# My town has been destroyed - gaming cancelled



## Rabbitbait (Feb 26, 2011)

It's been an interesting week. My town, Christchurch, New Zealand, was destroyed by an earthquake on Tuesday. 

I'm one of the lucky ones - most of my family and friends are safe. I have power back on now, but for my gaming friends I don't think any of them have power or water.

We'd all love to game again, as it's a great stress release but the roads are simply unsafe - what used to be a 20 minute journey now takes up to 90 minutes due to the state of the roads. Plus the fact that it is difficult to get petrol.

No real point to this thread, call it self therapy - I just wanted to vent to people who would understand what its like to not be able to game when it would really be good for the mental health.


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## jonesy (Feb 26, 2011)

I was looking at the Christchurch quake map and thinking how crazy it must have been there. 65 separately measured quakes in one day. 4 of them over 5 magnitude.


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## Relique du Madde (Feb 26, 2011)

I seriously wonder what that type of earthquake swarm would do in a place like California or Japan which was built to withstand earthquakes.


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## Than (Feb 26, 2011)

Seriously big amount of bad luck for you guys.  I've seen it on the telly.

As far as the game, if you all still have access to broadband there's the online option, using a Play by post site or real time rpg hosting software.

There's PBP here, and I run a PBP website, should you want to carry on your game using Play by post, I could set up your group at http://www.pbpmap.com
If you are interested PM 'Than' there, it's all free and friendly.

Anyways hope your luck improves.


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## Thunderfoot (Feb 27, 2011)

The sheer number quakes has me shaking my head in disbelief - there had to have been an oceanic volcano being born somewhere or other such natural phenomena.  Awful, strictly awful.


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## Mark CMG (Feb 27, 2011)

We'll keep you in our thoughts and hope things improve quickly.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Feb 27, 2011)

You're in our prayers- let us know if there is anything we can do here.


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## DumbPaladin (Feb 27, 2011)

I really hope your friends, and your entire town, get back to a semblance of normal life as quickly as possible.

Lots of people here are thinking about you!


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## Scott DeWar (Feb 27, 2011)

Wish I could be there to help in some way.


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## jonesy (Feb 28, 2011)

Well, one way to help is to donate money to the New Zealand Red Cross. They have the details up on their website:
New Zealand Red Cross


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## Scott DeWar (Feb 28, 2011)

heh, i just started a job after unemployment.


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## jonesy (Feb 28, 2011)

Ah. That's what you meant. As for me, I'm technically going to be unemployed for a couple of years as I'm about to go back to school to get a higher level education.


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## Rabbitbait (Feb 28, 2011)

Thanks for your good wishes everyone. PBP wouldn't really work for me because it is the social aspect I love. It's currently unsafe to drive in my town - the roads are absolutely munted, so even if we could get in touch we wouldn't get together. Online doesn't work either. As far as I know I am the only one of us with electricity - let alone broadband.

I'll just have to wait - it could be a while. It was announced yesterday that the central business district is likely to be cordoned off and inaccessable for months. It's too dangerous to enter and they need to do a heap of demolition first.

However, I'm very thankful to be alive - many didn't make it, and in a small city like mine everybody will know somebody who died. I'm also very thankful my family is safe - the 4 hours where I did not know if my two year old was alive or dead was fairly horrific. My wife and baby are also fine (which I knew straight away as she was able to get hold of me) but my wife is covered in bruises from flying wine bottles - she just happened to be in the most dangerous part of the supermarket.

Anyhow, thanks for the nice thoughts. All is as good as it can be here and everybody in the city who is able is getting involved in the cleanup and in helping others.


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## Scott DeWar (Feb 28, 2011)

How big was the quake?


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## jaerdaph (Mar 1, 2011)

You are all in my thoughts and prayers. And here's to better days around the corner!


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 1, 2011)

- Scott. The original quake was back in September, at 7.1 it caused widespread damage but no loss of life. The one last week was 6.3 but because it was shallow and right under the town, it caused widespread devestation and they reckon the body count is likely to be 240 or so.

We've had about 5000 aftershocks overall since September which is just insane - people are really jumpy. I usually feel a few each day but I have become desensitised to them. My wife is really sensitive to them.

At the moment about 10,000 people per day are fleeing the city out of a total population of 360,000. We wonder how many will come back.


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## Sutekh (Mar 1, 2011)

Was I right when i read the event just gone, was just an aftershock of the original 7.1 quake? Some current affairs show was speculating that a lot of peoples Insurance wouldnt trigger because the most recent one was an aftershock.. not the actual quake.

I really do think the measurements for this thing need to be looked at however. It's tied up in some antiquated way of measuring earthquakes and not a true scientific process of looking at the strength of the earthquake, where the epicentre is and where most importantly it takes place distance wise underground


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 1, 2011)

Nope, this is being treated as a seperate event by the authorities so insurance companies have to treat it as such as well.
Lucky for me as I own a rental property that no longer sits on its piles.


