I hope all our New Zealand Paddlewise members came through the earthquake alright! Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Wednesday, 23 February 2011 10:22 Mark said: I hope all our New Zealand Paddlewise members came through the earthquake Mark Appreciate your concern - it's a pretty grim time in Christchurch and we're a small enough community that everyone in the country has friends or relatives down there. I'm safe in Auckland and I know John Kirk-Anderson (also on Paddlewise) is safely alive - from his photos of yesterday's action - Google them. John's a staff photographer for Christchurch's newspaper. Just a year ago in 2010, John was spending a couple of nights at my place in Auckland for our Coastbusters kayaking symposium. At 4 am that day, we got a Civil Defence Alert that an earthquake in Chile was sending a serious Tsunami our way. Chile is about 10,000 km away - so we'd somehow left it out of our risk-assessment plan... John was hugely valuable that day, when we had to rapidly pull together a pre-dawn emergency planning team to cancel the on-the-water day and divert 150 kayakers from the target zone. In 2010, had high tide been at a different time, the surge from the incoming Tsunami (which fortunately turned out to be somewhat less dangerous than originally feared) would still have washed away John's kayaks & boatshed from the shoreline near his home in Christchurch. Little did we think that 2011 would bring something much worse. John has lost one colleague at the paper - when their multi-story office building partially collapsed. I'm hoping that's the extent of it; but I'm not bugging him for details. Everyone down there has a lot on their hands right now. Best Regards Paul Hayward, Auckland, New Zealand *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 1:25 AM, Paul Hayward <pdh_at_mmcl.co.nz> wrote: > > Appreciate your concern - it's a pretty grim time in Christchurch and we're > a small enough community that everyone in the country has friends or > relatives down there. > > Paul.... thanks for the update. We're all pretty concerned up here for you guys. Photos and videos are alarming, to say the least. Craig *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hi Folks, and thanks for the concern. When the earthquake hit I was at my desk and went under it as the floor above collapsed, bringing rubble and ceilings over my desk and that of a colleague nearby. I got out OK and we dug him out from beneath steel beams, bricks and concrete before evacuating the building. My wife works on the same floor as me and she also got out safely. Unfortunately several others were trapped in the floor above and one died while two others are critical, one of whom is pregnant. In an aftershock the entire top floor collapsed, with several people trapped up there, but amazingly there were no further injuries. After we were safe I went around the central city covering the event, as I'm a news photographer. There were many scenes of death and destruction, and many of calmness and a helping spirit. Heroic deeds were carried out by untrained, every-day-folk who just got stuck in. I expected my house to be a write-off as it is only kilometres from the epicentre, but it is untouched. The money on bracing was well spent. I have yet to check the boatshed but I'm sure it is fine. The days since then have been a busy time as we try to record the event. We have published a newspaper every day since, which has been incredibly well received. Amid the devestation for people sitting with no power, and hence no Internet or TV, there is a familiar "thunk" as The Press lands on their driveway. For many it is their only view of what is happening outside their immediate surroundings. The days, months, and years ahead will be a challenge for us all, and a national kayak forum in a few weeks will be a welcome break. I'm supposed to be organising the instructors, but I will be passing that task on. Thanks for the thoughts, and stay safe. Cheers JKA John Kirk-Anderson Banks Peninsula New Zealand *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Great to hear that you and your wife are OK. I wish you the very best in dealing with your community's tragedy. Richard Culpeper *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
So glad you and your wife are ok and the house is undamaged. Some of us... well, maybe just me... are not all that clear about just where in NZ you all live so, at least for me, it was a matter of thinking that maybe all of you were caught up or maybe none. I'm sure the ham radio operators are up and running even if the Internet is not. Thanks for keeping us posted. Stay safe!!! Craig *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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