Big earthquake in Christchurch

[ZacharyQuack]

Hope all Cantab MNers are safe.

[jumpyjack]

She could try going to the Plunket family centre in Addington, if it's still open and functioning after the quake. You can go there (normally, anyway)and stay the whole day if you want while they watch you latch on and talk through breastfeeding problems. I haven't been to the Chch one, but they might also lend out breastpumps and bottles.

[NoMoreChocBiscuits]

My family are okay thank goodness. Home seems so far away right now

[balia]

I can't contact my family - they are in Parklands - does anyone know how badly this area was affected? My nephew works in a garage in the city centre...

[NoMoreChocBiscuits]

Don't know if this will help anyone, but it's good to know there are people who care and want to help.

[NoMoreChocBiscuits]

Also Balia I have no idea what Parklands is like at the moment (I'm in Scotland), but I found a people tracker on the Auckland Herald website that you may find useful. Good luck and fingers crossed for your family.

[Besom]

Hoping all Christchurch Mnetters and families of MNetters are OK.

My brother, sil, nephews and their extended family all ok. I was in a right state this morning until we could get hold of them. I feel for anyone who still doesn't know.

[frazzlenz]

My mum is there, as well as my brother and his family. Some friends are missing relatives. Its like a nightmare. I've been crying all day. My hometown will never be the same and neither will its people.

My UK MIL rang to 'console' me and told me it was a shame that we didn't build our houses like the Japanese. Ignorant !@#$. Fark it made me angry. 5km deep. Not many buildings can withstand that, especially after months of aftershocks.

[frazzlenz]

Blai, my brothers house is in Parklands and they have a little damage and the water is off. Didn't sound too bad there though I only 'talked' to him briefly on FB.

[frazzlenz]

Nymphadora, I heard they shut the uni but they didn't mention any damage. I haven't heard any damage reported from that side of town.

[balia]

Thanks Frazzlenz - still haven't managed to get through to my family but fingers crossed.

[Weta]

frazzlenz, your MIL's comments would have really annoyed me!

My family are all in Wellington (where we have always been expecting a big quake) but we lived in Chch for 5 years before moving to Europe and still have a lot of friends there. I've been really upset the last two days as well...

[Besom]

balia - are your family OK?

[balia]

Still haven't heard anything - rang the helpline thing and they took all details, but no further forward. Can't find their names on any of the people tracker things but it is pretty chaotic, I think.

[MrJustAbout]

balia - you mention parklands.

The east of the city has been really badly affected (again). Parklands and a lot of other suburbs - as far as I understand - have become difficult to get to/from. Most of this is because of liquefaction - effectively, the ground turns to quicksand. The positive bit of that is that it dampens the earthquake so that there's less damage from shaking than there would normally be. So, even if there's not a lot of obvious damage, that doesn't mean you can live there or that you'd have "normal" contact.

What might have happened is that their neighbourhood became impractical to get to/from. They're probably either in a welfare centre or, more likely, have headed out of the city along with a lot of other people. I hope that you hear back from them soon - is there anyone else you know who might have heard about their whereabouts. (Do you know where he works?)

[MrJustAbout]

frazzlenz

In case this helps:

The tvnz livestream feed said that when the data was looked at in Japan, they said that the lateral shaking was worse than in the Kobe earthquake.

Kobe has a population just over 4x that of Christchurch but suffered 4,600 deaths. I think the city has a pretty good building code, although it's obviously going to be tightened up further.

[balia]

Thanks so much, justabouthappy - have PM'd you. I don't know which garage it is, only that it is a BP garage in the city centre.

[Besom]

I'm sure MrJustAbout is right - my nephews were at school in an area on the same side of the city as Parklands near the coast and my sil had to get out of the car and wade through sludge to get to them.

[MrJustAbout]

With my dad, it was water and sludge up to the top rims of the car ... that side of the town is very difficult to navigate.

[balia]

Yes please, justabouthappy - although obviously not if there is any risk involved - we are all getting rather desperate here and it is so hard to keep calm. They only went out there less than 3 years ago. And it is just everywhere, there is no way to keep your mind off it.