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 3, 2011)

I am only guessing that you and yours are still doing ok. I hope that as the 10,000 people are fleeing that there are no injuries or deaths caused by that madness. What about food and water? You are you doing on that?


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## Thunderfoot (Mar 4, 2011)

If you can, an update would be appreciated.  Mostly because I want to know you and yours are doing okay.


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 4, 2011)

Me and mine are doing OK. The entire east side of the city is still without power, water or sewers. They are doing it hard. People are bringing water and food over to them and are helping with the cleanup however we can. There is now an army of thousands of student volunteers helping out.

Basically the east side of the city is still in survival mode. The entire central city remain cordoned off and the word is it will remain cordoned off for at least 6 months. At least half the buildings will need to be demolished and it is just too dangerous for civilians to enter.

I'm hearing such horrible stories at my work - several of my workmates had to climb over bodies to get out of their buildings after the quake hit.

Serious stuff, but the support shown from the rest of the country and the world has really helped.

Thanks for your kind thoughts.


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 4, 2011)

About 1/5 of the entire population of the city has now fled, and there are lots that don't have houses any more - but almost all those whithout houses have been taken in by someone else now.


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## GandalfMithrandir (Mar 4, 2011)

That sucks, hope everything continues to be OK for you all


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## Thunderfoot (Mar 5, 2011)

I'm glad to hear you and yours are doing better than can be expected.  Wow, all I can say is wow... just devastating.  Christchurch may never be the same after this.


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 5, 2011)

Crikey, that was another big one. 

One of the things that is really setting people on edge is that since the first one in September we have been having constant aftershocks. After the BIG aftershock that caused all the destruction there is generally at least one a day that sends people scrambling under desks and doorways.

We can no longer trust the ground we walk on.

Announced today - 1000 heritage buildings will be demolished (if they haven't already fallen down).


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## jonesy (Mar 11, 2011)

There is right now a Tsunami Alert for New Zealand, Hawaii, the Philippines, Indonesia, and _anything in between_. It's going to hit in a few hours. It is because of the earthquake in Japan.


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 11, 2011)

i hear the west coast of north america is also on alert.


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## DumbPaladin (Mar 12, 2011)

[MENTION=60100]Rabbitbait[/MENTION]: How are you doing?


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 13, 2011)

I'm fine thanks. We have a working house so we are OK. Work is extremely hard - I work for the government and have been tasked with trying to rebuild some kind of working labour market recruitment system. i have a team of 30, but we don't have an office or computers so are having to invent a paper based system to do it and have found a sports club we can work in for the short term.

The guys that are still in town are keen to game, but the roads are still too dangerous at night, partners are too jittery to leave on their own, and I just don't have the brain space at the moment to play.

But as bad as it is, we got off so lightly compared to Japan. I can understand what they are going through and it is utterly horrific. It's just too big for a brain to encompass it.


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 13, 2011)

There haven't been any big aftershocks for a couple of days here. That's good.


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 13, 2011)

Speaking for those of us not in any quake area, We were worried about wheather you were affected by the tsanami. or something else.

Your Task of a labor system rebuilld, Sounds like you are pretty much starting from scratch.

As for gaming, I am sure no one expects you to be able to game right now.


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 14, 2011)

Update: I won't be working this week. In Christchurch as well as widespread distruction, silt has seeped out of the ground all over the place. In many places it was over a foot thick through peoples yards. That was mixed with sewerage from all the broken sewer pipes. Now that it has dried out it blows around, and on a windy day it is hard to go outside as it is very unpleasant. The community has tried to dig up and remove as much as possible, but it is everywhere.

My wife got some silt in her eyes on the weekend and now both her eyes have become infected. They have swollen up so much that she cannot see and she feels very ill. So I will be home all week looking after her and the kids.

This and things like this the aftereffects of a disaster that you don't hear much about on the news, but that when you are there you have to be so careful about.

On the bright side - being home has meant I've been able to build a fort for my kids


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## DumbPaladin (Mar 15, 2011)

I hope your wife is getting good medical treatment to handle that infection.  I'm still thinking good thoughts and sending them your way.


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 16, 2011)

Laughteer is the best meds! being there with you and your kids fort should bring much joy and laughter!! Hope she is getting antibiotics for her eyes though.


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## Sutekh (Mar 17, 2011)

Not wanting to cast aside Christchurches problems for a second, the actions in the Sendai region of Japan are also worth considering. Do we have much of a Japanese rpg community in enworld? Ive never actually gamed with a Japanese Gamer.

Are any out there?


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## jonesy (Mar 17, 2011)

Sutekh said:


> Not wanting to cast aside Christchurches problems for a second, the actions in the Sendai region of Japan are also worth considering. Do we have much of a Japanese rpg community in enworld? Ive never actually gamed with a Japanese Gamer.
> 
> Are any out there?



There's a thread in General:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/302702-tsunami-gamers-support-thread.html


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 17, 2011)

one membeer has posted he is getting the heck out of dodge witht  he nuclear thread. He and his family have left and  on their way here. 

Rabbit bait, is your wife getting better by saying out of the silt dust? That is a  terrible thing to happen.


