He couldn't sleep after the earthquake so he thought counting sheep might help...
"...199, 200, 201, hello darling, 203, 204,..."
Called my cousin in Brooklyn, Motueka. It takes all that to get us to call I guess as our other cousin called from England and my mom was calling tomorrow.
No damage there as they are north of Christchurch but she said she was restlessly sleeping and it woke her up. What she found odd about this was how much of a rumbling/grumbling sound it was. She says people are pretty positive despite the damage and many losing so much. She said the mayor was good in Christchurch as he said "everybody lost something but nobody lost anybody."
The video of the twisted railways tracks and damage is incredible.
The pictures and videos really are quite incredible. My friend who lives in Wellington said she felt it there but did not realise how big it was until waking up and seeing the news! (And wellington is a LONG WAY from Christchurch for those who do not know NZ geography, on a different island). I'm assuming our house in Wanaka is ok - it's also a long way away.
More worrying is the predictions from the scientists in NZ that this is just the first in many to come - apparently they are concerned the the stresses released will now trigger a heap more earthquakes which could be worse.
However, the good news is that despite the damage, it did show the benefit of building codes in NZ. Not much one can do about roads and railway tracks, but very few buildings fell completely down (no tofu schools).
An interesting insight into the differences between this one and the Haiti earthquake:
Haiti: 230,000 deaths, Canterbury: 0 deaths. Why? - National - NZ Herald News