Christchurch...

I write a lot about family, friends and my sense of place on this blog. Today I feel very much a part of New Zealand.

Auckland though is a very long way from Christchurch and it's hard to know just how the people of that  shattered city are dealing with the day ahead let alone how they will deal with the weeks to come.

There are dozens still missing. Here in my city it's all anyone is talking about. A cousin, aunt, uncle, elderly mother, sister or friend whose house is destroyed, who's sleeping in a park, who miraculously left the now collapsed car park fifteen minutes earlier.  The houses destroyed, the injured elderly neighbours, the children whose parents didn't come to pick them up from school.

Our own little school has reminded us of its disaster plan. All the classroom buildings are earthquake proof, the children would move to higher ground in a tsunami. We're urged to have a family plan in case of disaster.

I don't know how the people of Christchurch have carried on since September 4. More than four thousand aftershocks, big and small and now this. How do you leave your child at school? How do you head off to work? How do you tell yourself it will all be alright again one day?

Picture from here