grave concerns for & spent the day feeling physically ill about knowing he was most likely at a pre-existing red-stickered [declared unstable > 2010 earthquake] zone in ground zero [high street shops] texted me last night:

 photo: embassy on high street >2010 quake - copyright destination shopping christchurch NZ

"I'm alive. Very close call. The building I was in collapsed. Had to climb down tree."

there's always a flipside. so many stories of horror & trauma are balanced with miraculous tales which reinforce the power of survival & freedom of spirit. what does matter are not the historic buildings, pathways or the crippling economics but the preservation of identity & ability to go on. to survive and evolve. theoretically the spirit of the people will rise. it's amazing what hardship humanity can endure.

 photo: copyright @samsuth1 on twitpic

may the universe protect those who lie still trapped today in pancaked spaces and impossible voids; especially those in the CTV,  pyne gould guinness, the cathedral, & other crumpled buildings. may you be rescued in time.

for those seeking loved ones google has set up a people finder.

love and light to all.

another earthquake shatters christchurch

photo: copyright martin hunter/getty images

today has been hijacked by the earthquake [6.3] which has devastated my home town of christchurch, new zealand. epicentre estimated 10kms south east of the CBD [under lyttleton] & less than 5kms deep. the damage has been significantly greater than that of the earthquake of september 04, 2010.

deepest thoughts and love for all my friends, family, and fellow cantabrians. it has been so intensely traumatic here i can only imagine the degree of horror for those at ground zero. my thought are with my still missing friends.

 photo: copyright richard cosgrove/the press

65 confirmed dead already & expected to rise much more. christchurch's mayor, bob parker at this stage cautiously estimates that it could double. possibly hundreds of others still trapped in buildings with many people who are still alive & trapped expected to stay where they are overnight, fighting for their lives as darkness looms & resources are stretched.

photo: copyright @charlottebellis/twitter

temporary triage centres are scattered in parks throughout the city centre as NZ hospitals are cleared to make room for incoming victims. emergency accommodation & food centres have been created in local schools and around the city area.

the CBD has been evacuated with fears of more buildings due to crumble as further aftershocks continue. the airport has been closed. the city has completely crumbled in major pockets, the cathedral spire gone with the people who were in it at the time...

 photo: copyright www.adelaidenow.com.au 

i've been hooked on the livefeed courtesy of nine MSN via TV3 in NZ for most of the day, other deadlines forgotten.

news is scarce of beautiful lyttleton, port, birthplace of my mother and site of the epicentre but rumours abound that both it & beach suburb new brighton to the north [home of my grandmother] are now unliveable.