*Thanks for the update Dennis. Glad things seem to be going well there in NZ. Keep us posted.* * * *Paul * On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 12:48 PM, Dennis <[email protected]> wrote:
> Thanks, Joey, > > It has been an intense time here for me in Christchurch since the February > 22nd quake. My high-rise apartment building is empty and awaiting final > inspections to determine if it will be demolished or repaired. My > girlfriend, Colette, has taken me in and we're giving living together a try > (and it seems to be working well <smile>). My divorce from Sharon, which > has been filed and open in the US since July 2009, is now scheduled to be > completed in April when I'll be home in the US for a month. She'll get > everything in the US and I'll get everything in NZ. It's sad but we could > never agree on how to respond to events when I came down with Prostate > Cancer and the US economy went into a major tailspin. I was for continuing > with our plans to move to NZ (a good look at your own mortality makes you > not want to put off the things that you want to do). But she was for > staying on in the US and waiting for the US economy to improve again (which > I had no faith in). So, she stayed in the US and continued to run our > business, a 25 acre nursery, and I took off for NZ. That was in November > 2009. As an aside, I had my Prostate out and I am, apparently, cancer > free > now. My work was in the 12 story BNZ building just beside the Christchurch > Cathedral which collapsed and which you may have seen photos of. The BNZ > building is still standing but it is in a no-go zone. So, the company is > scattered over the city and surrounds. Most of us are working from home > using on-line links over the Internet (I'm a computer programmer) and we're > trying to scrape enough pieces together to continue to be a functioning > company. I think it'll work but it's a confusing mess. > > I wrote a long piece that I sent out recently that I'm going to attach > here. > My apologies if some of you are on dial up because it is long but it'll > give > you a good flavor of what the earthquake was like for me, personally. Your > comments on any or all of it would be appreciated. I've omitted the > photos > I attached to the original E-Mail to hold the size down but you can find > some really fine pictures of the earthquake damage here: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoftheref/ > > Cheers from Christchurch - Shakytown, New Zealand, > > Dennis G. > '85 & '86 CB700SC (my babies) > > ============== bgn EQ description =================== > Dear friends, > > After an intense eight days, I managed to reconnect to the Internet and get > my computer running. As many of you are aware, we had a major 6.3 > earthquake here at mid-day on Tuesday, February 22nd. The epicenter was > six miles/10K southeast of the city center and 3 miles/5k deep. That’s’ > very close and very shallow and it was, to say the least, a major event for > all the 300,000 people who live here. > > We expect the death toll to approach 240. Compared to some recent events > like Haiti, that doesn’t sound like much. But the difference is, of > course, > building codes crafted for safety and followed when building. > > But, even so, we had two large buildings pancake entirely and the tallest > building in town; a 26 story hotel, is leaning badly and will have to be > destroyed. In the Central Business District , 30% or more of the > buildings > have been destroyed or will have to be taken down. The entire center of > the city, called the Four Avenues area (several square miles), is entirely > off-limits and cordoned off by military and police. 55,000 people are off > work because of the cordon. At this time, they are still digging bodies > out of the rubble. > > I was lucky to have taken the day of the earthquake off and I was riding my > motorcycle when it happened. It shook so bad, I thought I had a flat tire > and stopped – but it kept shaking. When it finally stopped, I rode onto my > apartment building to see what had happened and everyone was outside. > > There didn’t seem to be much damage at first glance but closer inspection > revealed several disquieting things. There were large and widespread > liquefaction pools (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_liquefaction) in the > park across the street. A walk down into the parking garage revealed > water > pouring up from the base of the support columns and that the concrete > garage > floor was serious bowed up from pressure beneath (see the attached > pictures). Upstairs, at the base of the building I lived in, there was > serious damage to the supporting concrete and its internal rebar was > exposed. Everyone was standing out in the parking lot talking and waiting > for the aftershocks. > > I concluded that the building was very likely fatally damaged and I went > upstairs to gather what I could. Two bags of a minimal set of clothes, > passport, checkbooks, coat, bathroom items and a few other essentials. My > friend Colette had walked from her work at the courthouse a quarter mile > away to see how I was. But I was upstairs and missed her. I came down > with my bags and texted her and she text-replied that she was walking to > her > house now in Hoon Hay; about an hour’s walk away. I spend some time > talking with folks in the parking lot and went down and got my second > motorcycle from the parking garage below and brought it up. It had been > thrown to the floor by the force of the quake and the handle bars were bent > but still drivable. > > I took off then to go to her house to see what sort of shape it was in. > It > was an amazing ride. Destruction on all sides. Water and sand and silt > filled many of the roads from liquefaction. Cars and anxious people were > grid locked everywhere in their efforts to get home to their loved ones. > The motorcycle made it easier to weave in and out of traffic but it was > also > dangerous - as people were very distracted. At one point, I fell in > behind > an ambulance which was