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 17, 2011)

Scott DeWar said:


> one membeer has posted he is getting the heck out of dodge witht  he nuclear thread. He and his family have left and  on their way here.
> 
> Rabbit bait, is your wife getting better by saying out of the silt dust? That is a  terrible thing to happen.




Yep - the antibiotics seem to be doing the trick. 

The government has declared a memorial day today and a service is being held in the park in the middle of town (Christchurch's Central Park equivilent). Most locals aren't going though. It's too soon, the disaster is actually still unfolding, the roads are broken so its quite difficult to get anywhere, and the emotions are still a bit too raw.

Crikey, the whole central city is still cordoned off. They were thinnking of allowing people in to see the damage but decided that they simply cannot find any path into the city that is safe for the public.

Most of the city has power now, most people have water (but it still has to be boiled), and about half are able to use their toilets. That's after a huge amount of repair work.


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 18, 2011)

Keep us posted!


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## DumbPaladin (Mar 18, 2011)

Yes, please do keep us posted, because Christchurch does not even get mentioned in our news anymore.  I am so tired of the 2-day-long attention span of the U.S. news media.  Japan is already falling off some local newscasts that I've seen, and instead they're wasting time on Charlie Sheen (once again), March Madness, and other meaningless nonsense ...


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## GandalfMithrandir (Mar 18, 2011)

what I like best about America (I'm being sarcastic here) is that people in Grand Rapids, more than 6500 miles from the nuclear plants, are getting the potassium whateveryacall it radiation protection stuff, after Experts said that  there was an extremely low chance of radiation reaching us.

*facepalm*

overreactions, I tell you


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 18, 2011)

I have heard that the west coastis panicing where they are taking iodine and potassiumblahblah


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## DumbPaladin (Mar 19, 2011)

Yeah, but I had a reason to wonder if it was going to affect me, here on Los Angeles, on the Pacific Coast.  

What in the world are people in Milwaukee and New York worrying about!?  All the citizens of CA, OR, and WA will have absorbed the Japanese radiation up before it ever gets to them!

Oh, and I will pass on the KI.  It only stops you from getting thyroid cancer.  I'm pretty sure being bombarded with radiation -- if that ever were to happen -- will kill you in more than just one way.

Meanwhile, New Zealand hasn't been mentioned on my news for 13 days now ...


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 19, 2011)

DumbPaladin said:


> Meanwhile, New Zealand hasn't been mentioned on my news for 13 days now ...




I'm not really surprised. There's not much news value. "Next Up, Christchurch still destroyed. We cross live to the same place we crossed to last time for Phil Phillipson with the same information as yesterday"

Plus the fact that the Japan situation is far more serious and scary.

In all honesty, I doubt you'll see Christchurch on the news again - anything from now on will be slow moving - it will be probably a generation before we have a functioning city again.

Disaster recovery doesn't really fit the 'shock' imperative of modern news reporting.


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 19, 2011)

Here's a link to videos of some of the central city:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbXJJN9ZSFc&feature=player_embedded#at=20

It's very strange for me, especially because the city is now deserted (except for rescue workers). Turn the sound on loud and listen to the winds blow through the empty streets.


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## jonesy (Mar 19, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> Turn the sound on loud and listen to the winds blow through the empty streets.



It's quite eerie. There's a couple of birds, some sirens in the background, a helicopter at one point. And nothing else, but the wind.


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 20, 2011)

creepy to see what is the equivilant of a modern day ghost town.


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## Rabbitbait (Mar 20, 2011)

Keep in mind that that video was taken after 3 weeks of cleanup. The roads have all been cleared so that emergency vehicles can get through.

My friend managed to get his car back from the central city today - after a month. It still had his groceries in it - fish, meat and vegetables. Yuk.


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## Scott DeWar (Mar 20, 2011)

OMG> that has to be bad. Were the windows up or down?
*eyes water at the very thought of the smell*


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## DumbPaladin (Mar 27, 2011)

Hey, Mr. [MENTION=60100]Rabbitbait[/MENTION] .... Just checking in on how you and yours are doing after another week has passed us by ...


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## Rabbitbait (Apr 2, 2011)

Thanks DP. Things are going well personally, although I'm busy beyond belief. We've managed to source an office, so one month after the quake I actually have an office. A real office. We were based in a sports club bar for the last two weeks, writing everything on paper while sitting on bar stools. Traffic is awful now though. With the east side of town effectively destroyed, all the businesses that can move have moved to the west side of town. Complete gridlock every morning. I've gone from taking 20 minutes to taking 80 minutes to get to work. Two major developments in the last week.


A list has just come out of 128 major businesses in the Central City that will need to be destroyed. Many many many heritage buildings or landmarks will be gone.

The council have put out the statement that there is a 50/50 chance that the sewerage system is about to collapse completely. About 75% of the city are currently able to flush, but soon it may be nobody. The beaches and rivers are already unsafe due to the amount of sewerage making its way into the waterways from broken pipes. Even if it doesn't the coucil are saying it will be at least one year for the people who don't have sewerage to have it restored.

