EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: (25): Destruction After 7.1 Christchurch Earthquake

I was on the 5th floor of the hotel and thought I was dreaming...had only been in bed one hour after a long journey from South Africa...was so tired and am convinced that I slept through quite a bit of that first minute.
I was in my room for quite a while trying to figure out what was going on...turned on my laptop for some light, carried it around to see if anything was in my room as it had sounded like something was running around the place.
Nothing in the room was broken or dislodged, not even the bottle of wine and two glasses perched on the mantlepiece!
If I had known about the cracks and rubble further up the building I would not have gone back when staff said we could do so at our own risk...I only left the room again when another aftershock came.
I am happy to be back home further south now and that no friends and family have been hurt - my thoughts are with those that are still in the Canterbury area.

Thank you for telling us of your experience. I just moved from Christchurch to Canada (swapping earthquakes for tornados!) but my daughter lives in the worst affected part of Chch, as well as a son living in a less affected part of town. The last 24 hours I have been fighting the urge to hop on a flight 'home' to my kids. The photos are just mind blowing. A bigger impact was seeing a video on youtube only minutes after the quake coupled with the sound. Adding the sounds of people shouting, crying, sirens blaring.....you could practically feel the cold air and smell the brick dust. Needless-to-say, I have been txting and calling my friends in Chch and have been constantly on the internet. Facebook has been a terrific source of information and photos. There has been some speculation that another 7+R might strike in the next few days. Lets pray that they are wrong.
My thoughts and prayers are with all the whanau.

I visited family there in January 2009, such a lovely place to have all this damage, my family are, thankfully safe but shocked by it all, I note that things are being dealt with quickly when you have to bear in mind the continuing after shocks, those dealing with everything need a very big thankyou, I doubt if something similar happened in this country it would be dealt with so efficiently. UK. I hope you all come through this well and dont have any more quakes of that strength in the future. Best wishes to you all.

Why do people "Thank God" after a disaster?
Do you think God caused it?
Makes me think about the last time God was on scene, what , 2000 years ago?
GOD !

I am European and have contact to a family close to Chch.

There are a lot of reports and pictures in the internet and our news (TV, radio and internet).

But: When I look at the pictures I can not see, if all the houses in an area ore just single ones are damaged. It looks like, that only the worst damages are reported and two houses far on are almost in a good state.

Several years ago was an earthquake in Taiwan and only one building was damaged. All reporters only showed this building, as if all the city looks like that one. A collegue has been there that time and reported that.

You're right Jim, I was in Los Angeles as well and when my house started shaking (I live some 225kms south of ChCh) the memories came rushing back, it's something you never, ever forget. I understand how people must be feeling, absolutely terrified.
And I didn't have to cope with any loss or damage as I was staying in a hotel that night.
Good luck to all.

Thanks stuffnz and nzherald for enabling me to keep track of events - BBC was useless other than a mini alert that the quake had occurred. Hail from Chch and recognise so many of the damaged places - including the church of my student days. So am thinking of you all and praying that the Kiwi stoicism will remain strong over the coming days and weeks, coz after the shock of being tipped out of bed and all that damage, the hard work is ahead for you all.

But thanking God too that the people injury is relatively minimal, thanks to most of you being tucked up safely(ish) in bed and the building regs designed to keep you safe even though the buildings themselves were weakened. (Next building and infrastructure design innovation should be strength to withstand M9+ quakes, given that bigger is predicted. The maximum intensity for this one having been quoted as 9, that maybe seems inadequate...)

Well done NZ for rallying so quickly, getting power in for mobile comms, restoring essential power and water in amazingly quick time etc. Small consolation at present perhaps, especially in areas still without such basics - and facing the pending storm - but NZ Civil Defense and citizens alike are showing the world how good planning and investment and training are worth their weight in gold when the unspeakable happens. God bless you all,

I was in Los Angeles in 1994, about three or four miles from the epicentre of the 6.8 tremor in Northridge,California.An event like this is unbelievable unless you experience it on a personal level! There is simply no way to relate it to others unless they have gone through it themselves.
I can empathize this situation and am relieved to see that personal injuries seem to have been minimal so far.

Very scary morning. Jumped out of bed, ran to get my son out of his bed (2yr old) and bolted out the front door. Spent the next hour sitting in the car doing quick trips inside to grab stuff (food, water, warm clothes, blankets). Road outside ripped up but we have power back on (Burwood area).

Thanks for the photos Phillip. They give a really clear picture of the devastation. Fingers crossed the storm doesn't aggravate things too much.
And good to hear that you are safe and well :-)
Anna

...still getting aftershocks after that big 7.1 magnitude this morning....one at 9.48am and the last one 10.10, which was a sharp jolt about 3.0 magnitude ( richter scale?) ....a bit os structural damge here...jamming doors and a couple of aluminium windows out of alignment, cracks in ceiling and outside concrete, also (upswelling) liquification of soil on property.....it could have been worse for here!