5 month update

Looking back I think this month has been the hardest to deal with since this whole thing began.  With the announcement of the zones and the large amount of depressing news being inflicted by the insurance companies it all seemed too much to bear at times, even for someone like me who was only peripherally affected (we probably won't be able to buy a house in the foreseeable future because the insurers currently won't insure unless you already have insurance).  I hit the lowest point I've hit since the quakes hit, but the good side is that I reached out on twitter and people responded (yeah I know, another gush about twitter :D ).  It's good to know that even now, and even when RL people find it hard to respond or understand, that the wider Christchurch community (the wider #eqnz community, really, because a lot of the regulars aren't here, just here in spirit) are there for each other.  It's hard, it's been hard, it will keep being hard, but at least when you have to say 'I'm not coping' there is always someone there to say 'that's okay.'  

Anyway, I've been collecting links to share this last week.  It's interesting, but there is a perception out there that we have been forgotten.  That's not something I see myself - Living here we obviously can't forget it, I certainly haven't let anyone on my LJ flist forget about it (sorry 'bout that guys), and when I was in Brisbane (the bright spot in this otherwise dreary month) people had certainly not forgotten about it, but there have been a few articles lately that have made the same comment, so perhaps from the outside it does appear more 'forgotten'?  Here are the two that interested me the most.  The first was repeated in practically all our daily newspapers and people got very upset that all 3 magnitudes of the quakes were wrong.  I guess they didn't realise it was probably a foreign piece first and probably took its sizes from USGS rather than GNS.  The second is a blog by a guy who has made some lovely comments on the situation as a outsider looking in - from another country and living in Wellington.  His perspective has always been fascinating and compassionate

7,500 earthquakes hit shattered New Zealand city (yes, there really have been over 7,500 recorded quakes since September)

Don't forget Christchurch

I think that's it for me this month.  It's not one I really want to dwell on - I hope that things get better from here on in, but I'm not sure that it will just in the immediate future.  We have snow forecast for this weekend, apparently the first snowfall in 3 years which I don't quite believe.  I know we had none last year but I thought we'd had some the year before that at least.  Either way it's going to be cold. I guess the kids will enjoy it, so that's one good thing.  It's been so long that it will be a real novelty for them :D