Open Writing

Yes, we know we are sitting on the edge of two tectonic plates, I remember my teaching days as I laboriously tried to explain “The ring of fire,” to my 2nd formers during Social Studies, (a mixture of geography, history and other associated general and current affairs.) Tectonic plates have a habit of floating around and when they decide to “have a go” at each other, as the nations of the world do from time to time, strange and rather frightening things tend to happen.

So it was last week, as we both relaxed on our sofas catching our favourite soap opera, “Coronation Street,” (as I tell folk, “It keeps my accent up to scratch!”) when we both began to feel rather dizzy and wondered what strength the wine was which we had had a glass of with our dinner. It couldn’t be that, it was an “el cheepo” from the supermarket.

Things then got a bit rockier and the house plants looked as though a force nine gale was blowing, the pictures shifted on the wall and I glanced at my precious ornaments. Earthquake! Always a thing to remember when you are on the edge of a tectonic plate. What to do? The instructions are to get under a doorway. I thought of my dad who had been a builder and had gone around tapping for “supporting beams” before he knocked walls down, I still favoured under the dining room table, where my mother used to put us during the blitz as she thought “the shelters were dirty”.

We stayed where we were, rocking as though at sea and wondering how much damage was being done. We eyed the ceiling looking for cracks and I did a mental check of the Civil Defense instructions. Yes I had enough tinned food, I had a camping gas stove, the torches worked and I knew where they were but I had no stored water, I didn’t see the sense in that as it would probably have more bugs in it than water before it was needed, on the other hand I suppose I could have filled the bath and a few jugs and containers, while I could still stand, but I had plenty of lemonade and fruit juice so we wouldn’t die of thirst. And so we rocked on and our anxiety levels began to rise, this was a big one.

Gradually the plants settled and the pictures hung crookedly but were still and our sofas stopped becoming boats in a rough sea, the earthquake faded away. An hour later it started again, not quite as bad, but we were very much aware that something very big was happening somewhere, however rushing about and panicking was not the thing to do. Stay calm and wait, we have no control over what is happening beneath our feet and we waited for the siren, which we knew would sound if we had to act.

Again it settled but by this time we were ready for bed, so we headed off wondering if the roof would be there in the morning. I should however point out that all new New Zealand houses must be built to withstand earthquakes and ours is. It is built on a bowl of concrete which is meant to sway during earthquakes, hence the feeling of being in a boat at sea, and the structure of the house should be able to stand up to most shakes. That doesn’t stop cracks in the ceilings and walls or broken crockery and such, but the Earthquake Commission should take care of those.

During the night the earth rocked again but not enough to wake us. This wasn’t a one off.

The news on the radio the following morning revealed all. A 7.8 Richter scale quake had hit the south west corner of South Island, Fiordland. There were many landslips but it is mostly uninhabited so no-one was hurt. Tsunami alerts were out as most of the shock waves went out to sea. The Te Anau supermarket seemed to be a walking disaster of tins and broken bottles and no doubt all the other places in Te Anau were in a similar state, but no real damage, just a big mess to clear up.

The reason for the quake was explained. The Pacific and the Indo-Australian plates were shifting, pushing against each other and pulling apart, they are not too happy just now and we can expect more “tremours.” Tremours! You try sitting through one, not knowing if it is going to get better or worse. So be it. We can do nothing about it, we are sitting on “The ring of fire,” like it or not. You never know, Mt. Cook could become higher than Everest or we could have a new Rift Valley. And another thing, the south of the South Island is getting wider and the north narrower. Something’s got to give.

One thing does worry me; we are told we are drifting towards Australia. No thanks! We don’t want their snakes and lizards and nasty spiders or millions of ants which prevent you from sitting on the grass. Let’s keep the Tasman between us, we are better apart anyway.

But to end on a serious note, for such things are serious. This earth we live on is a very vulnerable place. We have no control over the elements, the floods, tornados, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. We are just the human beings who have the privilege of inhabiting this mighty and beautiful planet. Let us live in harmony and enjoy it, aware of its power, for tomorrow, like the dinosaurs, we may not be here.