to read Annie`s full story about the earthquakes

Annie Davies writes about ‘ Living with earthquakes’! Many moons ago I put a pin in the map and travelled the furthest distance I could for £10 – New Zealand! I started in Auckland working as an Occupational Therapist in a very big psychiatric hospital called Oakley – which was still divided into male and female sides using those notorious huge keys to lock everyone safely away on their wards where I was the only female qualified staff member working on “The Male Side”! During my endeavours to begin a blend between the different sides I wrote a weekly newspaper called (predictably) “The Oakley News”, ran a folk club (I was a folkie at the time), and also got a range of speakers in to help people get a grip on what was happening outside the walls. One of these sessions was to change my life and featured a speaker from the upcoming Commonwealth Games, which were to be held in Christchurch. Nothing else would have happened had the speaker not invited me to meet the team for a drink that night – and somehow (probably whilst sampling some very good NZ wine) I must have said the right things because I later found out that they had decided I should work for the Games – and obviously had to move to Christchurch. I was still living in Christchurch at the time of the earthquakes which started in September 2010 and continue today with over 13,000 quakes to date! (see www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz). I had bought a wonderful 5 bedroomed house on a peninsular called South Brighton with the sea on one side and the estuary on the other. When I sat in my back garden amongst the Native trees and ferns I planted, all I could hear were the birds and the waves. It was an ‘Enid Blighton’ moment as soon as I saw the house and I just loved the weather board, the seaside chalet touch and the sand underfoot in summer. As part of the sale I had to sign to say I understood that my property could be subject to liquefaction in the event of an earthquake – but I never thought that would happen to me! I had held some managerial jobs in the field of mental health and community development which gave me enough money to not be overly preoccupied about how much I spent at the supermarket, going on holiday or going out for a meal. I enjoyed sculpting in stone in The Sculpture Garden in the sand-­‐hills on the edge of the beach, I had lots of friends I had known for many years and had a good band -­‐ so my lifestyle was pretty ideal. I was booked to play a concert on August 29th. 2010 and had a premonition that it would be the last time I would play so invited some of my musician friends, who normally played in their own bands, to join me for the evening -­‐ and we called it “Just Friends”. It is normal to have the odd quake in NZ which adds a bit of frisson to life with the “did you feel that earthquake” comment the next day. On September 4th. at 4.35am, just 6 days after the concert, I woke to my wind-­‐chimes bonging and thought it was my cat having a swipe but as she was asleep I knew it was a quake and initially didn’t think anything of it. The 7.4 quake started to build up rolling through the land in waves which woke me enough to take action. I rolled out of bed and lay alongside it so that if the ceiling came down it would leave a space where I was lying. I watched all the street lights go out and tried to identify what was breaking with each crash. It went on for 45 seconds – which seems a short time until you are counting them 1 and 2 etc. When the first quake subsided the aftershocks continued to rock us every minute or so (we had over 250 big quakes in the first 24 hours) I went out onto my patio and the first thing that struck me was how amazing the sky was as there were no lights anywhere and the stars were so bright! We were rocked around with quakes daily over the next 5 months and we got used to sometimes having power, water and sewage and sometimes not. We got adept at rating the intensity of each quake that happened, checking it out online and then found it strangely worrying that we missed ‘not having a good quake’ when they were smaller (obviously we missed the adrenalin rush). It was a revelation to find that these aftershocks I had heard about didn’t come from the original epicentre but were quakes in their own right triggered throughout the region even under my house, the beach etc. A friend told me that when he was playing golf one day he watched a quake roll through and it was like a wave in the land that lifted up the trees, houses and cows, settling them down again as it passed. We got used to putting things in a certain place on the shelves because we knew the direction of the quakes – from the mountains outside town. Then came a new job for me and it was when I was out for lunch with one of my colleagues, as part of my induction, in a restaurant on the edge of the town centre that the big earthquake on Feb 22nd 2011 demolished Christchurch in just 15 seconds. We had just finished a beautiful meal (but have yet to pay) when we got a quick jolt like a normal quake, which we both acknowledged before it started to really hit. The difference with this quake was that it kicked us from every direction. Usually the idea is to get under the table as protection in case the ceiling comes down but we had a very small table which we both grimly clung to and managed to stay in our chairs whilst others were not so lucky. The ceiling came down, the windows blew out and we were helped to climb through a wall, stopping every now and then as another shudder hit. My car was right next to the kerb outside the front and I remember immediately moving it to the other side of the road before the teetering building fell onto it. I found I was unable to get back to the glass and chrome office I worked from to pick up my boss to go to a meeting in the centre of town we were due to attend half an hour later and if we had been at that meeting instead of the restaurant I may well have not been here today. One of my colleagues was walking through the vast sliding doors at the office when the quake struck and with nothing to hang onto she fell and broke her neck. Another friend of mine was driving along the main road in the centre of town when one of the Churches started to fall on the cars in front and she found that even with the brakes on she was being pushed