Shake, rattle and roll

The day for many people in the central parts of NZ including Wellington started early - 12:02am to be precise. An earthquake which lasted FOREVER (turns out FOREVER is about 2 mins). It was the longest quake I've ever felt. Significantly larger in magnitude than Chch but because epicentre was between Kaikoura and Hanmer Springs the loss of life and property minimised. I suspect that is no consolation at all to the people of either Kaikoura or Hanmer - both towns are totally isolated. The roads and rail links to Kaikoura are devastated. Hard to imagine this will be rectified quickly although this is an area of expertise for Jamie Grindley! This image of the land near the epicentre is pretty dramatic - the brown bits got added today!

We have a house guest from Auckland. Anna is one of 4 young(ish) people with arthritis who are rehearsing for a play to be put on in Auckland later this month. Anna had never felt an earthquake before this morning - she now has the experience of around 400. Neither had 2 of the other 3 - all been a pretty overwhelming day.

For many people like us not involved in emergency services the day has been a lot of staying connected with family, friends, colleagues and riding out aftershocks. Getting back to "normal" tomorrow will be good. Unfortunately engineers yet to assess my office building so I, and my colleagues, will be working from home.

We are all hoping there might be long gaps between shakes tonight to assist sleep patterns - at present the average is a quake every 3 mins which is not a big gap.