Cortexo

Cortexo post earthquake

Posted by Terry on 11 March 2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: earthquake

On Tuesday 22nd February 2011 Christchurch was hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake which devastated the central business district and many residential suburbs also claiming over 160 lives.

Fortunately or unfortunately I was away in Auckland but the rest of the team dived under desks for what was a very scary 30 or so seconds. Damage in our office was minimal (and the building is still standing) and, after ensuring neighbouring business were safe the team headed home to locate family. This was a very scary time as phone lines were out of service and the destruction was evident everywhere. Not knowing if partners and children were safe was stressful for all concerned.

Fortunately all Cortexo staff and families were ok, something I am so grateful for. Homes however suffered and for some it has taken two weeks to get electricity and water operating. One of us was evacuated from his home as there was a fear that a hill area would collapse, I’m pleased to say it didn’t.

I can’t speak highly enough of the New Zealand Civil Defence structure and the work of emergency services, local and central government. The entire country of 4 million Kiwi’s kicked in behind Christchurch within minutes of the disaster. I would also like to thank the rescue workers in the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams who came from around the world to help search the rubble for survivors. Thank you, thank you.

Cortexo applications and services continued working throughout the disaster and our team was up and running from their homes within a day, although our emphasis was on helping family, friends and the community. Our normality now is that we have an early morning conference call and then get on with our work like any other remote working team and it seems to be working quite well. We also meet up for a lunch during the week and a beer on Friday nights. It’s weird, but its working!

So for Cortexo its business as usual (but just very unusual circumstances) and we are continuing to develop our energy portal and support our customers as we have always done.

Kia kaha Christchurch!