A Dark Day for New Zealand

I woke up this morning to the power out in my hostel in Fox Glacier. Not too surprising...the power had gone out momentarily the night before. I found out later that the cause was something much more severe.

This morning at 4:35 am, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, which is located directly east of me on the South Island. They say the tremors could be felt as far south as Dunedin--and definitely in Fox Glacier. I didn't feel anything, but my bus driver to Franz Josef this morning said he could feel his house shake.

Christchurch is pretty devastated. A bunch of buildings had pieces fall off, and some of the outlying suburbs near the epicentre had houses collapse. There was a fire in the CBD, and water supply is very low. There's a curfew in the CBD tonight after 7 pm, and the army and civil defence people have moved in.

Let me be clear: besides my future travel plans, I was not directly affected by the earthquake. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my travel plans to Christchurch--I'm not sure if the city will be ready to accomodate visitors by Thursday when I had planned to arrive, and I'm looking at taking a flight from Dunedin to Auckland on Wednesday night. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.

What has been shaking me up today was news that a skydiving plane had crashed in Fox Glacier this afternoon. Nine people died: the pilot, four local instructors, and four international tourists--possibly people whom I had been staying with in the hostel last night. This is sure to devastate that community: it's a tiny place where everyone knows each other. RIP to the victims and condolences to the families.

Again, I'm fine. I'm reevaluating my travel options, and I'm a little bit shaken up by the tragedy so close to where I'm staying, but I'm fine.