Richard Steele with governor general Dame Cindy Kiro.
On Saturday at 4.51am we had the biggest and most violent earthquake I have experienced.
The wild shaking, the sounds of crashing, the feeling in the pitch black, of stuff falling around us, took us from deep sleep, to amazement in a second.
Richard Steele
I got out of bed gingerly, fearing broken glass. Major blessing. The power was still on, so a quick glance around showed stuff lying everywhere, including a heavy bedside lamp that must have passed my head with only millimetres to spare.
I wandered carefully north up the big old hallway. Every family photo, and every collected painting, were slanted sideways, from 10 to 90 degrees – other than the six or so lying flat on the floor, with by a miracle, no glass broken. Every ornament was on the floor in every room, books strewn metres across the floor, and again. Nothing broken.
I checked the water next, expecting broken pipes. It ran perfectly. The fireplace is a 400kg stove that heats our water, warms the house, and cooks most of our food. The steel chimney looked intact, and the embers still warm. More good news.
Stuff was strewn throughout the kitchen, the only casualty of note was a broken bottle of Worcestershire sauce. The floor was a minefield to navigate, the French doors onto the deck were wide open. The shaking must have been really violent – these doors only ever move reluctantly.
Outside it was still dark so I went back to bed. Not to sleep, but to listen to the aftershocks and to work out a plan of action. Contact the few on the farm who were still around, check the road for damage. Most importantly, check the bridges and bluffs. By now my phone was glowing with “how are you?” messages. At daylight I only had to look in on three houses, then cut up some small wattle trees that were blocking the road out, 4km from home.
Broken glass seemed to be the only issue. Everyone was wide awake. “Biggest I’ve ever felt” was unanimous.
Simultaneously with the big quake, we had enjoyed 60mm of rain in the previous 24 hours, so the Whanganui River being up four metres was more to do with that, as were the small slips on the roadsides.
So happy enough with the state of play in the immediate neighbourhood, I drove back home to cruise the old house with a critical eye.
As I closed the firebox door, I noticed the whole 400 kg fireplace was out of line with the tiles it sits on. No seismic restraint was needed on such a heavy object I was told on installation day. True, until it wasn’t true anymore.
So overall it’s just another adventure in a life that’s never been anything but a great adventure. And thank our lucky stars we live in such a neat place, where the buildings are made out of timber put together 116 years ago with four inch nails.
