February 24th- Day 17

Today was a great day. I woke up and there were no longer spiders hanging by my head ( my room was invaded by large spiders). We had a good sized shock this morning about 9:30. I cleaned my room and handed in my housing deposit. It was around 10:45 that the university had called a meeting. The school had organized a "help team" to go into the city and help start with clean up. There was about 100 of us that went in. When we got there we had parked our vehicles in a petrol station and walked the rest of the distance. We walked down the streets and it was filled with liquefaction. Liquefaction is a soft silvery clay/dirt compound. When the earthquake took place this liquefaction had rose out of the ground like lava and poured into the streets and surrounded homes. It was our job to clear the clay so the water from it can drain properly. We all got our shovels and wheel barrows and started scooping. Those of u who didn't have proper equipment went door knocking and the residents were more than welling to let us barrow their things.
Children were out in their boots and shoveling right along side their parents. The elderly were telling us how, and where they would like us to help. All along the street you could see hundreds of people coming together to lend a hand. It was truly inspiring. The clay was a non stop job. Every time you cleared out an area there was just more around the corner. You could see the heartbreak on the faces of the homeowners and the stress of not being able to have proper water or sewage. There were road signs blocking areas that the liquefaction had created wholes in the ground. People were constantly piling the clay into the wheel barrows and dumping it on their front lawns just to get their cars out.
Finally around 1:30 we all took a quick lunch break. We sat in the park and looked out on the street. There was just so much to do and there was no way these members of the community could do it by themselves.
As the sun beat down upon us, we began to wear blisters in our hands. We all take turn shoveling and unloading the wheel barrow. After  a while we all split into groups by our housing. My hall, Centennial, was in charge of door knocking. We went around the neighborhood and asked people if there was anything we could do to help them specifically. We dug out flower beds, car ports, mail boxes, cars, trampolines, and even kids bicycles. Along the way I helped a man who was currently handicapped. he had had two heart attacks very recently and they had left him disabled. It was heart wrenching to hear his story, but at the same time it felt so good to help these people.

 Parents and children come together to help the cleanup of their home to start the reconstruction.

 This car was burried over a foot deep of the liquefaction. Soil liquefaction describes a phenomenon whereby a soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress, usually earthquake shaking or other rapid loading (force), causing it to behave like a liquid.

 This is just one photos that displays the hours of labor put into cleaning the streets and homes.

This was our last job of the day, The sidewalk was caked with 10 inches of liquefaction.

Sister and brother work together to help there mother. I had visited this family earlier that day. The mother spoke very little English and she had her neighbor ask us for help to clear out her garage that had been flooded.

Today the residents wore various colored t-shirts. Our t-shirts represented which residents hall we live in. All along the streets you could see the university's students hard at work helping the neighborhood.

Tomorrow morning I plan on going into the city again. It was hard backbreaking work, but it was honest work. It was great to see the relief being lifted off of a persons shoulders who are not capable of doing it. The more I'm here, the more rewarding I feel this experience is. There is now talk that our classes will be delay another week due to the recovery effort that has been put in place. The university is a "safe haven" for my people and it is open for anyone to turn to. We have established a hot-line for those who do need out help. Wether we are out shoveling or placing beds down at the school we are beginning to make a difference....and see a difference.
It was a huge relief that the school was able to locate all of the students. Everyone from here is now safe and I must say it is a huge relief. It is hard when you hear and experience such a tragedy, but still don't know where your loved ones are. But with everyones continued efforts and kindness we can all come together for the greater good. I have never felt so good to help out another person, a complete stranger no less. Today was such a rewarding day, may tomorrow be filled with more progress.

"The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all".  ~Leo Rosten