slowly clearing a way through and I just followed in > its wake. It took me nearly 45 minutes to make the 15 minute ride and > Colette and I arrived at her place at about the same moment. > > Her radio said that the quake had measured as 6.3; Lighter than the > September 4th event at 7.1. But, apparently, this one was a lot closer. > The water and power were off but her place seemed to have suffered no > damage. Her son, Jonanathan, came over and while we were all talking > about > the event, a major aftershock hit. It was big enough that I stood under a > doorway and wondered if the house would stand it. > > I left then by foot to walk back to the apartment complex to recover my 2nd > motorcycle and to begin to pull more stuff out of my apartment. I knew > that if the building was fatally damaged, as I suspected, then the > authorities would be by at some point to red-sticker it and then all access > would be blocked – perhaps forever – until it was demolished. But, given > that the disaster was city wide and serious, I estimated that I had hours > and maybe even days before the restrictions were placed. > > Colette and I agreed that when I had a load of stuff taken out of my place > and ready for transport, I’d text her and she’d drive over and we’d load it > up to take to her place. There was no point in her trying to come over > immediately, however, as the city’s streets were still in utter chaos. > > It took me an hour and ten minutes to walk back. It was amazing all the > way. Some areas sustained no damage and there were others where a row of > shop fronts were just tumbled down. Sirens, cars, anxious people, water > and silt everywhere. By the time I was passing Hagley Park near my place, > a helicopter landing area had been set up out in the open space for > emergency transport. I also passed the hospital and I could see a lot of > folks sitting out on the grassy areas around it. I assumed that some of > the wards had been evacuated. > > Back at my apartment, many people were still standing about in the parking > lot. Few were actively bringing things down from their units. > > My unit is in the B Block on level 5. New Zealanders call the ground floor > 0 whereas in the US, we call the ground floor 1. So in Kiwi terms, I was > on > the fifth floor but in the US, we’d say I was on the 6th. Not an > inconsequential distinction since I was now about to start climbing up and > down the six flights over and over again. The elevators were off as well > as all sources of power and water. The only thing that seemed to be > functioning were high-pitched alarm warnings that were repeatedly squealing > on every floor and within every unit – as if we still hadn’t noticed there > was a problem. > > This began several hours of intense packing and carrying. I’m sure I made > over 20 trips up and down. And, there was a lot of triage style decision > making as I went along. I took the most important things first and then > tried to work my way down. After two hours, I texted Colette to come over > if she could, and then I pressed on. I never heard from her so I texted > again in 15 minutes. And then repeatedly after that ever trip down. And > still no reply. At that point, the phone systems and cellular systems > were > massively overloaded and very little was getting through. Sometimes > partial > messages came through four and five times in a row. I tried calling her > land line and the system told me it didn’t recognize that number – which > was > an amazing response. I kept carrying and soon I had a lot of stuff > gathered up in the parking lot in a pile next to my 2nd motorcycle. > > Finally, I called her land line one more time and it went through and she > answered. She’d been texting me as well but with no response. She > agreed > head over and I then continued to carry things down. I was pretty sure > that I had two car loads down there by now (she’s got a small hatchback). > > After 30 minutes, I began to watch for her as I continued to carry. I > went > up and down many times and my legs were aching. After an hour and a half, > she still hadn’t arrived and I was getting worried about what had happened > to her. And, it was verging onto rain and all my stuff was sitting > exposed > in the parking lot. Computers, clothes, and cardboard boxes full of my > life. > > Then she arrive on foot. Without proof that she was a resident in the > area, she’d been unable to get her car through the police cordons at nearly > every corner as you got closer into the center of the city. > > We got on my 2nd motorcycle and rode back to her car, which was over 2 km > away, and left the motorcycle and brought the car back in. Now, it was > raining in earnest and I was deeply worried about my things. There was no > worries about looting as I knew many of my neighbors who were milling about > in the complex’s parking lot. We loaded up everything that we could and > stashed the rest under a partial overhang for rain protection and took off > for her place. Every trip through the city was an amazing experience. > The city was like a bee hive that had been kicked. At this point, we had > no idea of how bad the destruction had been more into the business core. > > At her place, we unloaded into the garage. In her house, there was still > no water or power. After a few minutes, I suggested we should go back for > the rest since there wasn’t much we could do there and she agreed. > > On each trip we met roadblocks and at each roadblock, what was allowed and > not allowed changed according to who you were talking to at that moment. > On one trip in the pouring rain we couldn’t go east on Harper Avenue > because the bridge over the Avon was damaged and we’d fall in. So we had > to take a complex detour into Papanui. An hour and a half later when we > returned, the traffic was flowing both ways on Harper. This is not by way > of complaint – it’s just that the level of confusion and misinformation was > intense and everyone was trying to do their best in the midst of a huge > city-wide disaster. > > We returned to