February 2012
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January 2012
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Happy (shaky) New Year
It has been a dispiriting start to 2012 with yet another swarm of quakes that started on Dec 23rd.
Coupled with this has been widespread unease over land zoning. On the one hand, there are properties in Kaiapoi zoned red where some residents are claiming the land is fine (in spite of reports apparently suggesting otherwise), their houses are relatively undamaged and having to move is...
December 2011
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Portacom Press
I paid a call to Avenues Editor Yvonne Martin recently at the portacom village out near Christchurch Airport - home to The Press & local Fairfax staff since the February earthquake. It’s humbling to see how little space they have out there & a credit to all that the magazine has continued to roll out, month after month. The setting is about as inspiring as a shoebox! The...
August 2011
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Click to view essence and my story about Amy →
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Rangiora documentary maker Amy O'Connor
I recently interviewed Amy for essence magazine, in particular focussing on her recently completed documentary Strawberries with the Fuhrer. This is the title of Helga Tiscenko’s autobiography, in which she describes what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a Nazi General. The discomforting part of it, as Amy’s documentary so admirably captures, is that Helga really had no idea...
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Over the Wide and Trackless Sea ...
This is the title of a book by historian Megan Hutching, which describes the lives of pioneer women and girls of New Zealand.
I’ve just finished reading this book and was particularly struck by the terribly hard life of one Danish woman, Christine Nielsen, who came to this country with her husband in the early 1870s. Not long after they arrived at their remote bush home near Waipawa, her...
July 2011
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2011 Surf Rescue Media Awards
Sad to say I missed out on the best feature story, but it was still fantastic to be one of the three finalists at the above awards. They were held at Government House in Auckland on Tuesday evening (July 26). The top prize went to Donna Chisholm of North & South, who is widely regarded as the best feature writer in the land … so, I probably never stood much of a chance. It was great to...
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Making the media awards
So excited to have something upbeat to report, having made the finals of the 2011 BP Surf Rescue Media Awards! This is for a feature I wrote for Latitude magazine last summer, describing the achievements of the Waikuku Beach Surf Life Saving Club.
If memory serves me right, it was club member Lesley Ottey who got onto me about writing up the club and it turned out to be such a lovely story. I...
June 2011
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Still the quakes continue ....
Unbelievable but true … we had a 5.5 magnitude quake at 1pm and another 6 around 2.20pm. Plus several 4’s too. In Rangiora, it has been pretty bad - plenty of rolling, enough to have me running for the nearest doorframe. As with the past quakes in this region, Christchurch has been the hardest hit with new liquifaction in the eastern suburbs, fresh damage in the CBD, quite bad rock...
April 2011
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Wild parrots of San Francisco →
I recently discovered Mark Bittner’s wonderful book ‘The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill’, which was published in 2004 and went on to be a New York Times bestseller. I gather there has also been a movie made about him and his life with the wild parrots of San Francisco.
Mark chose ‘a dharma bum’ lifestyle for himself which eventually led to him more or less...
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March 2011
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Christchurch, post quake
I worked a shift with the public info team at the Christchurch City Art Gallery/Civil Defence hub yesterday, my first real look at the city post-quake. The strange part is that driving in through Belfast there’s not a lot of obvious damage, though there is a fairly sulphurous smell in the air, (maybe broken sewerage??).
Then you reach the Red Zone/CBD and it comes as quite a shock to see...
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Memorial Day
So here we are, almost a month on from the Feb 22nd quake in Christchurch and with the situation in Japan going from bad to worse.
I went outside in the early morning and the only sound in this quiet town was a tui singing. This seemed like the sweetest memorial song of all for the people who have died here and in Japan. What is it about this planet we live on? One minute dealing death, the next...
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What happened at Avenues mag when the quake hit
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/lifestyle/avenues/4726647/Avenues-office-flattened-in-quake
So relieved that Yvonne, Sara and Carmen are all okay - miraculous that they got through this unscathed.
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'Lifeboat' Rangiora: an update
The immediate ‘crisis’ response to the Feb 22nd earthquake is winding back a little in Rangiora, though the Rangiora Earthquake Express is still accepting donations like canned food, store-bought bottled water, nappies etc at its collection point, 41 Victoria Street, between 9am and 6pm.
However, the Rangiora Baptist Church welfare centre will close down from tomorrow, with people...
February 2011
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Two minutes silence today
It was eerily quiet as everyone in town stopped, respectfully, to observe two minutes’ silence, a week on from the February 22nd earthquake. The tears flowed freely, thinking about those lost, their families’ grief and the shattered city itself. We have all lost so much.
Meanwhile, the golden turkey award of the day must go to Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee who described...
My husband, one of the survivors ... →
scrambrose:
As my wife noted in her blog a few weeks ago there seems to be a danger at the moment that every blog entry is going to be about a natural disaster of one kind or another, of which we’ve had a fair few in our general part of the world. I’m afraid I am going to have to write a few things though…
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Non-perishable food donations now the priority
The Rangiora Earthquake Express is now asking for non-perishable food items to be dropped off at the Rangiora Racecourse, (entry off Lehmans Road) or the Chervier Centre car park in Victoria Street. We were out at the racecourse this morning and can say there is a steady stream of traffic heading in that direction with plenty of donated items on board. Also wanted: empty and full water bottles,...
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Collection at Mandeville Sports Centre today
For those who can help: Civil Defence are collecting bottles of water and food from Mandeville Sports Centre from 2.00pm today to take into Brighton area.
