Please keep the people of Christchurch in your hearts and minds. After months of stress and distress following last September's earthquake, a 6.3 quake shook the city at lunchtime today. The devastation is significant; the earthquake's epicentre was very shallow. There are fatalities, people trapped in buildings, darkness and rain tonight. And there is concern, of course, about the inevitable aftershocks.
Light candles, please. And send up a prayer - or your personal equivalent of prayer - for the people and their city. . .
Thank you.
If only thoughts could be actions - One feels so helpless on the other side of the world.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathleen - I understand how you feel. I feel helpless and I'm only 309kms away. Perhaps we have to trust that thought is also a form of action. Take care over there.
ReplyDeletefirst light here. just heard about christchurch. my new zealand friends are in my thoughts. oh dears....
ReplyDeleteClaire, my whole being responds to the destruction of the place where I grew up and first identified as part of a community. You are my closest contact to Christchurch. I send you all my love. I believe that our feelings and thoughts are powerful forms of action because they connect us. All my love to you and those around you who are suffering.
ReplyDeleteIt's terrible - hard to think of anything else. Take care.
ReplyDeleteDone!
ReplyDeletePlease take care, Dear Claire, and know that Northern blessings and good wishes are heading South.
A terrible disaster.
All thoughts are already with you and New Zealand. Our hearts will connect us. Love and blessings, safety, healing. It does feel so small compared to the loss, it is what we have. xo
ReplyDeleteI thought of you when I heard about the quake this morning.I remember you were going to a art show there.I have been in a few tremors , only mild, but remember the first I felt wondering where I should stand.Everyone on the news were in shock, they showed a massive catherdral ruined and the preist was very weary.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have been thinking of this continually. All in that part of the hemisphere are in my heart and thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI am adding my prayers, night and day. So very sorry for what has happened. God bless.
ReplyDeleteRelieved to hear from you, Claire, as I thought you were going up to Christchurch this week!
ReplyDeleteI have, so far, heard that my friend's son and family are OK, but news of others is scant.
Thoughts are with and for so many...
We are thinking about and praying for you all --
ReplyDeleteThinking of everyone in Christchurch and their families.
ReplyDeleteDear friends - your love and support for the Christchurch community helps enormously. So, too, your understanding that healing energy is multiplied when we link up - no matter the distance - in thought and with mindfulness. Thank you for being here and for standing alongside those who are suffering. The reality of what has happened is truly devastating.
ReplyDeleteI have heard from several friends that they are safe and unharmed. Some have lost their homes, however, and the central business area - where so many have businesses or employment - will be closed for weeks if not months. There is talk of the inner city having to be rebuilt from the ground up. The most painful thing right now is the loss of life. This quake has been crueler by far than the one on 4 September. I'm not sure what else to say, other than to thank you again for being there and for your empathy.
Love, Claire xo
All hopes and wishes from Scotland to a country to which many Scots travelled and made home since the Clearances.
ReplyDeleteThe wick catches. A little flame swells.
ReplyDeleteI never know what to say when tragedy strikes..."if only thoughts could be actions"...
ReplyDelete((((((O))))))
Thank you all, again, for being there and for your thoughts in our direction. I'm feeling strangely disoriented and wobbly on my feet. The animals and birds are behaving differently. It's impossible to imagine what people in Christchurch are going through. There are still many trapped or missing; people and place forever altered by this tragedy.
ReplyDeleteYour company and candles do make a difference. As Mim says 'the wick catches. . .'
Much love xo
(((((o)))))
ReplyDeleteClaire, you are a wonderful gatherer of thoughts and caring. We just hope that all our creative friends in Christchurch are OK but simply have to wait to hear from some...
ReplyDeletehelpless seems such a slight word for the tyranny of distance at times like this.
Nick's niece and nephew in Wellington have just taken food and some of their toys to a collection centre in Wellington. Little things, may make a difference. (although I think the call was not for toys, but that's the way kids give others comfort!)
love
Barb
Dear Barb - I have only just seen your comment; so good to know you've been here. . . Thanks ; ).
ReplyDelete'The tyranny of distance' - sigh. Yes. And yet, how much has become possible because of the internet and it remarkable ability to work across all the conventional boundaries and barriers.
As far as I know, all our Christchurch creatives are safe. . . some of their living conditions have been badly affected, but despite the reeling, it sounds as though they are rallying. What huge times. . .
Nick's toys for the children will have brought joy to those on the receiving end. Joy and lightness become ever-important antidotes during stressful times.
Lovely to hear from you, dear Barb. I've been hopeless at emailing for some weeks (or is it months?). It would be good to talk some time . . . It's been way too long. Take care up there. Love to you and Nick
Claire xo