Rice Family

Although numbers vary between reports, somewhere between 30 and 100 thousand people gathered at Hagley Park yesterday for a memorial service. We sat under a blue sky and heard moving speeches from a number of people. Prince William traveled from the UK to bring messages of condolence and hope from the Queen. It was a moving service and people were quiet and respectful throughout. The highlight for me was when a local singer stood and sang Amazing Grace. Hayley Westenra can be seen here.

Last Sunday I joined four other Diamond Harbour firefighters in Sumner for the day to give their boys a weekend off. Sumner was hit badly and was chosen as a suitable suburb for Prince William to visit. We saw a number properties through which boulders had traveled. They still had no sewer system and were taking delivery of chemical toilets.

Another major distraction this weekend is the prediction by Ken Ring that Christchurch will be hit by another big earthquake on Sunday. There are reports that many people have left Christchurch for the weekend. The reason that Ken Ring has caused some much concern and controversy is that he applied his non-mainstream scientific beliefs to accurately predict the February earthquake. I think it was back in October 2010 he went on the record. He believes that the gravitational pull that causes spring tides (unusually high and low tides) must also apply to the earth's crust. Certain alignments of heavenly bodies increase the risks of earthquakes. Conventional science states categorically that earthquakes cannot be predicted and that he must have just got lucky last October. I guess we'll see :-)