While it's interesting being in the middle of a disaster zone (the state of National Emergency has not been lifted yet), its tiring. Nothing is simple anymore.

That said, I'm alive, my family is alive and I only know one of the people who died. My house is livable and I have power, water and sewerage. So stop wingeing rabbitbait and get on with it.


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## DumbPaladin (Apr 2, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> While it's interesting being in the middle of a disaster zone (the state of National Emergency has not been lifted yet), its tiring. Nothing is simple anymore.
> 
> That said, I'm alive, my family is alive and I only know one of the people who died. My house is livable and I have power, water and sewerage. So stop wingeing rabbitbait and get on with it.





Hey, you have every right to 'winge' WHILE you actually do some of the hard work of helping your city rebuild.  I think that's fair.  

It sounds like the recovery's barely starting.  I hope you're still getting some help from somewhere -- the country government, charities, foreign aid ...

Glad your family's all OK, too.

--G


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 2, 2011)

DumbPaladin said:


> It sounds like the recovery's barely starting.
> 
> ........ Glad your family's all OK, too.
> 
> --G




I have seen the videos but out by the city government (they were a bit buggy, but my computer finally figured out the problem). I remember seeing the piles of refuse from fallen buildings pushed to the side of the streets. Recovery or not, those images will be in my mind forever. I remember seeing what i am guessing are the landmarks, magnificent architecture. I saw a simple building with an elegant tile mosaic. It will probably be destroyed. 

But in all that, Life continues.


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## Rabbitbait (Apr 6, 2011)

Yep, it will be a long slow recovery. However that's better than a short, badly thought through recovery. The city basically needs to be completely rebuilt which gives an amazing opportunity to do it better than ever. Not many cities in Western countries get planned and then built anymore. Also a lot of recovery stuff won't happen until the earthquakes stop. Only 4 quakes today.

It's six weeks since the second big earthquake now and a lot of people who have been running on adrenaline are now starting to collapse. A lot of sick leave is being taken and people are losing some of their good humour. The work is long and hard and we are doing it without basic facilities.

The aftershocks keep on coming as well. That's one of the worst bits - the actual disaster event actually hasn't finished yet. The geologists say we can expect up to 3 more big (not as big) ones in the next 6 months before it starts to quieten down. We don't feel safe yet.


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## Rabbitbait (Apr 6, 2011)

I keep remembering Sim City. I live in Sim City now.


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 6, 2011)

I will be glad tosee the tile of this changed to : "MY city is rebuilt!"


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## Rabbitbait (Apr 8, 2011)

It'll be a while. The council announced it hopes to open one street of the city mall by October. They are calling it a 'retail beachhead'. But there is a heap of demolition and then rebuild to do first.


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## Rabbitbait (Apr 16, 2011)

And another biggish one. At 5.3 it doesn't sound that big, but it's caused rockfalls, power cuts, more building collapses, phone outages, lots of liquification (where silt bubbles out of the ground, including into peoples houses) and some people are trapped and need rescuing.

I was outside when this hit, manning a stall for a community briefing at a local park. It's been raining all day, but you have to have these outside as lots of people are afraid of being inside big buildings. Brr - winter is here.

I could see the ground move - kinda like a cross between a bouncing trampoline and a sloshing bath. It almost knocked me off my feet - I could see the cars in the carpark nearby bouncing around as well.

It's now 7 months since the 'big one' back on Sept 4th last year, but the aftershocks are still showing no sign of going away.

We are living in interesting times.


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 16, 2011)

You said this was caused by an undersea volcano, so i really did not expect it to quit happening over there.Sorry.


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## Rabbitbait (Apr 16, 2011)

I'd like to mention something - it's commonly thought that when the  hits the fan and the trappings of civilization such as power, sewerage, phones, shops stop being available that anarchy will ensue. Totally false - people become more civilized than before. People get to know their neighbours, share their food with strangers, help each other repair and rebuild. Living through a disaster has made me proud to be human as I've realised that our default position is to share.


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## Rabbitbait (Apr 16, 2011)

Scott DeWar said:


> You said this was caused by an undersea volcano, so i really did not expect it to quit happening over there.Sorry.




Nope, it's not being caused by an undersea volcano, but we live right next to an extinct one, and heaps of the shocks are centred in the volcano crater. Nothing to worry about apparently - although we do have some new hot pools that didn't exist before.

But the shocks we are having are plain old tectonic plate action. That's what we get for living on the pacific rim of fire... Pacific Ring of Fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 16, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> I'd like to mention something - it's commonly thought that when the  hits the fan and the trappings of civilization such as power, sewerage, phones, shops stop being available that anarchy will ensue. Totally false - people become more civilized than before. People get to know their neighbours, share their food with strangers, help each other repair and rebuild. Living through a disaster has made me proud to be human as I've realised that our default position is to share.





I noticed that for you in New Zealand, however when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, all 4377 broke loose and civility went the way of the dodo for a while. It was quite embarrassing to watch.


