From the moment I received the phone call from my wife in Christchurch, I knew from her tone that this earthquake was different from the first one. For people resident in Christchurch since the big quake in September 2010, the continual stress of aftershocks has been fatiguing. That makes the resilience displayed since last Tuesday all that more remarkable.
Unlike September, it was apparent I needed to come home as soon as possible - so kudos to our national airline, Air New Zealand for the cheap airfares and extra planes they put on to get people either in (like me) or out of the city.
My parent-in-laws house had been badly affected by the Boxing Day aftershock, and it's location in Heathcote Valley put it almost at the epicenter of this latest quake. From the photos below you can see it - and many surrounding houses - are now uninhabitable. For people now in their 70's, who helped build the house originally; and as the “family home” for them and their children, its loss is a huge blow.
Fear of looters, concern for their missing cat, the needs of the few sheep they run on their property, as well as an attachment to the house, kept them on the property; sleeping in the back of their cars. The entreaties of their children and offers of accommodation were refused. Yes, stubbornness does run in the family!
When it became obvious they wouldn't move my wife devised an alternative plan, and rung one of her clients in Ashburton – around an hour and a half south of Christchurch and well outside the affected area - and appealed for their help. They unhesitatingly agreed and spent a couple of hours looking for any sort of a accommodation they could find, and in the end offered – which was accepted immediately – the use, free of charge, for as long as needed, their new, unused, demonstration horse float. Horse float? - you might ask: but this is a stunningly high tech device. Solar powered lighting, refrigerator, water pump with sink and 80 liter tank, solar powered socket for recharging a laptop or other devices, seating and plenty of room at the other end for a double bed (and if you open the end even indoor/outdoor flow!) make this the perfect temporary accommodation for a place with no power or water services.
Even more amazingly, they drove up to Christchurch the same day to deliver it on site so that my wife's parents wouldn't spend another night sleeping in a car.
Once the house is empty of anything valuable and salvageable, and with the cat now found, I'm sure they will move off-site eventually. Until that happens, the huge generosity of Lysaght in donating their float needs to be acknowledged. It's only when you are in real need that you find such wonderfully caring, generous people who will assist with no expectation of return.
It has to be noted that they are still waiting for EQC regarding the initial earthquake. In the long term it's not just the needs of people such as my in-laws which need to be met, the really difficult job for authorities will be to manage peoples’ expectations as well.
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