It don’t know if I will ever forgot the sickening kick to my gut I felt this afternoon when I brought up my facebook account just after 4:00 and saw this note from my cousin Solveig: is Randi near Christchurch? They had a 7.2 quake near there.
I had been tied up in a faculty meeting all day long, so I knew absolutely nothing about this until I saw Solveig’s message. And unfortunately, the answer to her question is YES – Randi and her family indeed are near Christchurch. They live in the tiny town of Darfield, which turns out to be pretty much the epicenter of the 7.2 earthquake which struck New Zealand earlier today.
As soon as I saw this note, I was on the phone to Kathy- asking her to seek out whatever information she could, while I headed home. As I climbed into the car, it was just about 4:30 and the radio happened to be tuned to WGN- which always has newscasts on the hour and half hour. So I left it there and listened expectantly as Steve Bertrand came on the air with five top headlines (including the “news” that Earl has weakened so much that it can barely be classified as a hurricane anymore) and then he cheerfully said “sports and weather in a moment.” Not one single word about the earthquake in New Zealand! (I won’t tell you what words I screamed at the radio.) I frantically switched over to NPR, but they were in the midst of a state newscast at that point. (I felt like screaming all over again.) The trouble with living in a world where we are so extraordinarily connected with each other is that we can scarcely tolerate those instances when crucial connection is suddenly and unexpectedly beyond our grasp.
As I raced into the house, I heard Kathy on the phone, talking with her sister Polly, who had heard about the earthquake and called. There was something so oddly comforting in that simple little gesture of her calling us up like that- the first of many reminders that we weren’t going to be facing this frightening uncertainty alone. Actually, that was the third indication. The first was when I first got in the car and found a text message from Marshall already on my cell phone, expressing his concern- and the second came right after that when my phone rang and it was my brother Steve, who had already tracked down a fascinating website (usgs.gov) complete with all kinds of different maps of New Zealand showing the quake in various ways. It confirmed our biggest fears- that the town where Matt and Randi and family are living was the epicenter of the quake- but news releases were painting an encouraging picture of surprisingly few serious injuries and, as far as is known, no deaths.
Oddly enough, it was when I first read those words “no deaths” (I think on the Yahoo news page) that I felt the deepest chill yet. . . because it just underscored what a very dangerous situation this was. And honestly, until I hear Randi’s voice or at least see an email from her, it will be hard for me to entirely believe that they’ve come through this unscathed. Until we know their fate for certain, we have to live with all of the possibilities that hang in the air – including the bad ones – which is incredibly hard. (I don’t expect a very restful night’s sleep tonight.)
The best source of information I have found is a news organization headquartered in New Zealand called TVNZ. They have a ongoing timeline which gives a good idea of what life is like there in the midst of this situation- and you can tell it’s meant for the citizens of the region because it includes information such as what supermarkets are still open, what hospital you should go to for your non- emergency needs, what phone number you should call to begin the insurance process…. matters like that. Thus far it appears that there are only two serious injuries and no deaths- which led one public official to declare that they as a nation need to consider themselves Blessed because this could have been so much more terrible. A big reason why the situation is not nearly so grave as it was in Haiti is because this is a much more affluent country, with structures to match, built to weather a quake like this. And beyond that, the infrastructure of the country seems so much more equipped to contend with this kind of disaster. (As we heard so many times, life in Haiti was tremendously hard even before the earthquake struck. After it, life was all but impossible. Compared to that, New Zealand is another planet altogether.)
So now we’re waiting – and we may be waiting for quite some time. Even before the quake, Randi & Co. were hampered by very limited and expensive access to the internet – plus they no longer have cell phones – so our contact with them has been extremely limited. Stir widespread power outages into the mix and it’s hard to say when we will hear something definite from them. So we wait and hope and pray – and wait some more…. hoping that wherever they are, they are safe. Every regret I had today has faded to nothingness, as has every worry about my upcoming faculty recital, my preparation for my classes, and all of the challenges which come with the start of the school year. I could care less about all that, compared to how much I want Matt, Randi, Aidan, Anna, and Kaj to be safe and sound.
Update: Saturday morning: We awoke this morning to have an email from Randi. They are safe. It turns out that Darfield was indeed the epicenter of the quake, but because it’s such a small town with no big buildings, it wasn’t subject to the kind of damage seen in Christchurch. It was quite terrifiying for them- they fled to the protection, light, and warmth of their car for a time- and there were 50 afterhocks that day – but they are okay. And my HUGE sense of relief helps me realize how frightening it was not to know how they were. The Bergs are feeling very thankful today.
pictured above: One of the maps on the usgs website. They call this the Shake Map, and the various colors indicate the relative severity of the shaking, depending on where one is. By the way, right under the map are these words – not visible to you – NOT REVIEWED BY HUMAN. I’m guessing that they mean that this map was generated by computer, but not double-checked by a person. Strange.