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## Rabbitbait (May 14, 2011)

I drove around the cordon today - the central city is still cordoned off and the cordons are manned by the army. Many business owners and residents have still not been allowed in to get their stuff. It's the first time I'd been that close and all the highrise building are now on a visible lean. Apparently the ground is still settling. It's still moving as well - we had another biggish one a couple of days ago, and we are now up to 5000 aftershocks that could be felt.
A news article today said that the number of buildings in the central city that will definitely be demolished has now reached 1000 and that it will probably be a year or so before the public are allowed in - except for the shopping mall part which they hope to have open by November.
Christchurch earthquake: 1000 buildings to go | Stuff.co.nz

That said, there is a huge amount of optimism about how we are going to rebuild the city and heaps of ideas of how we should go about it. I'm hoping to get a new job in the government department charged with leading the rebuild as I want to make sure the community sector is well looked after.

Funny old world innit?


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## Scott DeWar (May 14, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> That said, there is a* huge amount of optimism about how we are going to rebuild the city and heaps of ideas of how we should go about it.* I'm hoping to get a new job in the government department charged with leading the rebuild as I want to make sure the community sector is well looked after.
> 
> Funny old world innit?




This. This is what makes  community. This is what holds the community together. This is the glue the binds souls and spirits to a place with a strength greater then any force on earth. This hope.

My hope is for the greatest of successes,.

Just watch out when that new island pops up off the ocean floor.


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## Rabbitbait (May 14, 2011)

I didn't mention - we are gaming again! YAY. Now the only thing stopping me gaming as much as I would like to is being married with kids. That's the way it should be.


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## DumbPaladin (May 14, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> I didn't mention - we are gaming again! YAY. Now the only thing stopping me gaming as much as I would like to is being married with kids. That's the way it should be.





I'm glad to hear that good news! I'm sure the gaming is just as much of a salve to you as it is to everyone else in your group.  

Also, good luck getting that job that will allow you to help in the rebuilding -- and renaissance -- of your city!

--D.P.


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 13, 2011)

*Boom! More earthquakes.*

And just as we thought it was calming down - 2 massive earthquakes today - right under the city. It's taken me hours to get home and I'm glad to find the power is on. But apparently lots of buildings have collapsed in the central city, rockfalls have crushed houses and people are generally shaken.

No reports of fatalities yet, mostly because the entire central city was still under military cordon and people have been prevented from going back to their houses if it has looked like they might be dangerous.

Sounds like some demolition workers have been injured.

Lots of liquification coming up from underground again and lots of flooding.

I'd be interested to know if this makes international news.


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## falcarrion (Jun 13, 2011)

I haven't heard anything on the news.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jun 13, 2011)

Its made the Front page of most Australian based online Papers.. Im guessing it will hit the paper versions tomorrow. 


From what Ive read it was 2 earthquakes, one 5.5 and one 6 and that some houses have been destroyed. Hope all of the enworld gamers are safe and sound.


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## DumbPaladin (Jun 13, 2011)

No coverage of it here, either.


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## GandalfMithrandir (Jun 13, 2011)

I have not seen anything, and I won't be very surprised if I don't see anything, what I've found with American news is that it follows something for about 2 weeks before it moves onto something else that happened. Yes, there are exceptions but generally that's what I've found.


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## Scott DeWar (Jun 14, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> And just as we thought it was calming down - 2 massive earthquakes today - right under the city. It's taken me hours to get home and I'm glad to find the power is on. But apparently lots of buildings have collapsed in the central city, rockfalls have crushed houses and people are generally shaken.




As I am sure there is no pun intended on the earthquake-shaken comment,  I will follow up on a serious note: I had to do some searching on  the net sights of fox just to get a hit on the 5.2 mag. quake. Under normal conditions that is not much, but a city near total collapse like yours it can be devastating at the best.


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 14, 2011)

Now that the scientists have finished analysing - the two quakes were 5.7 and 6.3. Both were shallow, and both were directly underneath us. It was a 6.3 in February that destroyed us. An update has also confirmed that one person died.

It was lucky the central city is still cordoned off as lots of buildings completely collapsed and a number of buildings that were considered OK are now teetering.

My wife and I had a very serious discussion today about whether we sell our house, take the loss and just get the heck out. We are tired and frazzled, and my wife is scared to go to the shops. I might start looking for work in other cities.

Apparently there is a massive exodus starting. A poll yesterday showed 26% of people were planning to go now, and another 25% would like to leave but don't feel that they can because of work and mortgages. (Mortgages work differently in New Zealand - you cannot walk away from the debt and give the house back to the bank).

And you have to remember that this poll can only have been taken of people who have electricity. As of this morning 20,000 houses are still cut off. And many many more do not have working water or sewerage.

It's all a bit grim today. I'm sure we'll feel better next week.


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## Janx (Jun 14, 2011)

Thanks for sharing your experiences.    Sounds like you've been triple whacked by earthquakes.

If you have time, here's some questions I'm curious about.  Talking to somebody living there being more informative than watching the news.

