Earthquake

Over in Christchurch they're still getting about half a dozen after-shocks each day after the place was destroyed in February by the third of the three recent earthquakes.

The evening before we flew back to Sydney we finally experienced one. It was a magnitude 4.3 which certainly gave the house a tremendous shake for a few seconds. When you consider that the original big one last September was over a 1000 times stronger and 10 times longer, you maybe just start to comprehend what they went through that day and during the two big ones since.

Liquefaction is a bizarre problem

The city is still deserted and the army patrol a perimeter around the city centre which is still strewn with debris and collapsed buildings. It's all rather eerie and rather sad.

The army still enforce a perimeter around the city centre