the complex and most of the people in the parking lot had > cleared away due to the rain. Some, like my friend Raj and his partner > were > still trying to decide if they should try to sleep there that night or not. > The aftershocks were coming fairly regularly and some were big. With no > water or power in the rain, the buildings were just large hulking masses. > > We loaded the remaining boxes and took off again for yet one more cross > city > drive. When we returned to Colette’s we found the power on which was > unexpected and lovely. We could make tea to warm ourselves and something > to eat. The water, however, was still off. > > That night, as we tried to sleep, we didn’t sleep much. Every 20 minutes > or so, there’d be another aftershock. The violence of some of them worried > you and you wondered how strong they’d get and if you’d have to seek > shelter > on the floor beside the bed. You could hear some coming from a distance > like a train and others hit you suddenly , like a slap. Some were deep or > distant and rumbled far away while others were shallow, You could feel the > earth settling and resettling on a scale that was, and is, so hard to > imagine. It makes one feel very small indeed. > > Colette’s talked about having survivor’s guilt over the fact that so many > lost their homes - and yet she’s come through unscathed. The emotions for > everyone are running high in something like this. Death, act of quiet > heroism, anguish, fear and grief mixed with human compassion and caring in > all proportions surround you amid the scenes of destruction. > > Watching how a ‘civil’ society responds to something like this is also an > education. Yes, there are looters and con-artists out immediately but > they > are the tiny minority. The real picture is that it isn’t every man for > himself but more that everyone is looking out for each other when they can. > The emergency folks were out immediately and worked for days without rest > while they had no idea of the state of their own homes and little of their > loved ones. ‘Civil’ in that folks obeyed directions and pulled over to > let > the ambulances through. The search and rescue folks from the US and Japan > and other countries who came in the days following the quake said that they > had never encountered better civil disaster coordination organization. > People have worked incessantly to get water and power back on as soon as > humanly possible. Centers were set up and manned immediately for the > homeless. The Mayor said over the radio, “Check on your neighbors and > help them” and it wasn’t a cliché. > > The next morning, on Wednesday, we went back over and this time Colette > came > upstairs with me and we began to pack up more stuff for transport. > Everything in my kitchen cabinets had been tossed out onto the hard floor > and sugar was mixed with pills and glass shards as well as tools and > silverware. It was a huge mess. My bookcases had also dumped their > contents all the way across the room. > > She gathered up everything salvageable from the kitchen and from the > drawers > of my desk while I packed various other gear. Again, multiple trips up > and > down were made and then, in the mid-afternoon, it became obvious that the > authorities were about to restrict entry. > > On my next to last trip I was told by a police officer that I couldn’t > enter > the building anymore. But Colette has talked to another officer and > determined that what the law actually said was that until the building had > been officially assigned a red ‘no-go’ sticker, that the authorities could > only advise you not to enter for health reasons. > > This was an important distinction because I’d just realized that I’d failed > in all my previous trips to get a box that was critical. It contained a > lifetime of slides and all the family photographs that had been passed down > to me by my family. I talked to yet another officer to make sure of my > facts and then I went back to the gate where the officer wasn’t letting > folks in anymore. > > I explained what was up there and that I needed to, I had to, go up one > more > time. And I explained that I was aware of what the law was in this case. > He tried to bluff me and I told him that if he was going to stop me, he was > going to have to arrest me. I was nice but firm. Finally he relented > but > said I had to be in and out as quickly as I could and I agreed. And thus, > my family photos and many, many slides were saved as well. > > At Colette’s when we’d returned with the last of the stuff, the water had > come back on with very low pressure – but it was on, so that was nice. We > could have showers. The water however, if consumed, had to be boiled the > authorities were saying. Pipes broken, sewage running loose, there was > too > much danger of cross over. > > Thursday dawned and we’d slept better. Maybe we were getting used to the > aftershocks. After some rearranging of things (my stuff was everywhere), > we went on a motorcycle ride so see what had become of our city and to > revisit my apartment complex at Park Terrace. Security was still loose > and > we could still walk into the complex’s parking lot and into the parking lot > of The George Hotel next door. > > A half dozen folks were still in the complex gathered at the two small > isolated units at the front near the car gate. They were drinking beers > and having a barbeque. They said they were guarding the place but I > suspect some of them were there because they didn’t know where else to go > and because the authorities hadn’t tightened the security cordon yet. The > main part of the complex was definitely off-limits. > > In the coming days, we took numerous motorcycle rides through the parts of > the city we could access and revisited Park Terrace repeatedly. With each > visit, the security cordon grew tighter. The entire Four Avenues area, > which is considered to the Central Business District (CBD) of Christchurch > was cordoned off with police and military. It became common to see > armored > personnel carriers rolling