Is there insurance or government protection from the banks for mortgages in an event like this?  Given that an entire city probably can't make its mortgage payment, let alone what they were paying for has been damaged/destroyed.

If folks are leaving, where are they going?  To another city?  Island?  Country?

Is everyone pretty civil and helpful, or is it pretty dangerous to be in the city?

Is there enough food, water, supplies for folks over there?

Was the whole country affected this badly, or just your city mainly?


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## Scott DeWar (Jun 15, 2011)

at least if the building is destroyed, you might be able to get a loan and rebuild your home. (hopefully)


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 15, 2011)

Janx said:


> Thanks for sharing your experiences.    Sounds like you've been triple whacked by earthquakes.
> 
> If you have time, here's some questions I'm curious about.  Talking to somebody living there being more informative than watching the news.
> 
> ...




I don't mind questions - the whole point of this thread for me is that it is somewhere to vent.

Normal insurance cover doesn't cover if you lose your job because of the earthquake. However the government has set up a special benefit for people who can't live in their house but still have to pay their mortgage. This benefit helps with the cost of renting another house. They are also setting up a heap of temporary housing in the local parks that aren't in damaged areas. The normal replacement insurance situation applies for damaged houses (except New Zealand has a special government fund that covers the first $100,000 of damage - this was set up in the 1930's so has lots of money in it now). However the extent of damage is so great that it is taking many many months to even get the insurance companies to do an inspection. And then there are the areas where the house is not totally destroyed but the government is going to order that the land must be abandoned. They are trying to work out with the insurance companies how that will be paid for, but have made the committment that anyone who loses their house will get the value of it pre-earthquakes.

Folks are going everywhere. Most are staying within New Zealand of course, but as Christchurch is the third biggest city (approx 400,000 people) in New Zealand it has put pressure on every other place - particularly the smaller towns near Christchurch which have had massive and sudden increases in population that they don't quite have the infrastructure to cope with.

This has become an incredibly patient, supportive and helpful wee society with everyone looking out for everyone else. We all feel like refugees in our own town and it gives us all something in common. When someone asks 'how are you?' they are honestly wnating to know now. There is still a criminal element of course, but I think that in terms of people, Christchurch is safer than it has ever been.

People think that in a major disaster anarchy will ensue - nothing could be further from the truth. In a disaster people generally care more for each other, share more, get to know other people more and act more civilised. However you also need to keep in mind that we are in a city where every single person is tired and traumatised so we have to be gentle with each other and all we can really do is just keep going. We are also constantly anxious because there are constant aftershocks and every time the ground shakes you have a small moment of worry when you assess whether it will be another big quake or not.

My office is now in an industrial area and trucks constantly rattle the building - not good for the nerves.

No problems with food and supplies now - we have our emergency systems well organised after 9 months of this. However water and sewerage remain a big problem as so many pipes are broken and keep on getting broken with the aftershocks, and power is still a bit intermittant. It's winter here and quite a few people without power are being admitted to hospital with hypothermia. Most of the east side of town now has portaloos on every corner (do you call them portajohns?). A lot of the town is back to fetching water from tankers and everyone who can get water through their taps has to boil it before using it. At work today we lost power for about half an hour, and then the water for a couple of hours - so you really can't take anything for granted.

A whole heap of people have mud, silt and sewerage flowing through their houses again which is just foul.

Nowhere else in the country is affected by the earthquake directly at all. On a world scale these quakes aren't huge - it's just the fact that they are directly under the city. That coupled with the makeup of the ground under the city has given us something called the trampoline effect. You know when you are jumping on a trampoline with someone and then they suddenly jump out of sequence and you crash down hard - that's what it is like. We've been told that in terms of cities we have taken more force than any other city ever. The only reason that more damage wasn't done is because we are quite careful about earthquake codes. However the force we took was 180% of what modern earthquake codes allow for. The ground force acceleration was 4 times what Japan recently had in it's 9.0 earthquake despite ours only being a 6.3 on the ricterscale. Apparantly after Monday's big quakes most of the buildings in the central city are on a lean and another couple of hundred need immediate demolition.
Radio New Zealand : News : Christchurch Earthquake : Scientists say trampoline effect worsened quake

Personally I'm feeling a bit better now that I know I have options - I've designed new ways of doing things over the last 4 months here with the type of work that I do, and I did a bit of asking some of my contacts around the country if they'd be interested in me setting up my methods in their regions. They are very interested so if we feel we need to escape I should be able to sort it for our family.

Phew, that's about the biggest post I've ever written on the old interwebs.


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## DumbPaladin (Jun 15, 2011)

Port-o-pottys, [MENTION=60100]Rabbitbait[/MENTION].

We call them Port-o- (or Porto-) pottys.  :|

There are many other not lovely names for them.


