Christchurch II
Although we wanted to avoid going to Christchurch as it was still unsafe due to the recent earthquake, we realized that in order to catch our 6 am flight to Auckland we had to sleep in Christchurch near the airport. Because so many residents have been displaced from their homes, there were no airport hotels available - so we had to stay closer to the main part of the city. As we drove down the street where our hotel was located we noticed many buildings and stores closed off by tape and fences. We saw partially damaged houses and buildings, piles of bricks and pieces of what used to be someone's home or work place. I could see side-walks that had huge cracks. In one direction we noticed that every side street was closed off by barricades and men in army uniforms. We realized that side of the street must be the direction towards the main central business district, where it was still unsafe for anyone to go. It was very quiet and sad driving down this street, wondering what it looked like prior to the mess we were looking at now.
We pulled up to our hotel, and as soon as we went to check in I bombarded the reception desk with questions about the earthquake and about aftershocks. The man behind the counter said that there are dozens aftershocks a day, but that they are all below 4.0, which can not be felt, so not to worry.
I tried not to think about it- and we went to our room to prepare for our flight the next morning. I was walking around the room packing and unpacking- trying to rearrange whatever small spaces I had left in my bag. While I was talking to Joey- he cut me off, and said “did you feel that??!” I turned to look at him, his eyes wide opened, and face confused and shocked. I waited for the fearful look to fade into a “just kidding”, but it didn't! He was being serious. He felt the bed move in a smooth wave-like motion that lasted a few seconds. I quickly looked at the window and saw the curtains still moving. We were not sure if that was an earthquake, or just our imagination playing tricks on us....so we turned to the fastest and most reliable source of information- and Googled it. We found a website that monitors the New Zealand aftershocks- and there it was- a 4.3 that we had just felt. It is NOTHING like an earthquake- but just that small aftershock shook some real fear into me.
Our deepest heartfelt sympathy goes out to those who experienced the Christchurch earthquake. Even though it has been many weeks since the Christchurch earthquake- and there has been an even bigger one in Japan- we still wanted to post a link here for donations to Christchurch- to help in any way we can. The Chabad of Christchurch was also completely destroyed in the quake. Two Torah scrolls were saved from the crumbled building- but they will need a lot of help and support to rebuild the Chabad center.
Please donate, if you are able to.
http://www.rebuildchabadnz.com/
http://www.redcross.org.nz/cms_display.php
Thank you.
