The Earthquake(s)

“Where were you when the earthquake hit?” This was the question on the tip of everybody’s tongue after the quake hit. I was in the kitchen of my flat. It was just after lunch when the world lost its balance. I ran down the hall of the scariest fun house looking at Airini, not knowing what to do in the moment of panic. The electricity was shot. The television show we were watching flickered off and the lights went out. I laughed nervously  in shock and after about 30 seconds of shaking which seemed to last for minutes I realized my hands were shaking violently. We looked out our door to look for direction of any sort. The R.A.’s told us to stay inside so we hid under the faux wood table as if it could save us from the roof collapsing. We didn’t realize the magnanimity of the situation because we did not see the news until 6 hours later. Since then we have constantly been watching the news. After seeing the destruction in Christchurch, I feel lucky to be alive.  The historic chapel that I had visited a week before was destroyed, the roads were cracked and buildings toppled.

We went outside eventually, convening on the field in the ILAM apartments. Nobody knew what to do. Some people started packing their bags, some gathered in circles, some went into the common room to play board games. Everyone was on edge. The aftershocks continued and are still going. I felt as if I had just gotten off boat. My head was shaken up and it constantly felt like the ground was shaking even when it wasn’t. My friend, Ellie knew someone who was getting a ride to Nelson that night so I tagged along with her. Dan’s dad picked us up in a bus, replete with a king size bed, a couch and a few other seats. Tom and Toby, Dan’s flatmates played the guitar for three hours. Since we left at 2am it was 5am by the time there was quite. I managed to fall asleep on the bed, but kept waking up when the road was bumpy, thinking there was another earthquake. Molly another IES student was quite cranky from the lack of sleep and told Toby to “Shut the fuck up!!” When crisis and adversity arise, you will see people’s true colors. Obviously, some adapt to the situation and others don’t. I thought it was ironic that Molly and Darcy wouldn’t play cards because they were in “mourning,” but when they heard a rumor that the NZ dollar dropped in comparison to the U.S. dollar, they got excited to go shopping.

We drove along the coastline and saw the sunrise. 8 hours later we made it to Nelson safe. I was dropped off at Sam’s house and the rest of the crew showed up later that day. In total there were 11 of us at Sam’s house. The neighbors heard that Julie and Rod (Sam’s parents) were hosting us so they dropped off groceries and made food for us. Everyone is doing what they can and being extremely hospitable. There are volunteers in Christchurch and fundraisers everywhere. Canterbury students are lined up to help, Otago students are making lunches for refugees. When we go back to Christchurch we are planning on volunteering. First we have to pack our bags because we are being transferred to Auckland University. Canterbury won’t upon until March 14^th or later. All of the books fell off the shelves in the library… again. I was just getting settled in and looking forward to classes and joining clubs. I bought a gym pass, had a job, had plenty of food in the fridge, but I can’t complain because I am alive and ok. So I am going to move forward and deal with it. Quoted by Will (IES), “At least we have each other.” I think the crisis has brought us all together. There was a bit of tension between people about what we were going to do next. So its somewhat a relief that we don’t have a choice and are all going together. We went to the river twice, hiked to central NZ and went to the beach yesterday.