A massive 7.5 earthquake hit my home, New Zealand, at 12:02 am Monday morning, with many strong aftershocks still occurring. The severe earthquake was felt in both the North and the South Island, with the earthquake originating in the east in North Canterbury. The earthquake was 15km deep and so far two people have been confirmed dead. Tsunami warnings have also been issued to the East Coast.
This is the first severe earthquake New Zealand has had since February 22, 2011, which was a magnitude of 6.3 and had 185 casualties. My thoughts go out to everyone who has been affected by this, and hope that everyone is safe. I’ve been in New Zealand during previous earthquakes, and I’m feeling very lucky that I missed this one. I interviewed my close friend, Kieran May, who is 21 and lives in North Canterbury, where the earthquake was strongest. He studies Visual Communication at the local polytech, Ara, and was able to give some insight on the earthquake and the aftermath.
HC Purdue: So, what happened?
Kieran: “The earthquake struck at 12:02 a.m. on the east coast, and we felt it in Rangiora, which is about an hour out of the epicentre, so we were pretty close. We felt heaps of aftershocks afterwards as well, the most severe ones went on for about 30-45 minutes, and some were nearly as bad as the first one.”
HC Purdue: What were you doing when the earthquake hit?
Kieran: “The earthquake happened just after midnight, so naturally I was fast asleep at the time.”
HC Purdue: How did it feel?
Kieran: “I was suddenly woken up to loud rumbles noises and my bed swaying. The noise was deafening, it sounded like a giant train rushing toward our house. The movement was insane; it was so jerky for ages. It took me a while to realise I wasn’t dreaming it, and that it was actually real. The whole thing was a horrible nightmare, that’s for sure. All the memories from the last big earthquake came flooding back, and it is so sad, as a country we’ve come so far since the 6.5 in 2011, and now it feels like we’ve been thrown right back.”
HC Purdue: Was it scary?
Kieran: “It was terrifying. The initial shock of waking up and then realising what was happening horrified me. It’s a hard situation – there’s nothing you can do apart from trying to stay safe and calm. It feels like an eternity waiting for the shaking to stop – I’m not sure how long the earthquake actually went on for, but it could have been at least a minute, maybe two.”
HC Purdue: How did your family members/pets react?
Kieran: “My parents were fine, just a bit shaken, like we all were. We were concerned about our dog. The dog was petrified – it’s never easy for a pet to go through something like this, as they don’t understand what’s happening. They just need lots of comforting, and it’s nice to be there for them and take your mind off what’s happening.”
HC Purdue: How does this affect you now?
Kieran: “After any earthquake you have the initial shock of wondering if everyone’s okay, and if there’s any damage. It was really sad when I heard two people had died – earthquakes are awful things. After we fell back asleep and I woke up in the morning, I was really worried about my polytech being shut, as tomorrow I have an important exhibition that I had to prepare for. You have no idea what it’s like outside – are the roads okay? Does my polytech have any serious damage to it? I heard a lot of nation-wide exams were cancelled, so I had no idea if anything was open.”
Thankfully there was no damage to our house or our village, but it’s so sad that we’ve been hit with another massive earthquake – we were still cleaning up from the last one five years ago. Now with this, it just makes everything worse.