forward into the chaos –but luckily managed to spin her wheel and drive out of it. Other friends and colleagues were killed as buildings just collapsed. As town was falling down and the roads were cracked and blocked my only option was to go home – which took me 4 hours to drive the distance that would normally have taken 10 minutes. There was only one road that everyone seemed to be using so I joined the winding tail of traffic. There is this phenomena called “Liquifaction” which is a mixture of silty sand, sulphur and water that thrusts it’s way up through the cracks during a quake and can completely demolish a drive or building and caused part of the delay I experienced in the traffic. Sometimes the whole road was awash with water and liquefaction so that one minute I was driving along tarmac, then over something akin to a sand-­‐hill covered in water. The other more concerning problem, which was one of the main causes for the traffic jam, was made clear when coming across a truck that had gone headfirst through the road surface so the tail had to be negotiated around – and then later a car with it’s boot sticking out. It was unnerving to drive along not knowing whether or not there was a road to rely on. At this point you might be wondering if I was frightened but I have to say it was all a bit of an adventure – stopping the car each time between the leaning and jerking power poles that I definitely didn’t want to fall on me presuming that the dangling wires would not be live and therefore hopefully less dangerous. It was all a bit like driving through an obstacle course in an extreme sporting sense! This clip tells it all -­‐ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WoKu5VxKgs When I got back to my house it wasn’t in too bad a shape considering it was right in line with the epicentre – a few cracks, the drive was a bit more wrecked and my hot water tank had kinked in two and head butted it’s way through the wall. The house looked to me as if it had been cut around with a Stanley knife in a picture book as there was a gap all the way around where it had been jerked and pushed around against the garden and drive. (My friends had all marvelled at how it was like being in a Bouncy Castle to be in my house during quakes – and although that was not a comfortable experience, it might have been what saved it). Inside there were a lot of breakages – 2 heavy TVs had been tossed around the rooms in the spinning quakes, the contents of my kitchen cupboards strewn all over the floor with a lot of my smashed bottles of wine mixing with jam, pickled onions and cooking oils, gently swishing from side to side across the kitchen floor in the quakes that came every few minutes. We had no power (the substation sunk 6 feet) no sewage (unless you call a fountain of it gushing up to about 20 feet in one road near a friend’s house) and obviously no water. This meant we had to go to the toilet either in a black sack and then try and dispose of that or to dig a ‘long-­‐drop’ toilet in the garden – with no water for washing our hands afterwards. In the heat the place began to smell like being downwind of the loos at a rock festival! Nothing in my store cupboard was what I wanted to or could eat in the 34 degrees temperature we were experiencing (cans of sardines and dried pasta) but luckily some mobile food kitchens were set up down the road in the village centre every lunchtime (one funded I found out later by Warwick Rotary Club) and in the evening the local bar I had regularly played at with my band, opened their doors to all (not literally as we had to sit outside and were not allowed inside as it was a bit precarious) and we had a barbeque, cooking the contents thawing out from the freezers. So there was a fair bit of community spirit which was fine during the days but the nights were very long and extremely dark. I made a trip to my rural office in Rangiora, a township in North Canterbury, the day after the quake – an extremely long and winding journey necessitating many diversions around damaged roads. Whilst I was there I visited the equivalent of B&Q where I bought a load of new 5 litre paint containers, which I filled with water as well as, candles, torches and batteries. It was whilst I was paying for them that the young girl at the adjacent counter broke down in tears as she had just heard that her best friend had had both her legs and an arm amputated in order to free her from a collapsed building. The injuries are not counted in the news – just the deaths! After a few days the Singapore Army set up a desalination plant on the beach where we were given bottles of water which was easier than waiting in a queue for the water truck to turn up clutching buckets, bottles and any other containers we could carry. Sometimes big open sided trucks distributed supplies that had been flown in and bundled up into shopping bags. The bag contents were a bit generic containing nappies and baby food as well as boxes of cereal, milk, bread, crisps etc. With no fridges some things went off very quickly (I especially remember having a load of mushrooms which did not even get eaten) but It was an amazing experience to feel so much support and we all had fun bartering cigarettes and nappies for fruit etc. However, every night I sat in my bouncy castle, with the candles I’d acquired taped down to the surfaces to prevent them from falling over in the quakes. I had a chair placed nearest to the strongest door frame ready to stand in it during big quakes. I had loads of time to think as I tried to squint at Sudoku (the only thing I could concentrate on) by the light of a torch held between my shoulder and ear listening to each quake rumbling through, waiting in case it was ‘the big one’ which is expected to happen at some stage and maybe even split the South Island in two. (The nearest I can equate the sound of a quake arriving is to the sound of a washing machine starting it’s spin cycle). I went to bed every night fully clothed with a torch clutched in my right hand and all the doors and windows open as one of my friend’s houses had spun on it’s foundation and she had to smash her way out as nothing would open -­‐ not a pleasant thought. The council had been digging up the liquefaction from roads, drives and inside people’s houses and had dumped it in great mounds on a bit of wasteland on the causeway between us and the