~*And The Earth Shook*~

UPDATE.....

Since I wrote this post there has been 563 quakes in Christchurch...

I was woken this morning at 6.30 by a phone call from my Mum, believe me I know when I receive a call this early the news can not be good. I immediately thought of my Dad (thankfully he is fine) I did not however expect the reason for the call........  Christchurch my beautiful home City was hit by a 7.4 earthquake at 4.35am this morning the worst earthquake in over 80 years. I turned my TV on & was horrified at what I was watching, it looked like a bomb had hit. My Brother & Sister in law luckily didn't have too much damage to their home, my Sister however has lost everything. I managed to ring her a while ago, she is naturally a mess, in tears as she told me she had lost all the china that was once our Grandma's, she just kept saying *It's all gone Lyn, all I had left of Grandma is gone*..... I told her they were alive & that is all that matters, she said Bruce (her hubby) thought they were going to die. They are still getting

after shocks, the first was 7.1 they are now down to 5. people over there have said the noise of the quake
was deafening, some saying it sounded like freight trains others like jets. Roads have opened up one where a car was swallowed a metre deep into the hole. Christchurch has so many beautiful old Gothic style Heritage buildings so many that have now been damaged, even our stunning Christchurch Cathedral has damage. Flooding has occurred in quite a few suburbs, there is no water, electricity & sewage pipes have broken. To say this is heart wrenching form me is putting it mildly, I cried when I saw the damage, I cried my eyes out talking to my sister all I wanted to do was give her a big cuddle & tell her in the end it would be alright.
Luckily there have been no deaths, a man is critical after a chimney fell on him, amazing really after all the devastation.  Kiwi's are use to earthquakes, we are taught in school what to do when one hits but I don't think anything could have prepared them for this one, it was always presumed our Capital City Wellington would cop the *big one* it is well over due, even Nelson where my Mum & Dad live is over due for one, not Christchurch. I remember as a child a rather big one but nothing like this one, I can only imagine how terrified they were. A state of emergency has been declared, tomorrow they are expecting rain.
I ask you to say I pray today for everyone in my Home City, but especially for my beautiful sister Sue......