Reflections of Christchurch Earthquake - A National Crisis

The Christchurch Earthquake on Tuesday, February 23, 2011 has been a devastating catastrophe for the nation of New Zealand... yet we do know that through it all people have found hope - hope in the God of love.

Below are some brief reflections Tony wrote up for his work about his experience on the ground there, plus some of the photos he got from his iphone.

The next morning  after the quake Tony Browne shows up at my desk asking if I have packed a bag. "For what?" I ask. Dumb question, a few hours later I am on a flight to Christchurch with water purifying tablets in hand, a truckload of candy, hiking boots and a flashlight.

The first week was exhausting, over 100 hours of work in 6 days. My cellphone was taped to my head and I spoke more Chinese than I have in a long time. The first night I met the Taiwan USAR team at the airport, 0100 hrs (suddenly everyone is working to a 24hr clock). 0200 hrs we met with the operations command at the USAR base in Latimer Square. 0400 I am looking for somewhere to sleep. I head to the Latimar hotel across the road - no water, flickering lights, no staff, broken glass on the ground and floor tiles standing on end. Found an unlocked room with a Singapore USAR worker asleep on the floor. I climbed into the bed nearby, "don't mind me!!".

Half hour of sleep and then up to tackle a day with the Taiwan USAR team clearing buildings in the CBD. The next day I got a 0400 wakeup from the human dynamo Michelle Slade, 0500 flight to Auckland to meet the China USAR team and accompany them back down to Christchurch on a NZDF flight. Most of the first week was spent working alongside the USAR teams in the CBD. As I transitioned to also liaising with the Chinese families who had lost loved ones the pain of the situation really started to hit home.

Tony Clark interpreting for the Prime Minister and Chinese USAR team

 Team Japan farewelling Japanese families at the airport

Chinese community volunteers

The military flight to Auckland was pretty interesting - even in midst of trial, Tony thought to get photo of plane for Hunter and Helena.

During week one, Tony finally got to touch base with Dad and Lynne - it was some ridiculous time like 6am, but thankfully they were physically fine - the motel wasn't so great, but that all got sorted in time. At least Tony was able to see and hug his dad at this time.

It's all been emotionally draining to say the least, but MFAT WLN and the team in Christchurch were completely supportive and I could see the difference we were making across all the different international family groups. The second week was a mix of managing families expectations, anger, hurt, grief and weariness. We wept with the hurting.

On the lighter side, we came together as a team from all areas in MFAT, we laughed together over Chinese food, retold stories of the Mexican Moles self-appointed USAR team, and the village people outfits of overalls, fluro-vests and hardhats.