Earthquake stress

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My story over the last year or so:
since 2009, I have been at uni studying physics and astronomy.
I had been fine, and even enjoying uni up till mid semester 2 of year 2. then everything started to change.
4th September 2010, 4.35am: a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits Canterbury, rudely awakening everyone, including me.
The rest of that semester went reasonably well except for maths, which was probably a result of an extra 2 weeks of "holiday" due to the earthquake and aftershocks. I was so happy when the semester finished, but then my Grandad, who was sick, died. I went on the CYO tour, which was nice. the rest of the summer holidays went fine, and I managed to get a job in January working at the uni library sorting and shelving the books that were deshelved during the earthquake. I finished at the end of the week before uni started. Monday, 21st February: uni starts. I shelved a few books that day too.
Tuesday, 22nd February 2011: second day back to uni, and looking forward to the courses I was doing.
12.51pm: a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hits under the Port Hills on the south side of Christchurch. Everyone is sent away. I bike home past gridlocked traffic. when I get home, I find my street is covered in Liquefaction. then I start hearing the stories. The spire of the Christchurch Cathedral, where I play the CYO concerts in, has collapsed. lots of historic brick buildings have collapsed, two buses are crushed, two reasonably modern concrete buildings have collapsed. Confirmed fatalities, hundreds missing, more than 100 thought trapped in a collapsed building.
all this while there are aftershocks every few minutes, including several large ones. The power and water is out, and we can't use the toilet.
after a few days, the magnitude was really starting to be realised. The death toll exceeds 100, hundreds of buildings are destroyed, and hundreds more will require demolition, and a 23 floor building is on a lean and in danger of collapse,.
The final death toll is 181 people. Thankfully, I don't know anyone killed personally.
several weeks later after hundreds of aftershocks, uni starts again with lectures in tents. Already, I was less enthusiastic about the courses I chose.
Over the next few months, there are several large aftershocks, each time causing me more stress, and making the courses less enjoyable.
with just a few weeks left, my grades were falling, and I was wanting to just give up, but I thought that I was so close to the end, that I might as well finish. by this time I was isolating myself more and more, and I found it very difficult to motivate myself to do anything.
13th June, the Monday after lectures finished: a big earthquake happens, magnitude 5.6, causing more damage, and more liquefaction in eastern Christchurch. A bit more than an hour later, a much bigger 6.3 happens. this one was scary. the aftershocks happen over the next few days, and the exams are postponed. I got almost no study done simply because it was difficult to concentrate for any length of time. By then I had decided I was going to try find a job, but go back to uni if I couldn't
The next Monday and Tuesday, I had my exams, which were not enjoyable. on that Tuesday evening, there was a 5.4, but very close and very violent. the take home exam was left a bit late, and I finished as much as I possibly could.
By now, I just didn't want to do anything, and I spent most of my time at my computer in my room.
Just the last couple of weeks, my Grandma had a minor heart attack, and my Granddad possibly had a minor stroke, and had surgery, adding to my stress. if they go too, I really don't know what I am going to do.
I am currently looking for work in the hope that it will give me some regularity in my life. I really just don't know what to do any more, and I don't really want to do anything either.
I have become rather obsessed with Minecraft, and at the moment, that seems to be the best way to deal with the stress.

Has anyone been through anything like this?
more specifically, is there anyone who has been through a major earthquake and aftershocks?
What did you do to counteract the extreme stress and depression?
Please answer the poll.

When I lived in California for a year we had an earthquake. It wasn't a very big one, at most a 5.0. It was enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, but nothing was damaged. I can't say that it was stressful.

I've been in a few earthquakes including the Northridge earthquake which had the highest ground velocity of any earthquake on record, and happened to live in one of the most liquefaction prone areas of the US at the time.

I was very fortunate the structure I was in didn't sustain any damage.

But it didn't really stress me. I live in a seismically active area and it's always floating around in my mind that an earthquake could happen at any second. In fact, we've been overdue for a major one for quite a while now. It's just a matter of time.

I hope my current residence holds up to it. It's older than my previous one and is showing it's age.

