The seismic adrenaline of yesterday has gone. Today reality – and cooler, now windy weather has settled in.

First port of call, checking to see if a chimney had come down on Hills Rd. Had stopped there yesterday to photo a constituent taking down the remnants of his chimney. A chap across the road asked if I might help. His car was already crushed by his own chimney; now his neighbour’s chimney was teetering and threatening to fall into his lounge. He’d rung and registered with the Fire Service but hoped there might be a faster response. I asked the chap across the road if he could help but given there were a tonne of unstable bricks involved, he wisely deferred. Today it looked like the ongoing aftershocks had got in before the Fire Service could arrive.

Fire and Civil Defence staff is working their way across the city, checking the safety of buildings. Phil Goff and Carmel Sepuloni (Labour’s Civil Defence spokesperson) arrived at 11am. We walked with a CD team through the inner city. Much has escaped unscathed, at least visibly, though a torrent of running water from a building near Chancery Lane confirmed much is yet to be discovered.

Mercifully New Regent St, our brightly painted art deco street, looks intact. But at Manchester St the scale of damage becomes apparent. TVNZ, Sky and two Aussie channel crews interviewed Phil at the spot. The upstairs Mexican restaurant with no frontage but tables set and 50 metres away, the scene of the fire when power turned back on ignited something. (The casualties are a party pill shop and brothel.)

Phil spoke about the scale of damage, the need for us all to work together and the reminder to every New Zealander just how much of a threat we face from earthquakes. Hmmn, my first text yesterday was to my sister in Wellington. I had thought:” God if it’s this big here, how big is it in Wellington!”

Back at CD HQ for a full briefing with Phil, other city MPs, councillors and community board members. Roger Sutton, whose Orion lines co staff have been doing a sterling job, says 95% of homes have power back on but that leaves 10,000 unconnected. Developing winds and the liquefaction in some areas make pole climbing hazardous. Liquefaction particularly happened in the one km back from the coast. It’s help caused 100 or more reported breaks in water supply lines; each one that’s repaired puts weaker joints under pressure. Sewage contamination risks remain high, so we must continue to boil our water. And the Avon will contain sewage for quite some time as the systems are repaired

Welfare centres at three locations across the city. I visited the one at Linwood early last night. At that point, only one family. By dinner time, more than 80. Housing NZ staff report they’d had 200 chimneys reported down. A thousand blankets are coming in from Wellington; two thousand tarpaulins The need for these is confirmed when I show Phil and Carmel around the St Albans part of my electorate. It looks like every third or fourth house has lost a chimney.

The local community centre has lost a wall, the Edgeware Post office building has needed propping up. At the Edgeware Rd/Barbadoes St intersection we meet the owner of the dairy crushed along with half a dozen shops in an entire building collapse. She asks whether there is compensation. I give her my card and ask her to ring so we can check. Later I brief my staff that we will be busy. Parliamentary Service is bringing in staff from Wellington tomorrow and providing backup.

I take Phil and Carmel to Kaiapoi where Clayton Cosgrove is waiting to show them around his electorate’s worst hit area.

Back to our friends’ house and the news that our house has been declared unsafe by Civil Defence. A story replicated hundreds of time across Christchurch. Later I make a quick visit to grab some fresh clothes and see if Paddy our cat, has turned up. She hasn’t been seen since the quake shook. No response to my call.

Our neighbour Clyde comes over and offers tomorrow to dig out the car of West Coast friend’s Lorna and Albert, who’ve gone to Aussie and left the vehicle at our place so it was secure. None of us counted on a 7+ quake! Again, Clyde’s offer typical of the Kiwi approach that we all so love at these times; we are in this together.

Tomorrow, Breakfast television has invited me on at 8.40. Happy to tell my story but do hope it only reinforces the message that we are a city which has suffered colossal damage to countless homes and businesses. And as those repairs swiftly kick in, there is another toll. While it is truly miraculous there were no fatalities, a hospital nurse told me today there were dozens if not hundreds with injuries incurred as they tried to escape the quake, including many heart attacks. Very real health risks from tainted water. Businesses such as those based around tourism which may suffer losses.

Many children are frightened to go to school (in part why Christchurch schools are closed until Wednesday.) Our hosts’ grandson for one, who is now very afraid of the dark. It may be with him forever. And for many Christchurch people of all ages who’ve taken it in their stride but now as the adrenaline fades are dealing with very real fears of continuing to live in houses from which they were sometimes lucky to escape.

And then there are the continuing tremors. Two measurable ones in the time it has taken to write this blog.

Kia kaha

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