Reader's Digest

48 | July• 2018

Another big quake rocked the build-
ing as the store manager ordered an
immediate evacuation. Tills were
left open goods abandoned as we
rushed outdoors.
I headed for home but my elec-
tronic gates were inoperable as
power was out. So I climbed a tree
and dropped into the llama paddock
rushing indoors to comfort my dogs
and cats. From my transistor radio I
listened to dreadful news of the un-
folding chaos as choppers whirred
overhead and the dust of a century of
broken masonry was thick in the air.
More cracks appeared in my walls
and landslides of books and break-
ages were in every room. I was unable
to get in touch with family but I was
one of the ‘lucky’ ones. hat day 187
people died in Christchurch and over
12000 were injured. Many lost their
homes and businesses schools and

workplaces. Seven years later Can-

tabrians are still struggling to come to

terms with their losses.

My children persuaded me to

move north to Blenheim where

my son Nick and his family live. I

found new homes for my large an-

imals and poultry sold our home

of seven years and moved north

with three Labradors three cats six

white doves; and a trailer load of pot

plants. Like many who had survived

the horrors of the quakes I was di-

agnosed with PTS disorder; and

was hoping to ind a peaceful refuge

away from seismic activit y. 

But sadly Mother Earth had dif-

ferent plans. The Marlborough re-

gion sits on another fault; lying at the

boundary of the Kermadec Trench

and Alpine fault. My new-found

peace was again shattered with the

Seddon quake which occurred on PHOTOS: LISA WILTSE/ CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES

187 people died and 12000 were injured in the

6.3magnitudequakein2011

187peoplediedand12000wereinjuredinthe