down the street or parked across intersections. > > On Friday, the authorities decided that two of the towers (A & B) in the > Park Terrace complex might fall down in a large aftershock so an additional > restriction was placed around them and Park Terrace road from Bealey on > the > north to Armagh on the south was made an absolute no-go zone. A 6 PM to 6 > AM curfew was imposed for the entire Four Avenues area with arrest on-sight > orders. In the deeper interior of the CBD, near where the two buildings > had pan-caked and surrounding the 26 story Grand Excelsior Hotel, which had > acquired a highly visible lean during the initial quake, addition ‘no-go’ > zones were imposed. > > By Saturday, no one was left in the Park Terrace complex. They may have > been gone by Friday. > > With each ride, we saw different areas. Once, we went up Avondale to my > friend Roy’s house to find him sweeping up. He thought his house would > probably be condemned. All around the edges, the foundations had > shattered. We tried to visit my friend, Dorien’s place but I wasn’t > willing to take the motorcycle through the huge puddles blocking her street > without knowing what was under them, so we rode on. > > We rode down through Ferrymead on the way to the beach communities. It > reminded me of driving in third-world cities where road repair are often > very badly neglected and everyone just drives where ever they must to avoid > the holes and piles. In places, the remains of brick buildings would just > lie in piles. Entire walls would be fallen away in other places. > > By now, crews of people, many of them part of volunteer student armies, > just > went where ever they were needed and began to shovel up all the > liquefaction > sand and silt up into piles on the sides of the roads. Everywhere, people > had painted warnings on the roads of holes or dips or rises. > > Down by the beach, a Christchurch icon, Shag Rock, stood in the surf, > shattered into fragments. Further along, the backs of houses were caved > in > by the rock and dirt slides that came down the cliffs behind them. A > number of people died in these places. We stopped to see our friend, > Steve, but he was out. His apartment looked fine though he told us later > there was no water or power. He’d been involved in some of the early > rescues when the cliffs had fallen onto the houses not far from his place. > When we were there, I think he was still out doing volunteer work. > > It’s now 12 days since the quake. It took me 8 days before I got my DSL > switched over to Colette’s (she’d had dial-up before) and before I got my > computer connected up so I could get and send E-Mail. Prior to that, I > sent a few things out on Facebook via dial-up and I had an E-Mail address > I’d setup on my iPhone. A few of you will have communicated with me via > those mediums. > > When I did open up my E-Mail, I had so many messages of concern – people > asking how I was and what could they do. It was really quite a beautiful > thing to see how many friends care about you. Many of you receiving this > E-Mail are part of that group – thank you! > > So, indications are that my apartment will be demolished - though the issue > hasn’t had a final decision made. I’ve filed claims with the Earthquake > Commission (EQC) and with State Insurance who had my policy covering the > things inside my apartment. It’ll take a good long time to see how the > entire insurance picture unrolls. Years, perhaps. This was a big hit > for > a small country. We’ve yet to convene a meeting of the Body Corporate > for > Park Terrace (for US readers, that’s like a Condominium Association). The > BC had the insurance policy that covered us all and, as you can imagine, > everyone wants to know if we’re going to get 50 cents on the dollar or full > value for our losses. > > The company I work for was in the high rise BNZ building just beside > Cathedral Square. If you’ve seen pictures of Christchurch and the > earthquake damage, you’ve likely seen the ruins of the Cathedral. Our > building appears to be OK but it’ll likely be weeks, if not months, before > that part of the city is opened again. In the mean time, those of us > who’ve > begun to return to work, have setup to work from home or from other > employee’s homes or from small make-shift offices. Fortunately, most of > the services we provide to customers are provided from server systems > sitting in US based server farms – far from Christchurch. > > I’m staying now with my friend, Colette, and it looks like that may work > out > to be a long-term thing - and I’m happy about that. Most of my personal > stuff has been saved. I’ve had a big loss but I’ve also been fortunate. > If I’d been working that day, I might well have been sitting at lunch at > one > of the sidewalk cafes that were decimated by falling masonry – many were > killed that way. > > So, I have a good place to stay and people around me that care about me. > And it looks like my job will continue. It could have been far, far > worse. > > Forgive me if I’ve sent you two or more copies of this. There are so > many > people I wanted to sent this to that I may have double-booked a few. > ============== end EQ description =================== > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Joey Kelley > Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 4:59 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Nighthawk Lovers] News from Christchurch > > Ressurecting a 5 day old thread (Also known as being fashionably late) > Welcome Back Dennis! > Could you give us a further update - back to work - hows things > working out at the Girlfriend's place - did the handlebars get bent > back? > Again, great to know you're safe! > -Joey > > > -- > -Joey Kelley > JoeyKelley.com - My Life Online > JoeyFixesComputers.com - Its What I Do! > JoeyKelleyPhoto.com - Photographing Today, For Tomorrow > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en. > > -- * * * * -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. 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