If your in an area that has 7 mag earthquakes, you should probably already have a good plan and know which doors can be braced on.
If you knew anything about what happened, you'd know everyone was surprised that Canterbury was where the Earthquake hit, and not somewhere else.
You've severely discredited yourself anyway. If you are genuinely trying to convince me that leaving two startled young children in their beds as the house is shaking and the power goes out is the right thing to do, you are very misguided. While it may be moving around the house isn't recommended, those guidelines are written in a way that very much speaks for people to deal with it independently, as if they were on their own. In our circumstance, with a biggish family, a big sturdy table that was near exits, close to supplies, and shielded from windows (and located only next door to two of the main bedrooms) is a far more levelheaded approach. You won't quite understand until you are in a disaster like that. Its easy to post out snippets of what you should do from government websites and pretend to be righteous, but when something like that hits you'll understand what the best measure is right then and there. And for our general wellbeing, our course of action was pefectly suitable and look-- nobody got harmed, especially not mentally, as they would had we all been separated and hiding under our blankets for the next few minutes. If you want to get up and stand in a door frame where the door is opening and closing itself for several hours while violent and persistent aftershocks hit, or just sit in your bed and let items in your bedroom assault you, go ahead. In fact, one woman on the news was almost killed in her bedroom because a chimney collapsed in, going through her roof, and landing on her pillow. Had she not got up, she would have been killed.
What are the aftershocks like? Do they jolt plugs out of their sockets/shake glasses off of tables?
Well, they are really loud (as in, you can often here them rumble before they come) and then its a rolling motion. Once or twice, its been a violent push. But nothing more than what can make you feel a little giddy and maybe cause household objects to vibrate or shift a millimeter. They are getting less frequent now! Yay.
