New Zealand

I heard that too Lulu, it sounds quite bad with the Cathedral gone and some highrise blocks badly damaged, like you my thoughts are with them.
The southern hemisphere seem to have had a bad time over the last few months

Yes just heard this - so horrible - so many bad things going off lately ):

Trouble is, that with so many earthquakes over the past few months, the earths plates moving around alot, I think there's more to come. A chain reaction.

I thought that this morning too. What on earth is going on down there just now - floods, cyclones, fires and now earthquakes in NZ. Just crazy......

Yes, terrible news. I am scared to put the t.v. on, sticking with the radio...don't really want to see it. Best wishes to anyone in that region and yes, prayers are going up for you. x

horrific watching this on tv, as last year we visited Christchurch and have photos taken in front of the cathedral!!
My son & family stay in Auckland so are ok thank god .
I agree Pamg that Poor Australia and now NZ have been hit badly of late. so sad

Well done Lulu for putting this on here, Thanks. My love and prayers too, hope all will be well. x

Best wishes and prayers from me too,must be terrifying, my niece emigrated to New Zealand last year but luckily is nowhere near Christchurch.

Prayers and good wishes to all affected by the earthquake. I hope all possible help is made available, and that there are no more casualties.

Now this is a lovely thoughtful blog Lulu, we watched it on T,V, at lunch time and its its very sad, yes our prayers are with them all,

It is another disaster so sad, my thought's and prayer's are with them.

Prayer's for me to

Fingers X'ed for a few friends I know in Christchurch. All lines down. One is 98 and in a home, it's a new build home so hope it's strong.

It is terrible hearing of all the bad things going on weatherwise in the world, nature is cruel at times, I also saw it on the news and my heart goes out to all the people in all of these places......

cant imagine what it must be like for all them poor people,prayers and good wishes to all

We have just heard that my 98 year old friend is safe and well, he was wondering why his chair was wobbling around. My other friends are ok as well, they have been lucky.

Thats very good news Lulu.

Just like to add my thoughts and prayers for all those in Christchurch.

I was very worried , my cousin lives in New Zealand , we are more like sisters because we lived together when we were children , she calls me Big Sis ... luckily she lives in the North Island , add my prayers to please ....

I have a friend, in fact he writes on here, too, Piersdad, who lives just a few miles from the epicentre of the earthquake. I tried to get in touch with him the first day but all the lines were down & they had no electricity.

My wife told me about the earthquake in NZ at 5.30 in the morning.She has to get up at 5am to have breakfast & get ready to go to work. I get up 3/4 hour later & accompany her to work. I saw the news at 6am & they said where exactly it had happened & my first though was Piersdad lives very close to Christchurch, I hope he is alright.

The next day I was able to get in touch with him & he told me he & his family were alright! While we were talking, about an hour or so, he even gave me a "running commentary" on the strength of the after shocks! While we were talking they had one that measured over 4 on the Richter scale & almost threw him off of his chair! He told me how he had seen the steel reinforced floor of his garage RIPPLE like water from the shock waves from the first quake of the day!!!

They had no electricity or gas or water the first day. The electricity was soon restored but they had no gas or water the 2nd day. They had some bottled gas & the little water they had was soon used up! They then had to resort to the water in the toilet cistern! He also told me how he had had to dig a pit at the bottom of his garden & surround it with some tarpaulin to make a makeshift toilet till the water supplies come back on line! They also had very little food in the house & he told me of the things he had had to do during those first 2 days.

Haven't spoken to him since then though. I don't know if the water supply has now been reconnected.

Thanks for the info on our Christchurch friends and glad you have been in touch.

I hope you hear from your friend soon Balcony ,what a dreadful thing to be going through ;o(

please pass on my good wishes to Piersdad-- I very much enjoy his comments and humor-- its quite a relief to know that he and his family are safe-- if somewhat inconvenienced!

They are not giving us much ifo now on tv, I suppose Gaddafi has taken over the news!!

Lulu, I don't know about you but it worries me -- all thats happening-- and the media don't help they make everything into a soap opera.....

Me too Pam. I think I would prefer to live without a tv, what we don't know can't worry us. It's the negative reporting that annoys me. I's not that I don't want to know, my husband gets annoyed when I leave the room at news time, he thinks we need to know. Well what on earth can we do about it is my response. I would like to give money to refugees etc etc but wonder if they ever see it, or does the money get eaten up in red tape and admin costs? Probably better to go there ourselves!

I've exchanged several messages with Piersdad & he is alright as is his family. He told me today they have their services back to normal so he has filled in the (in)convenient hole at the bottom of the garden!

Today they held a 2 minute silence for the people who were killed in last week's earthquake. It was held at exactly the same time as the quake happened.

Later in the evening there was a 4.5 quake in the capital of NZ, Wellington. Caused a bit of unrest & nervousness but nothing more than a little shaking happened. Then, just 15 minutes later there was another 4.6 quake in Christchurch! Little damage caused though but experts fear these tremors will continue for at least another year with many 4-5 tremors.

Oh dear, what can we say, these quakes will stop when they are good and ready. Thanks so much for the news.

I'm pleased that they are all OK but what a worry for them -- its not long ago we had that ash cloud to worry about-- I know exactly what you mean Lulu, some of the presenters seem to relish the dreadful news-- especially those out wherever...I tend to watch the headlines or look on the red button so I keep informed but this indepth stuff really worries me ( sorry for the rant!)