In which an earthquake

[zeborah]

I'm sitting in my safe space while aftershocks rock my house. I've never felt one so big and never wanted to. That was scary. Now hoping family are okay - not phoning because emergency services need the line and also I hope they're sitting in their safe spaces because the aftershocks are still bigger than most quakes I've experienced.

Anyway I'm safe, just... shaken. Also it's cold.

ETA: Family all okay - the family home has power out (just been texted that I "may be it 4 meals" - does this mean I have to clean my kitchen?) and is messy (I've got things on my living room floor that didn't used to be myself), me and my brother's places still have power. Just spotted the cat hiding under the bed. Reports of buildings down in the central business district but no reports of injuries so far. 7.4, by the way. For those of you playing at home, that's quite big. Little aftershocks continue but they're just a nuisance keeping me in my safe spot (I ventured out long enough to get clothes on.)

ETA2: Geonet's listing of the quake. 30km west of Christchurch - Christchurch is where we are.

Comments

[karinfromnosund]

I have only experienced one earthquake, and I thought it was the cats... It was obviously not as big as this one, but got a lot of news coverage anyway.

Glad you are ok, hope everyone else is too.

[brooksmoses]

Eeek! That sounds pretty frightening indeed. The worst I've felt was in the upper 4's, I believe, and was distressing enough.

Glad to hear you're okay!

[zeborah]

Yes, see my update. 7.4! All family fine to my knowledge, am now listening to the radio for news.

[zeborah]

7.4! (Added an ETA.) ...So glad it wasn't worse.

[julesjones]

The time difference means that checking LJ when I got home from work was the first I heard of it. Glad to hear you're okay.

[zeborah]

Yeah, I figured it'd be good to get the "I'm safe" message out quickly. Plus I had nothing else to do while sitting in my safespot waiting out the aftershocks. :-)

[green_knight]

I'm glad you're ok. 7.4 is... pretty substantial.

[zeborah]

Yeah. It was... quite something. I like my safe space so much; it's just only slightly bigger than me so I could crouch in it with arms over my head and elbows braced against the sides of the space to hold myself in there. ...Yeah, that's how powerful the rolling was, that I had to.

(Huh, people on the radio are saying it feels counterintuitive to them to stay in doorways when they want instinctively to run outside. I didn't have that at all; I felt safer in my spot than anywhere, I was just nervous that it mightn't be safe enough.)
(They're also saying it's been revised down to 7.1. But still.)

[rushthatspeaks]

Eeep! Glad you're okay.

[dsgood]

Glad you're okay!