More about earthquakes.

What happened next.

I finished the last post with me under the table and the aftershocks continuing.

After a few hours we decided to head back home. We knew by then there was no tsunami  expected, and we wanted to get back to see how the house was and if the cats had turned up.

We had stuff everywhere, but the house itself seemed intact, and best of all, all 3 cats were waiting for us at the gate. The aftershocks continued, and we settled down to sort and tidy and think about sanitation. The obvious solution was a long drop so we set about digging one, and we did a check of water and food.
I had not allowed enough water, and it was obvious the 5 litres I had stored was not going to be enough. One needs water to wash hands and food, cook food and wash up as well as drink. However a neighbour had some extra water which they gave us, and we had a gas stove so we made hot drinks for all.

It took 3 days for us to get our power back and about the same for the water. We thought we were great survivors! We had come through the big quake and no-one had been killed. We had been tested and come through triumphant.

I started looking up diets. At the same time I gave up sugar and all sweeteners. I lost a few pounds, but nothing dramatic.

The aftershocks continued, and we even celebrated when we had experienced 1000 of them. We had party tea, and I ate the food. I went back to sugar free the next day though.

Then my parents rang with the news my Dad had esophageal cancer. He was going in for an operation just before Christmas, and could I come? I booked a flight for early January 2011

It was Christmas, and then I was going off to the UK. How much dieting could I do anyway? I decided I would think about it when I got back!

Christmas 2010 went well, and the Boxing Day sales opened bright and early the next day. They came to an abrupt halt at 10.30am. A 4.9 quake hit the city. I know...only a 4.9, what could be the problem? Remind me to tell you about the various earthquake scales and just how useless the Richter Scale is for predicting damage in an earthquake. This one was shallow, and right under the city.

It also split our water main...which turned out to be quite lucky in the long run. As soon as the holiday was over it was mended with a new, bright blue, bendy pipe. And I flew off to the UK.

To be continued....please check back later.