The ground was shaking violently, side to side, up and down. I heard another loud CRASH as yet another building crumbled onto the paving, breaking up into a million pieces. People were yelling: “Save us!” as the whirring sound of rescue helicopters filled the air. The sea began to evacuate the coastline as the earthquake went on.
20 Hours Earlier, 6:39 PM yesterday:
“Dinner’s ready!” yelled Mum, her name was Sarah, mine is Jackson. “Yum, dinner.” I said,
walking to the table made of timber, we’d had this table for about fourteen years now and it was still standing. Tonight for dinner was roast turkey, followed by a fair helping of salad and potatoes. It was a Friday, so that meant that my grandparents were staying for the weekend. My Grandad’s name was Bob and my Grandma’s name was Margaret. My Dad, Frank, was out working out in our little shed, as usual, so Mum had to call him inside before we started eating. It was one of the best dinners I’d had in awhile. After dinner, I decided to go to bed early, but I didn’t feel like dessert; the turkey was too filling. I drifted off to sleep, and that's when it started.
1:47 AM:
I awoke to the sound of creaking. “No one could be up this early.” I thought,
checking my clock. I felt like I should check the living room. As I crept out the creaking stopped, and I saw blue sparks fly from the power lines. “Mum, Dad, you might want to take a look at this!” I yelled. But Mum and Dad knew nothing of this phenomena. “Maybe a power line has fallen over somewhere down the street.” guessed Dad. He must have been right, because as soon as I flopped onto my bed, I didn’t think about it and went right back to sleep.
8:15 AM:
I woke up to the sound of my annoying alarm clock beeping, Grandad gave to me for my 15th birthday, which was two years ago. But then, as I turned it off, the smoke alarm suddenly started to beep. The smoke alarm probably would’ve gone haywire from the sparking last night and started beeping because of all the electricity generated through the sparks. I was the only one up, so I turned the noisy device off. After that, I went to the toaster to make my breakfast. Suddenly, I heard a loud rumbling, crashing noise off in the distance. No, it’s too far away to be in the house, I thought. And yet I had no idea that in six hours, New Zealand would be shaken to the core by its biggest earthquake in three hundred years.
9:04 AM:
By this time, Mum and Dad were up and having breakfast, while I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher to earn more pocket money. Once I was finished, Mum paid me $1 and I went to my room to text my friend Carlo on my mobile to see if he was able to come over this afternoon, when all of a sudden, I heard the same rumbling, crashing noise that I had heard earlier this morning, and I forgot about texting Carlo. I thought it must just be a train passing by going back to the place it came from; we had some train tracks quite close to our house, Maybe a kilometre or two away. Then, I saw the glass of water on my bedside table shake a bit. Something weird is definitely going on in here.
10:48 AM:
“Mmm, sweet, morning tea.” I said, licking my lips at the cup of hot cocoa and shortbread biscuits at the table, waiting for me to devour them, which I did. Then I ran outside to pull off some stunts on the trampoline. I did a backflip. Then a frontflip. Then a bellyflop. Then, I bounced so high that I almost flew off the tramp! That really scared me. I’ll be a lot more wary of that next time. And my grandparents are still dozing in the bed in the spare room. What sleepyheads. So, I decided that I had done enough showing off on the tramp, so I decided to go back inside and do my stuff. But as I bounced off the tramp, I heard a low rumbling noise in the distance. All of a sudden, the ground started to tremble slightly. This weird stuff is really starting to get on my nerves...
11:24 AM:
Finally, my grandparents are up and having their brunch. They would’ve stayed up really late last night, or otherwise they’re just sloths. I just happened to hear Mum, and she said that maybe we could go to a cafe in Greymouth for lunch. Sounds like a terrific idea, I thought. After my grandparents ate their brunch, we got into our Holden Trax, on our way to Greymouth. Dad said that we had to go to Mitre 10 Mega to pick up some supplies before we had lunch. So I had to wait in the car with Mum and my grandparents for a boring half an hour until Dad finally came back with so much stuff, it looked like he could fill up the entire trailer and the car with it up to the top!
