Friends in Chch okay

Rick did an update tonight for family, and we thought getting it to the wider community who have been contacting us would be helpful. For us, everything is fine. Dunedin was not harmed in any way.

But the earthquake was much worse than we initially thought. We have cancelled our plan to go to Christchurch -- we were going next week to visit friends and spend a few days in the city revisiting old haunts, most of which are now in rubble. It's not just a bad time to visit, but not a good idea to be in the area right now. It is still geologically unsafe, and we have even felt a couple of their aftershocks here.

We just heard from our friends Ian and Kate Hall, and thank God they are unharmed. Haven't heard from others yet, but we have our feelers out. The devastation is amazing, but it reminds us to pay a different kind of attention when we hear reports of serious disasters in Peru or India. It's so easy to think of those as remote places and people, but we're reminded that we are all connected.

The generosity of the Kiwi people and the response from around the world has been impressive. I'm guessing that your news outlets will be reporting on the gruesome events and statistics -- death tolls and the like. I think we're mostly feeling blessed to have missed being in the middle of the disaster, and grateful for the opportunity to watch a strong, resilient nation dig itself out of this awful experience.

This has been an extraordinary experience. Not one I recommend.