We here in NZ are collectively thanking (insert deity or abstract of choice) that the earthquake happened just after midnight on a Sunday night.

Had it happened twelve or so hours later, the death toll would have been in the thousands. So just for the Mudcat mutual masturbation muppets who like to slag each other off rather than engage with real-world problems, here are a few things to think about.

The main highway up and down the South Island is smashed beyond repair and may never re-open. All the connecting roads are closed too. For the UK, imagine if Al Quaeda had bombed the M1 in fifty different places, and all the other north-south roads were closed as well.

Same with the main railway line. That may never get rebuilt.

This means currently that there is no land communication up and down the entire South Island and even when some of the roads are re-opened, cities such as Christchurch, Dunedin and Otago are going to be in difficulties for a long time.

The coastline for hundreds of kilometres along the east coast has been uplifted by up to 2 metres. Just gives you an idea of the forces that were at work on Sunday.

There have now been more than 800 aftershocks, some of which would qualify as pretty solid earthquakes in their own right. And each time you sit and feel the house moving from side to side and wonder whether or not to take cover. There is a distinct toll on the nerves.

There are people out in the rural backblocks who have had no availability of food, fresh water (other than rain) for two days now and probably won't even get checked on for weeks.

Even in my relatively civilised bit of NZ, I haven't been able to get into town due to landslips causing road closures. Possibly tomorrow, is the message.

Whether it was the moon, the seismic ship or homosexual activity (as suggested by an Auckland pastor) wot caused the earthquakes, Sundays earthquake was a big, seriously frightening, tragic and ultimately very expensive natural disaster and possibly deserves a bit more respect than it seems to be getting round here.