We're Safe after the Earthquake

Hey, some of you have been emailing or messaging asking if we're okay after the severe earthquakes around New Zealand in the middle of the night last night. Yes, we are fine. We're safe, and we clearly got off easy, as even people on our street had thing break as they were thrown off shelves, but we have no damage at all.

I was sleeping (like a normal person at midnight) and was shocked out of bed by a huge, bucking jolt, followed by J running in from his office (where he was unwisely staying up late) saying that it was an earthquake and trying to decide if we should drop, cover, and hold, or run outside. After a bit of indecision, another big jolt made us decide that our house, perched as it is on the side of a steep hill, was not the safest place, so we hurried outside. Just as we did, however, it started calming down. We probably should have stayed outside longer, but I went back to bed and fell asleep in about half a second. J said that the many aftershocks, some severe, throughout the rest of the night kept him up, but I slept straight through all the rest.

The earthquake originated on the South Island, and unfortunately did quite a lot of damage down there, including two deaths, which is horribly tragic. If you'd like to read more details of the national effects or see videos, click here for a live news feed.

Wellington, being quite close to the South Island, got quite a bit of damage as well. We were warned not to go anywhere near the central business district today, as there was a tsunami warning and quite a bit of damage to some buildings. I just read an update that parts of downtown are still blocked off.

Both J's and my jobs are closed today, as are many things in or near the central business district. We are now hearing that we will be having winds up to 140kph (87mph), which is "severe gale force" this evening and tomorrow morning, but Wellington is used to high winds, so I'm hoping that everything will withstand that just fine. (Side note, a rolling, wavy-type earthquake just rolled past us as I was typing this, but it was really kind of soothing, compared with the others. It was probably an geological apology of some sort).

In sum, I feel awful for the damage that has been done to many places, and the negative effects this will have on people's lives, but I am thankful that J and I, as well as our friends, are safe. Please don't worry about us, as we are fine.