Sep 7th 2010, 9:21:56
The internet was never down. Was checking mobile internet to find out the size of the quake 15min after it happened, whilst still standing in a doorway freezing cold. :P
The original quake wasn't as scary as sitting around waiting for them to hit is. We still haven't had the big aftershock they're predicting might be coming. No damage at all the my place, Riccarton was one of the least affected suburbs, although the university, which is a block away, got a little owned. Lost some ancient vases, 500,000 books on the floor in the library, chemical spills etc. It's just surreal. You never expect this sort of crap to happen. If you don't live here you should go and make sure you have a survival kit like the government keep telling you. Torch/Radio/3 days water and food would have been incredibly helpful.
There weren't really any safety measures per say, a little bit of earthquake strengthening had been done on the buildings in town but they hadn't planned to a lot of strengthening til 2020 or something. They teach you in schools to get under doorframes or tables or something in the event of an earthquake, but that's it.
I didn't get out of work. =/ Work part time in a supermarket so I was in there on Sunday evening so people could buy trivial crap, like vine leaves. Getting to be an expert at estimating the magnitude of the aftershocks though. :D
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