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Earthquake in Christchurch

We're ok after the 7.1 quake that rattled Christchurch on the weekend. It seems miraculous that no-one was killed considering the destruction around the city!

These kinds of disasters are a short, sharp reminder that if you don't have an emergency kit with at least a torch, radio and basic food and water you'll be in the silent dark while aftershocks ripple around you and you worry about what's going on. My first thought was that the quake must be centered elsewhere, because Christchurch isn't on a faultline (well, wasn't!) and if it's this bad here what about Wellington?

In true web geek style, I don't own a 'wireless' as in radio, only a wireless as in router. But, even without electricty, a laptop and a mobile internet dongle got me online and streaming Radio NZ, and on facebook confirming to people that I was ok and trying to check in that everyone else was. For some reason, this still worked even though the cell network quickly bcame too overloaded for voice calls and texts were taking hours. The same happened in London after the 2007 bombings. This time I was quick enough to get one text through to my mother at the other end of the island before the networks closed out entirely, mainly to check that she wasn't closer to the epicenter than I was and also to say I was ok!

I won't go on about buildings and destruction on our web development blog, but the tech lessons from this are: mobile internet is good in an emergency if you can get it, as it's two-way and letting people know you're ok via facebook or twitter keeps some of the load off the cell network. And as for that network, it WILL overload, so if there's an emergency try to call only if it's urgent, not just to check on people, because people in the thick of it will be trying to use that network to call amublances, find their chidren and so on. It's unlikely the phone campanies will ever have enough in reserve to cope in an emergency, so don't expect to rely on your cell phone!

- Rita Langley