Such a poignant image by Mark Mitchell.Jim Deans, the owner of this once wonderful historic homestead, head bowed in sadness and contemplation, walks past his earthquake destroyed Homebush residence.
The worst natural disaster to befall New Zealand, perhaps ever, but remarkably with no lives lost, and the beautiful picturesque Christchurch is a city down but not out.
The Government is shoving bureaucracy aside in an all out effort to not only put the city back together but also very quickly putting packages in place for homeless folk and people out of work.
The original estimated cost of the earthquake has now doubled to around 4 billion dollars and rising.
Disasters have a habit of bringing out the best in people and it is very true here at this time.
One instance of community spirit is a group of teenagers, banding together after forming a Help Group on social network Facebook and now, over a thousand of them, armed with shovels and other gear are going door to door to assist where they can.
I'm proud to be a Kiwi...
And proud you should be.
ReplyDeleteIt's good when any one bands together like that to help each other out without wanting something in return.
ReplyDeleteIt would make me proud to be a human.
Its great to hear the stories of people helping strangers and neighbours. I heard a farmer on Country Life this morning whose farm near the epicentre turned from flat land to what he described as rolling country. I don't think he intended a pun, although it would have been a good one. He was overwhelmed by the offers of help from the community. One of his paddocks rose 2 metres, most of his fences were trashed, but he was just carrying on, one clean up job at a time.
ReplyDeleteVal
Its usual to be cynical about politicians, but this time their instincts seem to be working.
I too am highly cynical of politicians and loathe bureaucracy. I have not had much of an opinion of this Prime Minister up till now but his actions over this disaster have been very impressive and he has been one who has certainly shone. Cancelling his trip to Europe and a weekend with the Queen was a very good move and won him lots of kudos. As I said, disasters can bring out the best in people...
ReplyDeletetoday while driving through my township of kaiapoi i saw a table set up offering free bbq and hot soup amazing ,also to see portable toilets outside every forth house because of broken sewage pipes and people standing around talking to each
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