The world appears to be on fire. My thoughts and prayers to all down in NZ. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for y'all.

{HUGS}
Paula

The world appears to be on fire. My thoughts and prayers to all down in NZ. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for y'all.

{HUGS}
Paula

Oh no, just saw this. I add my best wishes to those of the above. Such awful news.

Thankfully my brother and family are all okay, as are some other nieces, and nephews. Their houses have all been damaged, some quite severely. They escaped damage in the September quake. However there have been so many aftershocks since then that the buildings have been damaged over time and the one yesterday has just made them worse.

We didn't feel it all in Nelson.

Thanks for your concern. We are shattered, for now. I work in the building next to the PGG building that collapsed. We were thrown around as if in a washing machine and everything was smashed to the floor. Lucky to escape serious injury. We were not prepared for what we found when we exited the building. Shocking.

Home is a mess inside, with furniture thrown down, ornaments smashed and pictures knocked from walls. Happily, no structural damage is apparent. The aftershocks are still happening, some of them quite severe. That has contributed to lack of sleep last night but fortunately, we have not been badly hurt.
Rob.

Hi Rob, everyone here in Auckland is thinking of you all in Christchurch, we are pretty much in shock about it. Glad to hear you and your family are okay.

It's great, and a relief, to hear from you Rob. Shocking seems to be the right word. I can not imagine how it all looks from where you are. My sympathies for all in the Christchurch area.

Great to hear from you, Rob. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Glad to hear you're safe, Rob.

My friends live in Sumner, but, fortunately one group wasn't at home at the time. They had to walk 4 hours to get home. That group is safe, no word on houses. Other family in Sumner hasn't been contactable.

margo, I hope you hear good news from your family, soon.

Rob, so happy to know you are physically ok.

Please know our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

I'm so glad to see our Kiwi pals posting!! I just heard the news on my drive into work this morning and I immediately thought of our friends on this board and I hoped you all are OK. NZ holds such special memories of a trip I took with my late grandmother many years ago and I hate seeing so much destruction in such a beautiful country.

Hugs and healing to all.

I'm very shocked and saddened by this.

We were supposed to travel on a two-week vacation to the southern portion of the South Island (Dunedin -> Catlins -> Queenstown)in just 3 weeks and given the situation (national emergency), the scale of the devastation and the suffering, I'm thinking now that I will cancel the trip. I've been to Christchurch and it tears at me to think of what is transpiring.

Croaker, we're scheduled to spend two weeks on the South Island at the end of March/beginning of April. We are going ahead with our plans (though we will probably not stay in Christchurch). From what I've heard from Kiwis the damage outside of the Christchurch area (where it is, of course, horrible) is nil. I think the NZ economy needs us right now.

SZ -

That's true, and I had thought of that. We are scheduled to stay at a series of small B&B's in the area and perhaps they would not be able to reschedule their rooms on such short notice.

Can you email your intended lodgings, Croaker. If you are flying to Queenstown and Dunedin then you will be bypassing the damage. I'm sure they will appreciate not cancelling at short notice.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of New Zealand... I have a friend with relatives there who is still waiting to hear whether they are okay. The images of destruction are startling...

We are also supposed to travel to Christchurch in late March and don't know if we should change our itinerary... We have held off e-mailing the hotel, they probably don't have power and are probably flooded with e-mail from people with reservations closer than ours. But given the amount of damage, I can't imagine the city will be fully functional in a month's time. But I am sure that Christchurch will especially need our tourist dollars now.

We're heading to the SI in early June for three weeks. We hadn't planned to stay in Christchurch, other than to arrive/depart and pass through.

NZ definitely needs our tourist dollars and donations.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/dona...hquake-3760332

Sorry, wrong link.

Donations for yesterday's earthquake in Christchurch are being taken through the Red Cross and The Salvation Army.

To donate to The Salvation Army New Zealand’s appeal visit: ://secure20.salvationarmy.org/ specifying ‘Canterbury Earthquake Appeal’

http://www.redcross.org.nz/cms_display.php

Rob so glad you were able to contact us - I've been so very worried about you and your family. What a relief to know that you're all okay.

Oh whew that is such a r e l i e f!!!

But how are the sheep?

I would work on a backup itinerary for that leg, Britomart. It looks very dodgy right in Christchurch and you're not going to like the aftershocks.

Give the hotel a few weeks to settle out and get inspected and then give them an email. Also consider that there may be a need for those hotel rooms for engineers, inspectors, and displaced persons even as far as a month out.