11:54 AM:
As we were leaving Mitre 10 Mega, we saw a car driving flat out, a maniac was speeding along the tarmac strip at the airport. “What?! How did that car get there?” Dad cried, totally baffled by how that car got in there. But that was before he noticed the car-sized hole in the fence surrounding the airstrip. “I’m going to call the police.” Dad muttered to himself.
“Please don’t, honey.” Mum replied, hearing what Dad had just said. “We don’t want to cause any commotion and ruin the peaceful weekend.” “That car has already caused a commotion!” Dad yelled, starting to go mad. “I think it’s safer that I drive.” said Mum. As Dad dialed 111, Mum looked sad. “Hello, could I speak to the police?” He exclaimed. “Sure, we’ll put you right on.” the operator replied. “Hello, I would like to report a Nissan Gtr on the airstrip by Waterwalk Road” reported dad “Ok, do you happen to have the licence plate?” asked the police “No, sorry.” he said. “Ok, we’ll send some cops out to the area.” that was the last thing said before the phone hung up on each line. As we drove out the radiator blew up! “DANG UNRELIABLE HOLDEN’S!!” Screamed Dad. “Ok dear, just calm down, and we’ll call a tow truck and walk into town.” Mum calmly gave him his phone to call the tow truck.
12:21 PM:
Finally, the tow truck rolled around the street corner and into view. “At last, that blasted tow truck has got here!” exclaimed Dad. “Can you please hook our car up and send it to your workshop for repairs?” “Sure thing, sir.” Replied the mechanic, as he hooked up our Holden Trax and drove away with it. “Anyone want a snack to have while we wait?” asked Mum, as she pulled out some packs of scroggin; one for me, one for her, one for Dad, one for Grandma, one for Grandpa, and one spare. So Mum handed out the packets of scroggin, and we all dug in very quickly, because we were all extremely hungry.
12:49 PM:
As we arrived at the Robert Harris Cafe, the aroma smelled of coffee, the atmosphere was warm and welcoming. Dad walked up to the counter and asked “Hi, can we please put an order in for 2 mince and cheese pies, a caramel slice, and a scoop of hot chips?” he asked. “Yup, that’ll be 23 dollars and 82 cents, please.” replied the man at the counter. Dad got out his wallet and extracted a $20 note, and a $10 note. “Thanks.” said the man as he gave Dad 6 dollars and 18 cents change. “Your welcome.” exclaimed Dad, as he took the change and the tray of food, and took a seat at a table in the far corner. “Mmm, what a delicious pie!” I remarked, as I took a large bite out of one of the pies. “Yes, they are rather nice.” Dad agreed, as he started to eat the other pie. “Oh my goodness, this caramel slice is rich!” said Grandma, trying a little bit of the caramel slice. “Wow, these chips are quite salty-but they are good, overall.” answered Mum, brushing some salt off the chips. After we had all finished our proper lunch, Dad replied: “Thanks for the meal!” “You’re welcome!” said the cafe manager. Then we started our walk to the mechanic’s workshop to see if it was repaired yet.
1:15 PM:
As we walked in through the garage door of the workshop, we saw a dirty mechanic at work with his oil can and spanner, looking closely at the engine of our car. “So what was the problem?” asked Mum bending over to talk to the mechanic under the car. “It turns out that your radiator blew up from overheating.” answered the mechanic crawling out. “Argh, I should’ve known that at first!” Dad bellowed, starting to jump up and down. He always does that when he gets angry. It’s quite funny, really. “Okay honey, just calm down.” spoke Mum. “I AM NOT CALMING DOWN!” bellowed Dad. “Alright, I think that you need a chill pill.” said Mum, taking a box labelled ‘Chill Pills’ out of her pocket, and inserted one into Dad’s mouth. “Thanks, that’s a lot better.” Answered Dad. “You’re welcome.” replied Mum. “Right, your car is ready to go.” exclaimed the mechanic. “That’ll be $328.65”. Dad swiped the eftpos card and then put in the pin. As we left the garage Grandad piped up “Could you please drive us to New World?” “Sure thing.” Mum told Grandad.
