What would you do if you thought your world was about to end?

Recently here in Christchurch, as many people are aware, we had a 7.1 earthquake, which was similar in many ways to the quake in Haiti, except that ours was a 4.35am and as a result not many people were out and about and our buildings were prepared for quakes, so we had no fatalities and only two people admitted to hospital with injuries. However, at the time, at my home, my daughter and I wondered whether or not our world was ending. The shaking was very strong, and the quake lasted 45 seconds but felt a lot longer. Also after the quake, we had lots of strong aftershocks. (We are still getting aftershocks, but they are not as strong now.)

I was very impressed with a calm pilot recently who helped the passengers in a smoking plane when he announced "I do apologise. I'm sure you are aware we have a technical issue with our No 2 engine ... I'm sure you are aware we are not proceeding to Sydney at this stage. The aircraft is flying safely at this stage. Thank you for your patience."

It is a strange thing to experience, that one might die (or have to leave a home you think is about to crumble). The end could come at any time and happen in any way. As we huddled in the doorways during and between earthquakes, my mind raced to what needed to be done. First of course was to get our torch, and find some clothes, because if we were going to be outside for any reason I wanted us to be dressed and warm, and it certainly did feel like we would be evacuating. Our power was out, and we could only drink bottled water for the first three days.

Over the next few days and weeks, with reports that we were likely to have another, even bigger earthquake, a lot of people were staying close to each other. As the city was in a state of emergency, workplaces, schools and universities were closed for the first week but nobody would have gone anyway. One father was on the news saying that he wouldn't be sending his children back to school, because nobody in the family wanted to be away from each other. We were the same: for the first two weeks we all slept in the same bed in our clothes, and during the day, stayed together or within earshot. Of all the important things in the world, the people of Christchurch realised that our loved ones were the most important. We suddenly were not too busy to spend time together. And we realised that life (being alive) is good.