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ShrafterPermalink Reply by mike james on September 8, 2010 at 5:57

Thanks for your concern but my family has come though well, no injuries, we're just a bit shell-shocked.The kids understandably get panicy during the bigger after shocks especialy when they are woken by them at night.The house has some minor cracks in the foundations and internal cladding.Most of the cracks are pre-existing but wider and longer now.My Dad and brother both had chimneys collapse.Initialy we lost power and water but got them both on again by late afternoon.We have a wood burner and camping stove so kept warm and fed.Also we are lucky enough to have an outside tap on a bore so don't rely soley on mains.
In terms of supplies and survival kit we had all we needed to last many days. However something that I will buy is an old style landline phone.We, like most people these days ,have a portable phone which doesn't work when the power is down.

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AdminPermalink Reply by Ryan Johnson-Hunt on September 8, 2010 at 9:58

Thats good to hear that you are all safe and sound.

The old style landline phone is a great idea, I will also look into getting a dynamo torch/radio/cellphone charger. This has been a big wake up call to many of us to be more prepared, glad to hear you were.

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TohungaPermalink Reply by Benjamin Reimer on September 8, 2010 at 20:34

Hi Ryan, thanks for your concern.
I haven't suffered badly. Lost the chimneys, of course, and a few of the doors are sticky. It appears that the old front entrance of the house has risen an inch or two. It will likely settle in time (or over the course of the next few days given these aftershocks). The house is approx 140 y/o weatherboard. Two story. Just like riding the wave up there. An incredible experience. When 700kg of chimney collapsed above my head and tumbled down the roof and the shaft, I became concerned. But other than that it was all good fun.

We have an old bore tapped here, outdoor oven, wood, vege garden. Just life as usual. And Mortise and tenon has the power to repair itself. So this event hasn't put me on edge at all. It has put me on chimney dismantling duty over the last few days, however. I'm used to climbing trees (for employment), but rooftops work too.

Hope everyone is well and can take something good out of all this.

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AdminPermalink Reply by Ryan Johnson-Hunt on September 9, 2010 at 8:48

From what I understand the weatherboard style is one of the more resilient types so thats fortunate. Glad to hear you are all ok, it certainly has been a big wake up call to many of us myself included.

Wow with the bore and outdoor facilities your family sound very well set up, very cool! Was there anything that you thought you should have had on hand that you didn't? Maybe we can learn from your experience.

Cheers, good to hear from you.

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TohungaPermalink Reply by Benjamin Reimer on September 10, 2010 at 13:44

Yes, a root cellar. We've actually been meaning to construct one for some time now, but haven't had a weekend free.
It's not an absolute necessity in this circumstance, with most of the food still in the ground, or inside the chickens as the case may be. But still a useful thing to have.

What we didn't have was a radio, but it wasn't missed. We recognised the earthquake for what it was, and didn't need to have it explained to us.
I didn't have more than one torch handy, and had to rely of two candles. For safety reasons, that isn't deal. But the warm glow of the flame is superior, so there we go.

It's interesting, as I realised we are far more prepared here than I had anticipated. If the (food) crop should fail, then we'd be forced to leave the property, but short of that...

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