To all our mates in NZ we hope you all made it out of the (another) earthquake, in Christchurch.
I know the death toll is high on this one. Our hearts and our prayers go out to you across the ditch. The Earth really seems to be fighting back at the moment, if it's not us Aussies it seems to be you Kiwis who are copping a beating. I hope all are well and the count stays low. (more than none is too high).
Graeme.

Hi Graeme.

I was just about to send my concerns too.
Now I just hope for some good news from our good friend, Kiwiboater.
Kiwi: Please report back to us and say that you and your family is safe.

Woodie.

Hi guys,

Yes bad this time. None of my family are there (used to be) so our family is ok.
Death toll is 65, expected to rise. It was the big one, basically right under the city, 10 km/s away but it may as well have been right under the city centre.

A few big buildings have been wrecked, still getting people & bodies out.
Now raining and expected to fall to 12c tonight, so not good at all.

Our thoughts are with all the people in Chch. You didn't need this to happen.
David

I can tell you one thing. You certainly get sick and tired of the TV people showing the same footage over and over again, sometimes with different commentators.

We get it. Much destruction. I really get p1$$#d off with the TV stations just showing the sames stuff. Do they think we are stupid. They did that last time as well. If I had just lost a family member, I would rather be hearing facts and useful info coming out, instead of the same BS.

It really does come down to ratings, and I reckon it's really sad that ratings drive their coverage rather than really caring for people.

Example, The TV helicopters are flying around, filming people waiting for rescue off building rooftops. Why not hover near them and get them on board. If the rescue helicopter can do it several hours later, the the TV one could have done it earler.
But no - lets film them, and then fly away and leave them. How must they feel?
Anyhow sorry for my rant. It just gets to me that TV uses disasters for ratings, same in Australia, USA etc I expect.

David

Yeah, David you are not wrong. When we has the floods and cyclones it was the same thing. It is good to know what happens during the first hour or so but it just seems to keep on coming. We are getting plenty of coverage on our tv's at the moment with your earth quake. But I guess not everyone sees the news straight off. Regarding those being filmed by helicopter, they may not have retrieval equipment on board but now is a good time for the news crews to equip themselves with that equipment and some one who knows how to use it.
Graeme.

Hi Graeme, Yes your floods were the same. All the same footage being shown over. I guess that Chch is worse for us, because we never have disasters that cause major loss of life. As John Key said, this could be NZ's blackest day. The Air NZ plane crash at Erebus would have been the worst to date. They say there are 300 missing people, the official toll is 95. All my companies staff are ok (ANZ Bank), but all branches are closed and a lot of ATM's are out of action.

Haha the funny thing is that 6 years ago, I had the choice of dating 2 different girls. 1 in Auckland and 1 in Christchurch. I was living in Wellington.
Was into long distance girlfriends at the time!!!!! Sure glad that I picked the Aucklander.
David

Hi david,
I am just so glad that you and your family are ok. And yes you had made the right choice.
Graeme.

Graeme, Not sure about that. The Chch chick was rather hot ...... very.

On a serious note though, the death toll is going up. Officially 92 but 225 are missing. Some sad stories of a mum dying whilst saving her baby, a father being killed afterwards by a rockslide while walkinh home over the hills to be with his family. Just unbelievable. On a happy note a friend of a friend left the Cathedral 15 minutes B4 the quake and were actually driving out of the city when it struck. Husband was paranoid about overstaying in the carpark and getting a ticket. Wife wasn't too concerned. Aparantly the wife will never moan about his promptness again.

Glad to see good stories coming out. Another friend of a friend worked at Westpac Sumner. The branch was flattened and people killed. Her house was destroyed. She's resigned and is moving back to Auckland tomorrow. Can't take it any more.

I've always loved Chch as a city. Very beautiful, but would never live there now.
David

Yes David it is so sad, words cannot mend those victims' families hearts. Like where I live when we were hit by the floods, just keep your chin up and stick by your mates .No one will expect any more from you.
Graeme.