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 15, 2011)

Incidentally, here's a video of the son of one of my gaming group which was being shot  when the earthquake hit on Monday.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Lr7z-8rlY]YouTube - ‪Magnitude 6.0 caught on film - Christchurch 13 June 2011‬‏[/ame]


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## falcarrion (Jun 15, 2011)

Hang in there Rabbit. We are all rooting for you and your famly.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jun 16, 2011)

Red the Law and Order/Anarchy Issue in NZ. Having been there once, I have to say that have the nicest and most polite police in the world. I was in Auckland and there was a protest march going on. Lots of loudhailers but it was a peaceful march. THe best comparison is to say watch 'Police 10 7' a NZ version of Cops. Compare it to Cops.

Then you look at a supposedly civilised country like Greece. They seem to use any reason to have a riot, protest marches seem to always turn violent.


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## Scott DeWar (Jun 16, 2011)

Wow, brings back not so fond memories. I believe the last quake I expirenced in california was feb 9 1970 at 645 am


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## Janx (Jun 16, 2011)

DumbPaladin said:


> Port-o-pottys, [MENTION=60100]Rabbitbait[/MENTION].
> 
> We call them Port-o- (or Porto-) pottys.  :|
> 
> There are many other not lovely names for them.




or Portapotty or port-a-potty

Here in the states, I don't think all places turn into thugtown after disasters.

Let's just say Louisana and N'awlins aren't necessarily well thought of by its neighbors and Katrina didn't help improve that impression.  Thought NPR had some stories about the better folk there.

Here in Houston, most folks pull together after a hurricane.  People help each other clean up, anybody with a grill is BBQing for the neighborhood, since food'll spoil while the power's out.

I reckon just about every place that's been hit bad by tornadoes has also been noteworthy on their behavior as well.


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## Scott DeWar (Jun 16, 2011)

Gulfport Mississippi was hit by Katrina and that was a community that looked to help others.


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 20, 2011)

What a difference a week makes.

Last week everyone was crumbling. At work lots of people away trying to sort our their personal situations, and those that were there were all on the edge of tears all the time. Nearly half the people in Christchurch said that they wanted to get out.
Lot's of children are now refusing to go to school - they are just too scared and the trauma councilors are swamped.

My wife was scared to go into town and scared for me going to work. The whole town was just on edge.

This week everyone seems to have gotten it together again, everyone is talking about how to use the new opportunities that the latest disaster has given us and generally there is a more positive feel. Everyone is still anxious, but what a difference a weekend makes.

We are all waiting to hear which suburbs will have to be abandoned. At the moment the unofficial estimate is that 12,000 houses will be abandoned because the ground slumping is so great that the areas will basically go underwater in the next decent rain.

Big parts of Christchurch are now a ghost town - no-one lives there except a few hardcore people who will not be moved despite broken houses with no facilities and immediate danger.

My wife and I were talking about selling up and going somewhere else. We are not now. We will stay and be part of rebuilding this beautiful broken city. I think that there is a new feeling now - that of grim determination


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## Scott DeWar (Jun 20, 2011)

I wonder of the sewage leached silt wold make good crops> (trying to find a rose in a pile of manure here for you.)


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 22, 2011)

Wow! What's going on. There were earthquakes all night last night. I'm at work now but nobody has slept so it's all a bit weird. The earth gods are angry with us. There was one just before that literally threw us (and our desks, chairs etc) up into the air about half an inch. It wasn't a rumble - it was a bang.

We should be getting the official word tomorrow about which areas of town are going to be abandoned. It will be a big emotional day.

[MENTION=3565]Scott[/MENTION] - I'm afraid not, the silt that comes up is nutrient poor and raw sewerage is something to be avoided at any time.

Strange strange times.


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## falcarrion (Jun 22, 2011)

I was looking at the map of New Zealand and see that it is in two sections.
could this be the beginning of New Zealand breaking up into 3 sections?
May take 100 years or more but with the constant earthquakes. It is possable.


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## falcarrion (Jun 22, 2011)

FYI
GeoNet – Recent New Zealand Earthquakes


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 22, 2011)

falcarrion said:


> FYI
> GeoNet – Recent New Zealand Earthquakes





Try this one: Canterbury Quake Live

It takes the data from the Geonet site and puts it on a map.


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 22, 2011)

And after the game tonight talking to the gaming group - only one of us is not in the process of considering whether to leave. Scary stuff.

On a more relevant note - last week they had to flee from the Garden of Graves after two of the party members were killed by beetle swarms and had to be left behind. They may return later but right now they are back in the small town of Valeron in Thrane where they have just defeated rampaging Grell which were looking for the 'Tear of Knowledge'.


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## jonesy (Jun 22, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> And after the game tonight talking to the gaming group - only one of us is not in the process of considering whether to leave. Scary stuff.
> 
> On a more relevant note - last week they had to flee from the Garden of Graves after two of the party members were killed by beetle swarms and had to be left behind. They may return later but right now they are back in the small town of Valeron in Thrane where they have just defeated rampaging Grell which were looking for the 'Tear of Knowledge'.



<< How to recognize a roleplayer.

"Scary stuff.. but here's what's going on in our campaign."


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## Scott DeWar (Jun 23, 2011)

jonesy said:


> << How to recognize a roleplayer.
> 
> "Scary stuff.. but on a more relevant note .. .. .. ..."