Hi Matt,

I think everyone experiences quakes differently (or any sort of trauma really), & I don't think there's a right way or wrong way to feel after one has endured one or many. I've lived in southern California my entire life & have experienced both small & huge quakes over the years. The first one I remember, I thought it was kind of fun, but it was pretty small . I recall just a slightly perceptable motion under my feet at the time (most likely in the low 4.0 range, maybe smaller). The next ones I went through were 6.1 (Sylmar quake), 5.9 (Whittier Narrows), 7.3 & 6.4 (Landers & Big Bear-both struck the same day a few hours apart), 6.7 (Northridge), the last largish one was a few years ago & was about a 5.9 (Chino Hills). There were more, but most of them I either slept through, or weren't significant enough to mention. California has a fairly active fault system, & we are overdue for another "big one." I know I am not ready...nor is there any way to prepare for the inevitable.

As a comparison, the Sylmar quake was pretty stressful as I'd never been through such a large earthquake until that day. I didn't want to go to school, & felt uneasy for the better part of the day. I was 9 years old. Even though all the major problems occured miles away from me, I was affected by it. The damage shown on tv was pretty extensive & I understood that many people died that day or were badly injured due to being in a building that couldn't take the strain of the movement, or by other collapsing structures. Plus we often drove past the wreckage of a truck that was smashed below a collapsed overpass on our way out of Los Angeles County. That truck sat there rusting long after the occupant had been removed & buried, but it sure gave me the heebie jeebies every time I saw it. It didn't matter how much time had passed. The wreckage always reminded me of the destruction that had occured. It also gave me an intense fear of any overpass or bridge & it took me years to be able to be able to drive on or under any bridge or overpass as a passenger or driver. The next bad ones, were the Landers & Big Bear quakes. Very intense shaking, & when the 1st one ended (it occured early in the morning some time before sunrise), I couldn't relax enough to go back to sleep. I finally got enough courage to shower, but not long afterwards, the Big Bear fault gave way. I think I was on edge for the rest of the day. Gradually, the shaking subsided & I was able to relax some. It helped that I had a young child who needed my attention to distract me frm the possibility of aftershocks both large & small. The Northridge quake was centered in a densely populated area of north Los Angeles, & the damage was pretty severe. But relatively few lives were lost due to changes in how buildings are constructed here. There was loss of life, but I think it was less than 100. Amazing for the population & the size of the quake, that there were few casualties. The smaller quakes didn't affect me as badly, until I went through the Chino Hills quake. By then, I lived & worked close to the epicenter, & the violence of the quake was shocking to me. I thought it felt a lot stronger. Needless to say, that was a day where I was completely restless, & couldn't calm myself.

I don't think it's wrong that you are feeling depressed about the quakes. You live close enough to the epicenter that you're experiencing quite a few aftershocks. You're also living in the midst of damage, & see it daily. Is there any possibility that you can maybe get away from the area for a bit just to give you a break from seeing all the devastation? I think being subjected to that plus knowing that people died might be why you're depressed. Add into the mix a bit (or more) of survivors' guilt, & it can get pretty bad. Have you spoken to a counselor? If not, it might be a really good idea to help you passed this hurdle.

Best of luck!

Tomboy

the two 6.3's both had higher accelerations than the Northridge quake, and they were both really shallow too, around 5 km, which is probably why it was so damaging.
We have also had extremely bad liquefaction, especially in the east side. it is nasty stuff.
the aftershocks are the worst though. because the 6.3's happened so close, there have been a lot of smaller aftershocks there too. we even feel quakes less than magnitude 3, so even now, 10 months after the initial quake, we feel a couple every day. I think what is most stressful though is that there is still a 30% possibility of another magnitude 6, and another couple of 5's are almost guaranteed to happen.
we are also due for "the big one" along the Alpine Fault, which is similar to the San Andreas, and it will probably happen in my lifetime.
quake.crowe is a good website to see all the aftershocks we have been having.

Perhaps the best way to mitigate your fear is to indulge yourself in seismology and perhaps you can do something in a related field to prevent damage from future earthquakes. It sounds as if you've already begone to.

Given whats been happening in Ch-Ch bro' your anxiety/stress is reasonable, perhaps you could try taking some time out from the region? Kia kaha, peace j

I've never been in an earthquake, but, I don't believe it would bother me.

I live in Utah and since I was in Elementary, it was introduced to me that supposedly a severe earthquake is expected but not predicted. Me being AS I am terrified and am easily very stressed when change is introduced to me, since Elementary it has felt like a boulder has been hanging over my head, held up by floss string. It hasn't happened yet obviously but it almost ruins my emotional stature at times. I'm scared.