New Zealand Quake in February, 2011

This is a picture of my pen pal Adrienne and I
when she came to visit me during the summer
of 2010. It took 53 years for this picture to be
taken.

This past week was a harrowing one for my pen pal Adrienne and her family. They live in Christchurch, New Zealand, and were in the middle of their normal daily routines when the earthquake of February 2011 happened. They all managed to survive the quake, but not without being shaken up a good deal. They suffered no personal injuries, but Adrienne's house suffered some damage and continues to suffer with the occurrence of each aftershock. There is still a lot of "rockin and rollin" going on and probably will continue for some time to come. Each aftershock only worsens the apprehension and fear.

During the five months between the September 2010 quake and this last one Christchurch was hit by 5000 (yep, 5000) plus aftershocks, which does not bode well for this one. Each aftershock probably weakened the buildings and infrastructure causing more and more damage. They have a lot of cleaning up to do and repairs to make. It is going to be awhile before there is any semblance of order. This is the wrong time of the year for something like this to happen because they are not all that far away from the colder temperatures of fall and finally winter.

They are slowly regaining the amenities - they have power, but not much else at the moment. They are putting their camping skills to good use - of course, they never thought that they would have to use them in their own backyard. They are luckier than a lot of other people. They are sticking close to the home front and neighborhood providing help and support wherever they can. I do not envy them the long road ahead of them. I only wish that I lived closer so that I could do more than "listen via e-mails" and send prayers their way.

Adrienne was in school (she is a teacher), her husband was on an errand the other side of town, her daughter and son-in-law were off from work and her son was at working in the center of town. Her son just made it out of his office building before it collapsed. They were all over the place and it took them awhile to come together and make sure that everyone was okay.

No one knows exactly when life is going to return to normal and there are going to be many sleepless nights, tears, fears and a great deal of apprehension during the healing process. I will continue to do my best to be a good listener and cheerleader.