in small groups of two or three. I played a game of cards with the family. We mourned what we had lost. I complained to Bennett about what had been left behind, primarily a jewelry box that held a carved bone necklace in the shape of a kowhai flower, which I made with my homestay family my first semester in New Zealand. Others sat on the shag rug and beanbags in the living room watching the local and national news on the TV, all of which featured the earthquake. We noticed several Kaikoura volunteers we recognized.

With that access to information, and to the stories of others around town who dropped by, we learned the truth.

The truth was, we were trapped.

The earthquake triggered tens of THOUSANDS of landslides, which covered all three major highways going in and out of Kaikoura. We looked th...

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