Aspiring Change Life Coach - Life Coaching and Personal Inspiration

Many of you will vaguely remember. It happened 8 weeks ago. It happened to a tiny island nation 11,680 miles away (infact, if you carried on, you'd start coming back!), you can't get much further away than that from the UK. It hit the news then faded out.

But people, my people, are still living on edge, with frayed and raw nerves; my people are still living through history; my people are still rocking and rolling.

The facts about the earthquake on September 4th 2010 in Christchurch, New Zealand are:

• the original 'big one' was a magnitude 7.1, the same as in Haiti
• it centred just 10km beneath the earth's surface
• it lasted approximately 40 seconds
  
• there were no deaths, 100 reported injuries
  
• 2/3 of the buildings in the city were damaged: 100, 000 of 160, 000.
• damage was reported in cities 190-220 miles away
• city residents had time with no power, water or gas supplies 
• it caused the earth's surface to move 11ft to the right
  
• there have been 2200 aftershocks since then- 3 @ magnitude 5.4 and just last week, one of 5.0 at a depth of only 9km below the earth's surface causing repeated damage of the original one
• just this week, Oct 26th, there were 10 recorded quakes with an average of 3.4 magnitude
  

What you won't see reported on the news:

• the continuing aftershocks and quakes have created a new 'normal' within the residents of Christchurch: a 3 magnitude is nothing to be concerned about
• feeling the ground roll and hearing the earth roar and rumble is something now only to be cautiously waited out.
• some children are still having nightmares and some continue to sleep with their parents out of fear
• parents are reluctant to have children separated for any length of time; or for them to go back to playing with friends, out of eye-sight or grabbing distance

One of the best personal stories I have read so far, that gives you a very real idea of the emotional impact of this earthquake, comes from a New Zealand website/forum for women, 'Mum's on Top': 

Rock and Roll, Baby

to NZ, with love x

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