Jocelyn

We spent Monday night at a B&B on the Kaikoura peninsula. There was a spectacular view from the house, and we were well looked after by Jocelyn. She told us that she'd been in a relative's house in Christchurch at the time of the first big quake in September 2010. It had taken her a while to realise what was happening but that when the penny dropped she got under her bed. Her relatives, who had not taken the same precaution, thought this was very amusing. Jocelyn was not in the city when the very destructive quake happened in Feb 2011, and although they were unharmed, her relatives are no longer laughing at her: their house is uninhabitable after the ground upon which it stands was rendered unstable by liquefaction.The ground moved both side to side and up and down while the earth below turned to dust and 'bubbled' up through the surface.