Natural Disaster.

Well as some one reminded me this isn't my first trip to a country during a natural disaster. Although the earthquake in Christchurch didn't kill as many people as the floods did when I was in Rio this is the worst disaster this country has ever seen.

Not every one has been found yet they do think their are more people trapped alive under collapsed buildings. The quake registered 6.3 on the rictor scale. They were in the process of rebuilding after a 7.1 in September. That quake did not cause as much damage and I don't think any life was lost. This time the tremor was not as deep, 5km compared to 33km deep in September. It was also closer to town and during a busy time of the day.

I heard one story of a woman working on the fourth floor of a building that was standing on the street after the quake hit. About 70 people have died and many more injured. I've heard of people having limbs amputated to free them from the rubble. Constant after shocks, one reaching 5.7, have made rescue dangerous.

New Zealand is a small country with 4 million people. Christchurch is one of it's largest city's at 4 hundred thousand. It seems every one around me has friends or family that live there. It seems as every one was affected.

Australia, Japan and the US have sent people to help in the rescue. People here are opening their homes to strangers to give them shelter after they have lost everything. The entire country is pulling together to help Christchurch get back on it's feet. This doesn't really seem like any thing new here. From what I've seen in my short time here they all treat each other pretty well on a daily basis.