Life goes on...

Life is returning to Christchurch. We have been incredibly lucky with no loss of life but there is a lot of damage around the city. At the moment buildings are being demolished and roads are being repaired. We are still having aftershocks.
Even though you think something like this does not affect you, it does. The other day I went into a mall and kept thinking; ‘I don’t want to be here if we have another aftershock’. These were continual but luckily have now died away.

Some roads are still being repaired but most have been repaired to the point that traffic can use them. Many people have found that the houses they live in are going to have to be pulled down and rebuilt which is putting pressure on finding them rental accommodation. It is very unsettling for people in that position.
This week I have been into several schools around Christchurch and found that the children are all coping very well. They know that if there is an aftershock they go down under their desks – they are pretty good at it. For many of them it seemed like a big adventure.

I was very impressed this weekend from someone in England (who I do not know) wanting to know how to make a donation to the earthquake disaster. As this is going to cost several billion dollars we need all the help we can get so I thought that it was lovely that someone wanted to help.

We have had a big storm over NZ this weekend - luckily Christchurch was not in line for this but down South they have had a big dump of snow and the weight of it caused the roof of a big netball stadium to collapse.