BNI Foundation offers support to Christchurch

Hi Ivan and Beth,

Thank you very much for your thoughts and assistance. This event has been a bolt out of the blue for Christchurch.

I belong to the Selwyn chapter, which is the area where the quake was centred. We are fine here, a little battered and bruised though. Unfortunately our home is within 2 km of the epicentre, so our awakening was violence in the extreme. There’s nothing quite like getting bashed around by your house to get the adrenaline pumping. We have no structural damage to our home, although the emotional damage to my family is very obvious. I’m sure many members of BNI in Christchurch have similar wounds. The aftershocks in the Selwyn region are very un-nerving and still quite violent. I’m amazed none of us have been seriously injured.

Cantabrians are a very hardy and resourceful group of kiwi’s. We will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and greet each new day with a sly grin and a wink to Mother Nature. She may have given us a scare, it’ll take more than that to keep us down.

Hi Jason,

Thanks for telling your story, it has a very similar theme to what I have been hearing from everyone today. Those quakes last night (as high as 5.4) may have done some more damage to buildings but that was nothing compared to the huge emotional impact they had on individuals and families already traumatised after Saturday’s event. As you quite rightly say, it is a time for some real “positive mental attitude”