We boarded ferry to Manly just past noon, and when we disembarked at 1:00pm, we were met with terrible news of an earthquake hitting Christchurch. My first thought was, Wow they were just finally recovering from the earthquake in September... We stopped outside of a news stand and stood in a pack of people glued to the TV watching scenes of the earthquake's aftermath.
Then it started to sink in, how horrible this earthquake was for the recovering Christchurch. It was the lunchtime hour when the earthquake struck at 12:50pm in the city center. At a mere 5 km deep, this earthquake caused buildings to pancake and crushed buses under falling pieces from the buildings. I kept hearing about streets and places in the news that Kearse and I had visited just six days before. I hated hearing a sentence "and bodies were pulled from a local youth hostel" as I remembered the hostel that Kearse and I stayed in- Base Backpackers that stood proudly in the shadow of the central cathedral and had just reopened, with scaffolding and construction still taking place, when Kearse and I arrived on Feb 3rd. Even more tragic, the top of Christchurch's central cathedral had crumbled. Christchurch is so proud of this cathedral, and it broke my heart to see this city's icon, and identity, in shambles. And this earthquake is apparently an aftershock of the earthquake back in September?? Unbelievable!
I was remembering the lovely weather and scenes we had had of Christchurch when Kearse mentioned that we should have been there today... rather than six days ago. Our original plan was to spend two weeks in Australia and two weeks in New Zealand. We were going to fly out of Christchurch to Sydney at 7pm on Feb 22nd so that Kearse could make his flight from Sydney to the U.S. on Feb 23rd. When Cyclone Yasi hit Cairns, we shuffled our plans and spent one week in Australia, two weeks in New Zealand, and then our final week in Australia again. Had it not been for Cyclone Yasi, we would have been returning our van to the rental company in the center of Christchurch at precisely 1pm. That is a very scary thought. I am so thankful for one natural disaster saving us from another.
I am thinking back to my last couple of months, and I know that God has really been watching out for me. I spent a week in Egypt at the beginning of January, and two weeks after my trip the country fell into turmoil and political unrest, and all U.S. citizens were restricted from entering the country. For me to see this country when it was still at peace, and to return safely back in U.S., is a true blessing.
Torrential rainfall and floods in Brisbane, and rampant bush fires in Perth occurred days before our flight to Australia, while Cyclone Yasi hit Cairns the night before our flight to that very spot. Had we booked the flight one day earlier, we would gave been stuck right in the middle of the cyclone. But thanks to the cyclone, we avoided being in the heart of the most tragic natural disaster in New Zealand's history. I cannot thank God enough for our safety, and I am so blessed to have friends and family back home praying for the same. I love you all so much :)
I am also happy to hear that Ag's friend from Chicago who is working in Christchurch is safe. The two buildings next to her office building collapsed, and her friend was trapped in a building that was leaking gas for a while, but she is safe and okay. I am so thankful :)
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