Wot??
My family are safe and well, their houses not so much. My brother’s house is wrecked, they are spending the night in a tent on their front lawn. My parent’s house is less damaged.
Bloody hell.
Where she works the Kiwi employee contingent must be affectionately known as “The Kiwi mafia”, I’m guessing.
My brother is notorious for not responding to phone calls or emails, and he also travels to Christchurch a lot for work, so we currently don’t know if he was there or not during the quake. Odds are probably 30% he was.
If so, I am hoping he’s okay.
My god…which part of town are your family? Do you happen to have any word on the Church Corner area? (Yaldhurst Road / Riccarton Road / Main South Road, Villa Maria School)
Sorry, they are in the Beckenham area, around Waimea Terrace. I have heard that friends in the Riccarton area are fine.
I got a text at 4am in the UK from my mother who’s on holiday in NZ, just to let me know that she was ok. It was a huge relief as I’d just put the morning news on and was trying to find the itinerary she’d left with me.
Hope your loved ones are all safe and well!
I have friends in Christchurch, their facebook status is updated, they are ok… I am glad they even have Internet, considering…
My heart goes out to folks from the affected area. I hope recovery is swift.
A reporter last night said that Lyttelton looked like it had been bombed. Terrible. Sending positive thoughts down your way.
I have really good friends who live in New Brighton - and I have not been able to get through by phone to reach them.
Last time around, they were OK and had almost no damage to their home. Other than lack of electricity and water, they came out fine.
I hope that is the case this time, although because it was a work day, it makes me more nervous. He works for the NZ version of our “child services” and is either at his office or traveling to other homes/schools/families, and she is a hairdresser who often works from home. Don’t know where their son and grandkids were at the time either. Luckily, their daughter is now living in Germany.
I will try calling again later today - hope the phone lines get repaired soon.
Friends of friends live in the Wellington area… they probably know someone in Christchurch. Hope and courage to everyone. 
The Red Cross has set up a dedicated phone line. If you are concerned about someone close to you ph
I’ve mostly been following this through my friend’s Facebook updates - everyone I know is safe, which is a relief. I’m obsessively reading the Herald and Stuff at my desk, eleven thousand miles away, and feeling worse and worse.
Kia kaha, Christchurch.
Just to agree with maplekiwi, Icewolf lives within a mile of me in Auckland, over 450 miles north of Christchurch.
We didn’t feel anything of the quake this far north – the first I saw were folks at work looking at Youtube vids, and thought they were older ones from Sept. 
The NZ Herald has a lot of quake coverage this morning; it looks bad.
Nothing useful to say - my thoughts and prayers are with them.
Sorry - I have a Kiwi managing director, who likes to hire other Kiwis. Hence, they (about six of them) are known at work as the Kiwi Mafia.
Ahhh, gotcha! 
And thus, one company at a time, we shall take over the world!!!
Should be achieved by late September 2839.
Death toll at 75.