main part of town. There was a very strong hot Nor-­‐West wind blowing and as this stuff dried the wind picked it up and threw it back at us like a sandstorm. (These mounds reminded me of the piles of burning bodies from the Foot and Mouth Epidemic I saw here in the UK.) We had to wear masks and goggles and driving became more difficult as more sand-­‐hills were created on the roads making some un-­‐cracked roads impassable. I suffered with a really bad cough for the first 9 months after I got back here and my friends are continuing to experience many physical and emotional challenges because of the ongoing quakes. I heard Air New Zealand were putting on some special very cheap flights to the UK to help people leave the area and realising we would be suffering continuing quakes for a very long time I decided during my night-­‐time vigils that this was not how I wanted to live. I spoke to my boss and within 5 days put the house on the market, found a buyer (who rented it initially until the Sale went through) and arranged for Pickfords to pack my small selection of belongings -­‐ continuing even as I left for the airport. My beautiful cat Pumpkin hated the quakes and disappeared often for days, which added to my distress. She appeared just before I left for the airport and I had a very traumatic time leaving her with friends. I miss her heaps, especially as she died a few weeks ago – a very special friend! The majority of my rescued things I gave away to the huge homeless population and the dog rescue centre. As you can probably understand, I had ploughed everything I earned into improving my house and came out with less than I paid for it. Such is life! I spare-­‐bed-­‐surfed for 5 months after getting back on March 3rd 2011 and finally moved to this area to be near an Aunt, at that time living in Claverdon, who is becoming ‘increasingly bewildered’. I found the hardest part in coming back here was that I had lost a lot of my life – my home, friends and job obviously and something my friends and I discussed a lot before I left – we lost the trust that the earth was consistently supporting us and that we had somewhere safe to retreat to when things got tough. The less obvious parts were the loss of my identity coming to a place where very few people knew me or of my abilities as like many people, my life had been defined by the job I did, the lifestyle I could afford and the role I played in my community. What use was my fabulous CV now? I have gained an inkling of what it must feel like to be truly homeless and it’s a lonely place! Though to be fair I do have some good friends and my brother and sister–in law and her family who now live nearby are very supportive – for which I am very grateful! I also have a lot more respect for money and no longer take it for granted or try to ‘collect it’ to make me feel more secure. For a while I was unable to find the positives in my life as I felt like I was in “God’s Waiting Room” and was floundering around trying to find a direction and something solid to build on. I went back to basics -­‐ I am still a musician, a healer and an Occupational Therapist. I decided that I now had the chance to do what I want to do in life rather than dancing to someone else’s tune and chasing the dollar in pursuit of happiness. There are lots of jobs in my life that I have not done very well because my heart was not in it but they paid good money – which is not a formula for a good life. Instead of defining myself by my job and wage potential I now look at how I can use my skills in a different way. I started volunteering at The Shakespeare Hospice; The Henley Hub Seniors; as a Shadow Governor for the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Mental Health Trust and occasionally at Henley Community Library. I may not have much money, which is sometimes a struggle but for the first time for a long time I am doing what I know I can do well – which is such a relief! I do say to anyone who has lost their life purpose that becoming a volunteer is a great way to find some satisfaction – and to define the week, as I had great difficulty in remembering what day it was! So again I realise that nothing stays the same and we cannot control circumstances to prevent change happening. Sometimes the process to the point of change is difficult to negotiate but I have found that once I have made the decision to change everything seems to flow and support that – the sale of my house went through and the money hit my bank account the day before my mortgage holiday ran out which was synchronicity at it’s best. There was a pine forest along the estuary in South Brighton but with the sea invading the roots the trees died – and now the residents have a clear view over open water which is apparently beautiful – so change worked for them! I also know that as I discover a new path my energy rises and everything seems more exciting as my new adventure begins – and I have had a large number of adventures. Sometimes I feel that I am like the symbol of my Occupational Therapy profession (or Harry Potter) – The Phoenix that constantly rises from the ashes of the past. I now combine all my skills in a package I call ‘Life-­‐Raft’ – where I endeavour to help people to find ways to move out of their present chaos into a brighter future. One of my clients recently wrote :-­‐ "I first came across Annie as a Reiki therapist at the Shakespeare Hospice in Stratford upon Avon, shortly before my wife Jenny died of leukaemia earlier this year. She treated me again in the immediate aftermath of Jenny's death and helped me move from being a shuddering wreck towards being able to face the future. The Release Work she did with me when I saw her privately was quite extraordinary and continues to be so. I am not sure I would still be here without her -­‐ she has helped me, and continues to help me, deal with my grief and despair and be able both to look forward with hope and back with joy and gratitude for my thirty year 'great love.' Annie has magic in her hands, and great wisdom. I will always be grateful I found her when I did -­‐ but then, I don't believe in coincidences." Shaun McKenna -­‐ Scriptwriter & Lyricist -­‐ TV, radio, theatre, musical theatre: Original work, adaptations, arena productions June 2014 Annie Davies, Henley Resident, Saxophonist and Entertainer Discover more about Annie at www.anniedavies.com