Shaken – Not Stirred (...well…only a little…..ok……. A lot !) PDF Print E-mail
Written by bazzabrett   
Sunday, 23 December 2007 00:54
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Well it was a wild ride that I don’t care to experience again anytime soon. 24 hours previously, things were certainly not as calm as they were at the time of writing this.

I was at a family gathering of about 20 relatives celebrating an early xmas dinner with another relative who was visiting from OZ.

At first, the house we were in began to rock gently. Past experience quickly told us that we were feeling a slight earth tremor. Having sat through a couple of gentle tremors over the past couple of years (up to 4.2 on the Richter scale) the anxiety didn’t really kick in. I was comfortable sitting on the couch and thought “no biggie, we’ll just ride this one out like the others and nervously laugh about it later with the kids!” The gentle rocking accelerated and rapidly became more severe. We quickly sensed this was going to be more serious and was going to become a real bumpy ride. (I guess you could also say I wasn’t on the couch any more either !)

In the short but quick sprint to the other side of the room, we gathered up the frightened young children in the house, kept them away from the windows and braced ourselves under door frames. Things were transpiring very rapidly and you could not get out the door with all the children whilst the whole house jostled around. I managed to look out the back door to witness one of the teenage nephews “surfing” on the flat ground in the back yard until eventually losing his balance and tumbling over.

If you have never experienced this before, the best description I can give is that it is like walking across a trampoline that’s also bouncing from side to side. Something obviously made of glass smashed to the floor somewhere in the house, the lights went out and the noise of the wooden building creaking and shaking was reaching a crescendo. Just when we thought things were building up to get really bad, it all abruptly abated ! With a more stable floor underfoot, everybody quickly exited to the back yard. This was frightening stuff for the young children and the adults were stunned with how quickly things transpired but also relieved they were now out of the house.

Our thoughts quickly headed towards the scary prospect of a potential Tsunami !

Having studied all the online video footage available since the 2004 Boxing Day & Tsunami causing earthquakes, I felt that the intensity of this quake was big but not as long in duration. In fact things were all over in about 15 seconds. The 2004 quakes lasted closer to 40 seconds !

Not having any idea of the true size and where this quake was centered, we didn’t leave things to chance and were VERY soon driving to higher ground and staying put.

After listening to radio reports and updates then watching the street lights and electricity coming back on across town, we felt safer to head down towards home. Radio reports had confirmed that a 6.8 quake had been registered and centered not far from Gisborne out to sea. No Tsunami risk and no warnings issued ! Various emergency service vehicles were driving around the streets with wailing sirens and flashing lights. As we tentatively ventured closer to our street, we began wondering what had transpired in our own house. The first good sign was seeing all our Xmas lights shining brightly on the front of the house. We then knew that the electricity was re-connected AND the front of the house was still standing!

As we turned into our driveway we were greeted with the forlorn sight of our chimney laying in pieces on the front lawn after its fall from the roof. A brief walk around the house perimeter found no obvious damage. We gingerly entered the house not knowing what was waiting for us inside?

Surprisingly, all the tall cabinets were still upright, cupboard doors and the draws were wide open with their contents shaken out. The TV unit had shifted its position but was still standing. Every room had items flung from shelves and strewn across the floor, with only a few smashed upon impact. Even the water had been sloshed out of the toilet bowl!

Fortunately, the mess was superficial and only takes time and energy to clean up. Some time around midnight, I finished weatherproofing the hole that was now in the roof where the chimney stack once stood. We finally settled down for an unsettled sleep with emergency exit strategies in mind in case of a repeat episode.

Media reports have since covered the extensive damage to the Gisborne business district. Competitors who attended the Gisborne world waveski titles in March 2007 may recognize some of the damaged buildings being flashed across television. Some of these buildings have already been condemned with others expected to meet the same fate!

Fortunately, only minor injuries occurred amongst the town population but sadly, a single death of an elderly resident occurred from a heart complaint related to the stress of this incident.

The Gisborne waveski crew each fared well within their own circumstances and only have a slight a mess to clean up at their respective homes.

Overall, Gisborne was lucky !

Please spare extra thought for Ziggy though! Whilst in the process of cleaning up around his house, some opportunistic low-life stole his car from his driveway.

To all those amongst our waveski fraternity that have sent emails, text messages and made phone calls of support, please know they have been received with much thanks and appreciation.

In spite of the circumstances in Gisborne, please have a merry Xmas with your families and hope you have a great start to the New Year.
Last Updated on Sunday, 23 December 2007 00:54
 

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