Today we were rudely awoken at 4:35am by a massive earthquake here in Christchurch, New Zealand. We were lucky and our house did not sustain any massive damage – and thank god we had left sandbags on the studio lights!

All the camera gear is stored on a shelf about 5 feet off the ground. The 70-200mm f2.8 had taken a tumble, but looks like the lens is OK. Luckily the rest of the gear did not fall off the shelf!

We took a walk through town, and there are a number of buildings that did not fair too well -  mostly old brick buildings, which is really sad. At the end of this post are some of the photos I took during a walk through town this morning. My Partner Sharon has also posted images she took on her blog.

So far there have been no reported fatalities, which is a miracle considering the amount of damage. We were very lucky.

5/09/2010 Update

The earthquake started with a 5.4 earthquake that lasted 5 seconds before the 7.1 quake hit. The whole thing lasted for 40 seconds, which is quite a long time when you are getting shaken and bumped about. Because it was 4:35am, it was pitch black. Sharon and I clambered over to the door frame, which was difficult given the amount of movement caused by the earthquake. We braced ourselves in the door frame whilst we listened to things crashing and smashing around our house.

Video of the damage

The first stretch of damaged shops shown in this video is at the corner of Barbadoes & Edgeware streets and is only a few blocks away from our house. Yikes!

This video shows some aerial footage and gives you a good idea of how bad the damage is in different areas.

Our power and water are going again now, however, we have to boil all our water for 3 minutes as there have been sewerage lines break, and they are not sure if the water is contaminated.

We have been continually shaken by aftershocks since the main event yesterday, with most of these aftershocks being about 3.5 to 4.5 in strength. I feel like I am on a boat!

The magnitude of this earthquake was similar to the one in California in 1989 where numerous stacked motorways collapsed on each other, and also similar in magnitude to the recent devastating quake in Haiti, in which thousands of people died. Christchurch appears to have had a lucky break – there are 3 people who had serious injuries, but currently there are no reported fatalities. Most of the inner city is a little shaky, with many buildings not considered safe. All of the inner city is currently being assessed for safety.

My pictures of the earthquake