Well, what a very confronting day!! It was a complete contrast to yesterday. Yesterday, people had access to all essential services and were coming to grips with the emotional impact of the earthquake. Today, we door knocked a suburb that still had no water, electricity or sewerage! Streets were lined with port-a-loos, human waste tanks and public water stations. Roads and paths were a mine field and there were broken water pipes everywhere. The closer we got to the river the more we found houses that were completely abandoned. Along the river, house after house were completed devastated by damage and it was like a ghost town. Maybe one in ten houses were occupied. You felt a sense of abandonment when talking with the few remaining residents as neighbours up and left and services were scarce (no port-a-loos along this street). We found a number of signs posted in front yards saying "people still living here". You can imagine their delight when the Salvos (or Sallies, as the NZ'ders call us) turned up on their doorstep! So, our assistance today shifted back to far more practical solutions to basic living needs - supplying bottled drinking water, food & petrol vouchers, reporting abandoned animals, organising port-a-loos for forgotten streets, starting a generator, giving lollies to kids, organising property inspections and comforting the elderly!
To provide a sense of realism to our work today and a reminder of the very real fears and uncertainties people are feeling, we experienced 5 aftershocks! Each one, although not serious (by NZ standards), left us feeling very vulnerable and unsettled. In one street, I bent over to get my camera and felt the ground shake and rumble under my feet. While visiting an elderly couple in their lounge room, the house shook and wall cabinets full of small liqueur bottles rattled in front of us. Although, these aftershocks were minor, they did raise the heart rate and left an uneasy feeling in the pit of the stomach.
The extent of damage to homes and streets were staggering and the visible signs of the earthquake were very evident. One resident was told that it could take three months for sewerage to be restored. The few houses that did get water back on had a trickle at best and those with electricity have a very limited and unreliable power supply. Power lines in one street hung a metre above our heads, as power poles were leaning at precarious angles. I can't imagine how long it will take to restore the streets to any resemblance of normality. There was a residents meeting this morning with the authorities where they were told that large sections of this suburb will be demolished. I met a lady today who lost her own home in the September 2010 quake, and now has lost the house she is renting in this quake - she has 4 young kids!
I was humbled by the people I met today and uplifted by the strength of the human spirit. Somehow in the little we have done so far, I feel I have received more than I have given. One thing is for sure, these people have made an unforgettable impact on my life!
No comments:
Post a Comment