At about 4:30am we were woken up by a violent rattling that even though we have never felt one before, we both knew it was an earthquake. While Jocelyn froze from panic, Trey was cool-headed as usual and grabbed Jocelyn out of bed and we both stood in the doorway of our bedroom. You could feel the whole building swaying and glass smashing all around. It lasted for what felt like was forever but reports are 40 seconds. It felt like it would never end. For hours afterwards (and even still almost 12 hours later, we are still feeling aftershocks. Some of the aftershocks have been as big as 5.3 which many would consider a pretty good earthquake in itself. Reports have said that we have had at least a dozen aftershocks.
Here is a surveillance video from a local electronics store that gives a good depiction of what it was like
We were VERY fortunate and our only casualty was the duty free liquor we had stocked up on (vodka, wine, bubbles, etc.) Everything was shifted but nothing else broke. We were also one of the few buildings that did not lose power at all during the quake or after. Our water was manually shut off due to pipe breaks but now seems to be back up and running.
Once we spoke to family and friends we decided to venture out into the city to see just how devastating this quake was to Christchurch. Fortunately, it turned out to be a gorgeous, sunny, hot day - people all walking around assessing the damage and wearing shorts and sandals!!
Many of the roads were closed and will be for a while as they determine what is safe. All we can really say is that it is a blessing that we fared as well as we did and that it happened at 4:30am and not 4:30pm. With the pictures we took - which weren't even the worst hit parts that were closed off to the public -you can see that if it had happened during the day, surely people would have been in these buildings and would likely have lost their lives.
We survived but Christchurch will sure have a lot to clean up in the coming weeks and months.
P.S.
(updated September 6 - we are still continuing to feel aftershocks. We have now had over 50+ aftershocks between 3.2 and 5.3 - hopefully it will end soon.
