It was my mums birthday; February 22. She said it was the worst birthday present ever. I was at school, in science. We felt the quake, but the teacher just said it would be a small one out in the canyon, so we didn’t do anything, or think anything of it. When i got home, it was all over the news, buildings down and people injured and dead. The very first person pronounced dead was a friend of mums, who she used to work with. The bad birthday just got worse.
Being in Kaikoura, we also feel all the Seddon and Blenheim quakes. So, we never really got a break. When the Chch quakes stopped, the Seddon ones started.