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One of my favourite cities and such wonderful friendly people. Thinking about them a lot.

This is terrible news.

My Fiancee and I are getting married at the end of the year and our honeymoon is in New Zealand. We are taking 21days to drive from Auckland to Christchurch, although it will be completely understandable if the itinerary changes. Our thoughts are with all friends and families over there that are affected.

Im sure they will soon get themselves back on their feet, and we are looking forward to going there to give our support even if it is another 9months away.

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Lee Diggle
My Astronomy Blog | My Photography Gallery

It's nice to see this post and the lovely thoughts behind it. Thank you!

I live and work in Christchurch and on this particular day I was working as an Advanced Paramedic, attending a patient on the second floor of a shopping mall when the earthquake struck. When the thick safety glass began shattering around me I knew this was big and within minutes became very aware that Christchurch had suffered hugely.


Unable to get hold of my family due to no communications, I became involved in the initial triage and treatment of patients, firstly in the northern areas of Christchurch, where I was at the time, but then moved towards the central city / Latimer Square to assist with the masses of casualties that evolved from the building collapses etc.


Approx 2 hours after the event I heard from my wife that she was safe but our home had been destroyed and that she was at a neighbors. The area we live in, Sumner, was hard hit being only 5 kms from the epi-center and there was massive rockfall in and around the area and it was at risk of becoming isolated.

Given I have a 3 month old baby and I had the car with the car seat at work my immediate concerns were to secure my family to a safe zone outside of this area and accordingly I left work and returned home, retrieved my family and removed them to a safe area and returned back to Latimer Square to hep out.

Christchurch city has had its heart ripped from its very core and will never be the same. I feel heartbroken for all those who have lost their lives, for the thousands who are now homeless, penniless and with nowhere to go.

I've lost my home, but we're safe and have the resources to start over.

I have lent all of my camera gear to a professional photographer who has lost his in the quake. It's enough for him to get by in order to fulfill his contracts outside of Christchurch in the short term. But I did take a few photos of our home before he got the camera in order to provide the insurance company with some info.

Here's a short video of both motion and stills of our home. How my wife, her friend and two babies got out of the kitchen dining room unscathed I'll never know. Someone was looking after them.


http://www.outclassed.co.nz/eq2011.html

Please keep Christchurch in your prayers and thoughts.

cjmchch, that was quite chilling seeing those images.
I can't imagine how you felt on seeing your home destroyed like that & even worse wondering, in the immediate aftermath, if your family was safe, while you continued to work & help others.

Thanks for the clips, it sure brings home how people over there have suffered.

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Nikon D700 & D7100 bodies + Nikkor 300mm F2.8 VR11, 1.7TC, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

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An extraordinary image from this BBC web page shows vertical displacement. Check out the full article for an explanation of the colours.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

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and still it continues. After Monday's significant aftershocks the NZ Herald forecasts: Cold night ahead for quake-hit Canterbury.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

This post has been a longtime coming. After we lost our home I had to put a lot of things on hold, including my photography hobby. Well I'm pleased to say that last week we moved into our new home that we built. While not quite finished on the outside, the interior is complete and I'm back into my hobby!

Anyway, here's a shot of the house.



p.s.
It's good to be back

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Canon - Manfrotto - Pocketwizard - Sekonic - Westcott - Hoya - Singh Ray - Epson

http://chrismckayphotography.com

cjmchch, your new home looks beautiful & it's amazing how much you've achieved in such a short time. (although it probably seems MUCH longer to you)

Many thanks for the update & glad you're back shooting & posting.

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Nikon D700 & D7100 bodies + Nikkor 300mm F2.8 VR11, 1.7TC, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

That's great to see.

I was working as a geotechnical engineer in chch after the quake and my assessment area was healthcote valley to ferrymead so I know how hard you will have been hit in sumner.

In the weeks that followed the quake I was then undertaking building foundation assessments in the red zone cbd and can only imagine what it was like on that afternoon..

Kia kaha

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Canon 550D, Canon EFS 17-85 IS USM, Canon EF 75-300 IS USM, Canon EFS 10-22mm USM, Canon EF35mm F2.

Got some of the gear but really still no idea...