I saw that and had a big grin as I read it.

but back to real life for a moment. I went to the Canterbury sight and clicked on the list to the left of the map and noticed that there was a recurring location to the south west of Christchurch that seems to be of an alarming regularity. Please use discretion as to whether you stay or not.


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 23, 2011)

Yeh, there are still about 5 or 6 quakes a day at the moment.

Yesterday was a big day - they announced the areas that will be abandoned which adds up to about 5000 houses. There is a river that runs through town, and it's almost every house near the river all the way into the central city.

But there are another 10,000 houses that they need to reassess, and all the houses in the hill subsurbs that have not been assessed yet because there hasn't been time after the earthquake last week that caused lots of the hill to fall away.

But an answer for 5000 houses at least - and the people interviewed were sad to leave but happy that they finally knew what was happening. Lots of those houses have been abandoned for a while now anyway.

quakeland-cs3


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 23, 2011)

Whoops - let me clarify. It's not actually the houses that need to be abandoned - it's the land. The land is so severly damaged that it will not be able to be rebuilt on. In most cases those houses are destroyed anyway.

However the government has offered to buy those houses and land from the owners at the rate of the last Government valuation (which was done in 2007) and then the government will work with the insurance companies. In most cases this is pretty close to the pre-earthquake value so it's a pretty good deal - particularly as it means that the owners won't have to go through the miles of red tape that the insurance companies are throwing up.

We have discovered that the insurance you pay for in case of disaster becomes very difficult to access in the case of a major disaster. The insurance companies are doing everything they can to slow the process down.


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 23, 2011)

Scott DeWar said:


> ... and noticed that there was a recurring location to the south west of Christchurch that seems to be of an alarming regularity. Please use discretion as to whether you stay or not.





Yep, that is one of the two main fault lines. That one goes right through the city. The other one is slightly to the west.

There are a couple of other fault lines - two of which go through the city in different places and one up north and out to sea - but not so far out that it would cause a Tsunami.

There's been a lot of surveying of what's going on underground over the last 9 months.


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 23, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> On a more relevant note - last week they had to flee from the Garden of Graves after two of the party members were killed by beetle swarms and had to be left behind. They may return later but right now they are back in the small town of Valeron in Thrane where they have just defeated rampaging Grell which were looking for the 'Tear of Knowledge'.




Bonus points for anyone who can name the two published adventures that I am using at the moment.


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## jonesy (Jun 23, 2011)

Rabbitbait said:


> Bonus points for anyone who can name the two published adventures that I am using at the moment.



Tomb of Horrors and something from Eberron (which I'm not that familiar with).


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## Rabbitbait (Jun 23, 2011)

jonesy said:


> Tomb of Horrors and something from Eberron (which I'm not that familiar with).




Half right - it is Tomb of Horrors, but the other one is not in Eberron. My campaign is though - I've translated both adventures to fit.


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## Rabbitbait (Feb 5, 2013)

Just thought I'd give an update. Its now two years later and the quakes have quietened down quite a bit. We've had over 11,000 now. The central city is still inaccessable and about 2/3 of the buildings have been demolished.Still quite a few still to go as well. We will be pretty much building a new city, but it will be magnificent. We have finally had an offer from our insurance company which we have accepted. It will take about 3 months for the money to arrive in our bank account. Lot's of people are coming into the region now as the rebuikd is beginning and there is a lot of work available. Its agood time to come to New Zealand if you have construction experience.Only ine of our gaming group ended up leaving, but he continues in the game by webcam. Still the same campaign as two years ago.


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## Rabbitbait (Feb 5, 2013)

There is still a reasonable chance of another big quake, but to be honest anything that might get knocked down already has been.

Two years later, many of us are still in limbo waiting for life to get normal again. But there are so many plans which mean this city will be better than it ever was, and it was pretty good before. The comunity spirit is incredible, and it has been forged in adversity. I have lived in interesting times and it has given me a great appreciation for what I have. Thanks for listening.


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## jonesy (Feb 5, 2013)

Rabbitbait said:


> Just thought I'd give an update. Its now two years later and the quakes have quietened down quite a bit. We've had over 11,000 now. The central city is still inaccessable and about 2/3 of the buildings have been demolished.Still quite a few still to go as well. We will be pretty much building a new city, but it will be magnificent.



How close or far from the worst quake area is the building effort taking place? Like, is the old town going to be right next to the new one?


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## Rabbitbait (Feb 5, 2013)

Nope, we are building on top of the old one - so exactly the same place. Multiple reasons for that, but all of them are good.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Feb 5, 2013)

Rabbitbait said:


> There is still a reasonable chance of another big quake, but to be honest anything that might get knocked down already has been.
> 
> Two years later, many of us are still in limbo waiting for life to get normal again. But there are so many plans which mean this city will be better than it ever was, and it was pretty good before. The comunity spirit is incredible, and it has been forged in adversity. I have lived in interesting times and it has given me a great appreciation for what I have. Thanks for listening.




Good to hear you guys are coming back, resilient like tempered steel!


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