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Feb 22, 2011 ...
Day is dark, bright points of sharp reality -
You, lost in the fog and downed lines,
Drowning in upheaval, we seem to be
Endlessly regrouping and sliding back again.
Recovery, sounds like a patient,
Sort of word to reassure the desperate.
While the wind drifts softly on a quiet dune
And cars seep oil into secret lost places,
We try to lift it all up and only crumble
Towards a slow uneasy...
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Cooked food needed
The Rangiora Earthquake Express has relocated its base to Rangiora Racecourse from the Chervier Centre and is today asking for donations of cooked food in disposable containers.
Volunteers are working with the Red Cross and the Army to get much needed supplies to the people needing them in Christchurch.
Please help if you can.
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Rangiora residents - you can help!
Brendan Malone and other motivated folk here in Rangiora have launched the Rangiora Earthquake Express with the goal of getting water and other essential supplies to the people of Christchurch. If, like me, you live in Rangiora then dig out your old water bottles, sanitise them, fill them with Rangiora tap water and get them down to Brendan and his team at 41 Victoria Street in Rangiora.
I gather...
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Thoughts & love are with you, Vicki ...
www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/4693057/the-day-the-earth-roared
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Latest re The Press building ....
From www.press.co.nz
Two people were still trapped in The Press’s historic building last night, despite rescuers trying to break through the roof to free them.
Two other staff were earlier freed by emergency services, while others who had also been trapped managed to clamber out of the building unaided.
Rescuers were cutting through pipes to try to find and reach the trapped pair. It was...
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Christchurch, a broken city
The full extent of injuries and fatalities from the February 22nd 6.3-magnitude earthquake will become clearer in coming days. Christchurch, NZ has a long and difficult road ahead of it and it’s unclear, in fact, how recovery is possible at this time. I do believe this is far worse than the historic Napier earthquake and certainly the impact has been much greater than last September’s...
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Update re The Press staff
This is all I can find online from www.stuff.co.nz …
5.09 pm: Some Fairfax staff are trapped in The Press building in Christchurch, which has been badly damaged in today’s earthquake.
“We are aware that a small number of staff are trapped in the building and every effort is being put in place to free them in the fastest possible way,” says Fairfax NZ CEO, Allen...
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Another big quake in Christchurch
This afternoon around 1pm Canterbury, NZ was rocked by another devastating earthquake. I think it was around 6.3 in magnitude, shallow and much much worse than the 7.1 quake of last September. In central Christchurch many buildings have collapsed with people trapped inside and it seems at least 65 people are so far confirmed dead.
After yesterday’s entry I’m feeling horrified to see...
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In The Press!
As a journalist with 20 years work experience in Canterbury, New Zealand, it is rare indeed never to have worked for The Press, Christchurch’s number one city newspaper. I’ve trodden a slightly strange path of my own, moving from community papers to Sunday papers with a bit of TV producing thrown in too … now freelancing for magazines.
So, I feel it is a cause for quiet...
January 2011
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Into another year and not a natural disaster in...
I feel as if 2010 was the year of my disaster blog, with so much of it dwelling on the September earthquake in Canterbury.
So, I had great plans to start 2011 on a positive note…then, along come the Queensland floods. I have friends in Ipswich and just hope they’re okay. There hasn’t been a word from them since Jan 12 when they were about to lose power. They had their bags...
November 2010
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What I can't talk about ...
There’s a weird aspect to being a journalist of the mostly print/mag variety, in that I don’t feel free to ever write about what I’m working on now because it hasn’t been published yet. By the time I can talk about it, I’ve moved onto other things and am in a completely different head space.
I don’t want to keep going on forever about THE 7.1 EARTHQUAKE that we...
September 2010
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Morale boosters!
You have got to love all the volunteers who’ve been helping out at Kaiapoi’s Recovery Assistance Centre in Sewell Street, which is the information hub for anyone who has been affected by this Canterbury quake whether financially or emotionally.
The problems facing this town are enormous, but at least there’s somewhere to get a cuppa and a shoulder to cry on - hopefully along...
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More after-shocks!
There were a couple of fairly noticeable jolts at work this morning.
An update on how to help. Kaiapoi Community Support still require cash and food donations - but please, no more bedding or clothes. Items like canned food, flour, toilet paper and nappies would be great.
An earthquake public information meeting is also being held for Waimakariri residents only and this will be a chance to put...
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Not just one jolt, but many →
Go to this link to see just how many smaller tremors we’ve been having since the big 7.1 quake on Sept 4 … haven’t felt any today, though. They mostly seem to be centered near Darfield, which suggests the original fault that ruptured still hasn’t settled down as yet.
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Not sure how to help after the Canterbury...
I live in Rangiora and our home was undamaged by the 7.1 quake of Sept 4. I’m sure there are others like me wondering what we can do for people whose homes have been damaged or who have lost jobs or businesses.
In the Waimakariri, our nearest neighbour Kaiapoi needs your help. The easiest way to do this is to donate some non-perishable food to the local foodbank, Kaiapoi Community Services...
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The morning after
There was another big after-shock early this morning following yesterday’s 7.1 quake near Christchurch. One of the kids was so too freaked out to sleep on her own, so I made a makeshift bed in the dining room and we slept there.
The day after something like this you start to think more about the long-term impact on the many businesses without functioning premises and what that means for the...