In the beginning there was me (and lots of others, but we're focussing on me right now). There I was, happily minding my own business on September 4, 2010 when a large earthquake struck my lovely home town of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was 4:35 in the morning and I was snoozing peacefully in the house I shared with my cat near the city centre. Mr. MeowMeow (name changed to protect identity) had sprung into action and alerted me to the impending disaster a few seconds before it struck so I was actually awoken to the sound of a cat, quickly followed by violent shaking.
In the minutes, days and months which followed things were a bit of a blur. The city was quite badly damaged, but my own home and the homes of my family were all in good condition so I was counting myself quite lucky as a large number of buildings and houses were destroyed. There were some people who were injured but we all counted our lucky stars that at least no one died. Slowly things began to return to normal; university classes started again, work got back up and running, and though the aftershocks continued my fellow citizens and I felt a sense of security. The earthquake has been; lightening doesn't strike the same place twice, right? Wrong.
Fast forward to February 22, 2011, 12:51 in the afternoon and another earthquake strikes. This time my beautiful city is not so lucky; more buildings are devastated and 185 people are killed. The city is brought to it's knees and many of us aren't sure how to bounce back this time.
Things are much more slow to recover, but tentatively, with the support of the rest of the country we begin to pick ourselves up again. It was through seeing the immense acts of kindness of others that I was able to start looking forward again. In a disaster such as this people are given the opportunity to demonstrate the goodness that's inside all of us and it was heartening to see people helping others for no other reason than that they needed help.
We have just recently passed the two year anniversary of the September quake; the one which started it all, and the process of starting the city again, and getting used to the new normal that governs our lives has been an experience for us all. This blog will serve as an outlet for my experiences as a teacher in this environment and hopefully give some first hand insight for others, whether you are curious about what happens after a natural disaster, when the headlines have moved on, or whether you are going through a disaster of your own.
The views expressed in this blog are entirely my own and do not reflect on anyone else mentioned in any way, shape or form.
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