Here’s my brief reflection on Sept 4.  I ran out of time to say everything I wanted to say (as is often the case in the general debate), but let me say thank you to the volunteers, the engineers and loss adjusters from EQC, the people who worked (and are still working) on the lines, pipes, drains and sewers, the people who staffed the call centres…the list goes on.

MPs and other elected representatives, along with a range of community leaders, do not have a defined role in an emergency and that is something we need to learn from this disaster. We are all people who have local knowledge and networks that could be used in a much more effective way.

I am in awe of the expertise we have in EQC and contracted through Tonkin & Taylor Environmental & Engineering Consultants. The idea of making that expertise available to the community through community meetings organised by the local MPs (and in my case in conjunction with Cr Chrissie Williams, who has worked day after day to get the answers and the services to our constituents) was inspired and I credit EQC and the government for allowing it to happen. I have four of the most damaged areas in my electorate and despite that, I am optimistic that we can rebuild each and every one of our communities. My perspective on a lot of things has changed as a result of the impact of a single minute on the 4th September, but my resolve to be part of that rebuilding effort will never be shaken.  Because that is what is more important than anything else.

I managed to sleep in my bed last night, as opposed to the couch downstairs, but it wasn’t a solid night’s sleep.  I had a full day yesterday – picked up Phil Goff & Carmel Sepuloni from the airport and took them into the central city, to join Ruth Dyson & Brendon Burns for the Civil Defence briefing.  Brendon has already reported on our walk around the city centre and I have logged photos on Facebook.  

On their way to Kaiapoi, Brendon, Phil & Carmel stopped at a petrol station and encountered an irate taxi driver, living in Kingsford Street in my electorate, who gave Brendon an earful about having seen no-one – they had no power, no water and no information about anything.  Brendon let me know and I headed down there – it looked like a war zone – silt piled up on the streets as people worked tirelessly with shovels and wheelbarrows. I spoke to some residents on one of the side streets and it was exactly as Brendon said – no-one knew anything and they felt completely forgotten.  I contacted Orion and to their credit the power was restored that night.  Their system had failed to record the number of households affected by the outage, so it hadn’t looked like the problem it was.  

If there was one lines company I would choose to see me through a crisis, it would be Orion.  They are a committed team that has retained the institutional knowledge needed at such times – big ups to Roger Sutton and the whole team!  

One of my constituent couples let me take photos of the damage that had been done to their house.  It was heartbreaking, captured poignantly in this photo of the crack on their bedroom wall, which was a result of the major shunt and drop of their house during the quake.  I have put the series on Facebook so people can get an idea of the extent of the damage – not just to the old, as we have seen on TV, but to the new – these homes are only 4-5 years old and are ruined.

Today the electorate office was up and running and we started calling around constituents we had assisted through the home help cuts, ACC problems and disability issues; and we contacted local party members, particularly those we knew would be alone.  We discovered that the Ministry of Social Development was calling superannuitants they knew were living alone – big ups to MSD!

When Kath & I left the office late this aftenoon, we were planning to do a quick scan around Bexley (where we both live) after a visit to South New Brighton, when we heard that there had been a news item saying there was an evacuation happening in the Pacific Park subdivision of Bexley.  We headed over there and were stopped by members of the local volunteer fire brigade to tell us that the residents of Seabreeze Close didn’t know what was happening at all.  I checked on the Stuff website and although the story was accurate about several residents shifting out – the headline was “Evacuation” – it created the impression that people were being required to move, which wasn’t the case.  By the time I got through to the Council and Civil Defence the headline had been changed to “Moving Out” – but the damage had been done.  The media do need to exercise caution when reporting such matters. To their credit TV3, who were on the spot, changed their story to focus on the confusion and distress that had arisen as a result of the reporting of an evacuation.

I am glad I went there because I found out that people essentially living in the same suburb as me still had no power.  Another phone call to Orion and it was restored shortly after 7pm tonight. 

When I got home, I discovered that my water was back on and I am able to look forward to a hot shower in the morning – the first since Friday.  So another busy day is over but it won’t let up for a while.  I am grateful that our party whips have given the Christchurch MPs leave for the week so we can stay in our electorates.  And although I am very aware of how much worse it is for so many of my constituents, the enormity of what occured really struck me this afternoon when one of the bigger after-shocks made me feel physically sick – reminding me that the psychological effects of that single minute on 4 Sept will stay with us all for quite some time.

I have never experienced anything like yesterday’s earthquake in my life.  People who know me well, know that earthquakes are one of my most pervasive fears – but that fear is preserved for Wellington.  At 4.35am yesterday, the strength and violence of the quake was such that I didn’t have time to feel the fear as Robbie and I leapt out of bed and ran down the stairs.  Running isn’t quite accurate, because it only describes what we tried to do – we were literally tossed from side to side as we stumbled down the stairs; the electricity went off and all I could hear was glass breaking and things crashing to the floor.  As we made it to the front door of the house, it stopped.  I still couldn’t tell you how long it lasted.  It obviously seemed longer than it was.  It was then that I felt the first shock of what had just happened.

Unbelievably the only things that broke were a wine glass and a sugar bowl lid.  Although I think there could be a bit of structural stuff - my neighbour over the road tells me she can’t see our bedroom balcony from her room anymore – and there are cracks in the drive, it looks as if we have got off comparatively lightly.  

Robbie and I set off relatively early to see how the electorate was doing - we went through Bexley, where we live (lots of flooding), Tumara Park, Parklands and then to Brooklands.  The volunteer fire brigade at Brooklands gave me my first coffee of the day and it was great (it was instant coffee and I didn’t care).   I attended their Civil Defence meeting at 9am but there wasn’t much to be reported at that time.  It really highlighted to me how important volunteer networks are – especially in areas like Brooklands, which doesn’t have the same access to core infrastructure as the inner-city suburbs. 

Robbie and I then parted ways and I visited friends in Aranui to see how they had coped.  This visit showed how random the effect was – they had lost precious crockery and glasses and their dining room looked like a bomb had hit it.  Then I went to Dallington and it had sustained serious damage, but what I saw at St Pauls broke my heart – I only visited the school last week and the parish had only buried Fr Miles O’Malley the week before. 

I came home exhausted and slept on the couch downstairs – tomorrow was another day!