1:30 PM:
As we arrived at New World, I decided to take a walk to The Warehouse, which would take thirty minutes, google maps estimated; so I thought It was time to get going. I was thinking of getting some new Nike Shoes because mine were getting worn out. I went down Raleigh Street (the long way) which would take me down Preston Road, past the SPCA, heading onto Boundary Street and eventually to the end of Mawhera Quay where The Warehouse is located. “I can’t wait to get my new shoes.” I murmured to myself excitedly, when I started walking onto Preston Road. I saw two kids, a dog and their mum playing cricket at messenger park, which was one of the bigger parks in Greymouth, I still remember when Dad and I came down here for a kick with our Adidas soccer ball seven years ago. Those were good memories.
2:06 PM:
When I eventually got to the automatic doors of the warehouse, I was relieved I didn’t run that, otherwise I probably would have been sick. As I walked in, the air got cooler. It was a hot day, so the fans would be on, I thought. As I approached the aisle with the shoes in it, I saw a really good looking pair of blue nike airs that were $190.00. Luckily, I had $203.80. This was definitely the best choice, after looking at all the other shoes. When I grabbed my shoes another pair fell from about five rows up and just missed my head. “Gosh, that was close!” I exclaimed. I walked up to one of the checkout counters and waited because a father was in front of me buying the last of some easter eggs for his kids, which is quite late for that. As he finished, I strolled up with my nike airs, she scanned them and said: “That would be $190.00, please.” I pulled $190.00 from my wallet, leaving $13.80 spare, she handed me the bag. “Thanks for shopping at the warehouse, come again soon!” she called, as I left the store unboxing my airs.. As soon as I put them on, I almost screamed, they were so comfortable and a perfect size ten fit.
2:22 PM:
I had thought about getting an ice block at the Challenge petrol station, but I’ve gone to BP instead. Inside was a range of ice creams and ice blocks, But, I had to go with my favourite; the orange flavoured fruju, which was $2.50. The line to get to the counter was pretty big and it took about nine minutes to get there and pay; that left me with $11.30. I saw two people filling up on gas as I left, I had just looked at my phone and realised that I was late back to the supermarket. I was walking quickly down Tainui Street and licking my ice block quite often, but then I got too tired and started walking.
2:38 PM:
It was almost 2:40 PM, Mum would be waiting for me. Then all of a sudden, I saw more blue sparks fly off the power lines, and I heard a deep rumbling noise off in the distance. Probably just another train going past, I thought. I was still extremely baffled by the rumbling noise that I heard this morning. And that’s when it started.
2:39 PM The Earthquake:
Buildings shook like jelly, one fell down with a BAM, the ground was shaking violently, side to side, up and down. I heard another loud CRASH as yet another Building crumbled on the pavement, breaking up into a million pieces. People were yelling “Save us!” as the whirring sound of rescue helicopters filled the air. The sea began to evacuate the coastline as the earthquake went on. It had been over a minute now, and the earthquake still hadn’t stopped.
2:41 PM Tsunami
Then unexpectedly, it stopped, and the sound of gushing water filled Greymouth; a tsunami. “Everybody, get to somewhere high, Tsunami!” a man screamed, already standing on a rooftop. I ran as fast as I could down Thompson Street which took me onto Stafford Street. I could see the dark grey water behind me at least 15 metres high. My mind persuaded me to keep going, I couldn’t stop, Not now. I came to the start of Rochfort Street, the next street up was Freyberg Terrace, Which took you up a hill. A few more paces and I would be safe, But I was almost in my watery grave, The tsunami was right behind me. My heart was beating faster than ever, I sprinted as fast as I could up Freyberg Terrace. The Tsunami slammed into the trees behind me. I was relieved that I was safe. I checked Geonet on my phone and surprisingly I still had reception. It said that a 9.3 magnitude quake had just hit us, bigger than the Japanese earthquake.
But The main thing is,
I Survived.
