Prayers for Christchurch, for Kirsten

Our thoughts go out to the people of Christchurch as New Zealand has once again been struck by a powerful killer quake.

I've been trying to find blogger Kirsten Bentley (New Zealand Health Care blog; Neo-Conduit) for some months now -- since the first big quake last September -- without success.   She had just had major surgery and one of her children was also having difficulties.  I continue to hope that neither health issues nor natural disaster will quiet her voice of advocacy on behalf of patients, both animal and human!

Most likely, blogging no longer seems an important activity...

REUTERS: Rescue workers search for survivors at the collapsed CTV building that housed the King's Education School in Madras Street after an earthquake in Christchurch February 22, 2011. The strong earthquake killed at least 65 people
 in New Zealand's second-biggest city of Christchurch on Tuesday, with more casualties expected as rescuers
worked into the night to find scores of people trapped inside collapsed buildings.

From Yahoo! News:

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – One of New Zealand's biggest cities lay in ruins Tuesday after a powerful earthquake toppled tall buildings and churches on a busy weekday, killing at least 65 people in the country's worst natural disaster in decades.


The quake even shook a massive chunk of ice from New Zealand's biggest glacier, some 120 miles to the east of Christchurch, where most of the damage was reported.


More than 100 people, including as many as a dozen visiting Japanese students, were thought to be trapped in the rubble as darkness — and drizzling rain — fell Tuesday night. Rescue crews with sniffer dogs fanned out across the city in search of survivors, some of whom were able to send text messages or make phone calls from under the wreckage.


It was the second major quake to hit Christchurch, a city of 350,000, in five months, though Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude temblor caused far more destruction than a stronger September quake that struck before dawn on a weekend.


"It is just a scene of utter devastation," Prime Minister John Key said after rushing to the city within hours of the quake. He said the death toll was 65, and may rise. "We may well be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day."


The spire of the city's well-known stone cathedral toppled into a central square, while multistory buildings collapsed in on themselves and streets were strewn with bricks and shattered concrete.


Sidewalks and roads were cracked and split, while thousands of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered through the streets as sirens and car alarms blared. Ambulance services were quickly overwhelmed, and some victims clutching bleedings wounds were carried to private vehicles in makeshift stretchers fashioned from rugs or bits of debris.... [CONT.]

Kirsten Bentley: Please Check In!

This is probably akin to pissing into the wind... {I will give you a moment...}

I am concerned about a sister blogger who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand -- Kirsten Bentley, also known as MedicalBooBoos, and author of two sites -- New Zealand Healthcare and Neo-Conduit, both currently inactive.

If you are Kirsten, or know her, please pass on my best wishes and concern.  When the big quake hit New Zealand, she had literally just returned home following a major surgery.  She was posting mostly about the quake and its innumerable aftershocks when her blogs went silent.

I am reasonably sure she is okay, as she has a host of people who care about her and would lend hands, shoulders, and hearts -- whatever was needed.

I just wanna know for sure!

Kirsten of Christchurch

Blogger Kirsten of Christchurch, New Zealand, just got home after major surgery, ready to rest up and begin a great recovery.

Major Surgery?  Meet Major Earthquake.

AP Press reports:

Buildings collapse, 2 injured in powerful NZ quake
By ROB GRIFFITH, Associated Press Writer

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Chimneys and walls crumbled to the ground, roads cracked in half and residents were knocked off their feet as a powerful magnitude-7.1 earthquake rocked New Zealand's South Island early Saturday. The prime minister said it was a miracle no one was killed.

Only two serious injuries were reported from the quake, which shook thousands of people awake when it struck at 4:35 a.m. near the southern city of Christchurch. There were reports of some people trapped inside damaged buildings — though none appeared to be crushed by rubble — and a few looters broke into some damaged shops in the city of 400,000.

Power was cut across the region, roads were blocked by debris, and gas and water supplies were disrupted, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said. Chimneys and walls of older buildings were reduced to rubble, and Parker warned that continuing aftershocks could cause masonry to fall from damaged buildings... [continued here]

Kirsten's blog, Urinary Diversions, formerly Neo-Conduit, is an interesting mix of information, both personal and abstracted, about surgical urinary diversions, as well as her frustrating experiences with the medical system in New Zealand. She is an activist on behalf of patient rights, women's rights, and has a love affair, too, with fuzzy, furry domesticated animals.

So, yes, she just got home after a big surgery, after which she had some complications and was in clear need of rest and relaxation. At least she had a few quiet days before Mother Nature made the earth tremble.

She went for a walk with her daughter, in search of bottled water, and posted some photos of the damage in her neighborhood. Go take a look!