Update

The city centre is under a state of emergency and only authorised people are allowed in. Some suburbs have been hit very hard and I know several people who have lost their homes. It is estimated that up to 20% of houses will have to be rebuilt.

In our area things are getting back to normal. The shops are open though the corner shops in the picture below had to be demolished. Power and water are back but we still have to boil drinking water for three minutes. I am back at work and Tracy should be going in tomorrow.

There have been over 100 aftershocks since the big quake and this has people a bit jumpy. I am very tired from being woken repeatedly during the night. Some of the older buildings in the city centre have been further damaged by the aftershocks and will have to be demolished.

Everyone is amazed that no one was killed. The earthquake in Haiti earlier this year was smaller than the one we experienced and over 100,000 people were killed. We were lucky, the quake struck early in the morning when most people where in bed. If it had happened during the day many people in the city centre would have been killed by falling debris. The other thing that saved us was our low density wooden homes.

James has been brilliant during this, he now knows all about how earthquakes happen and will explain it to anyone who will listen. Aftershocks don't bother him, if he even mentions them at all it is to say 'That was a big one, eh!