Earthquake Wellington

Let me start off by saying this, I felt the earthquake. The big one. I live in Wellington New Zealand which is on a big fault line. I live in a wooden house but don't have furniture restraints as they cost a lot to get installed and we have earthquake insurance. We do have a lot of heavy things high up like pictures and a big old mirror over the mantle. My husband who is a fireman was at work when the earthquake hit and I was home alone. It was 7.54 am on 14th November 2016. It was a big earthquake. I was on the computer and didn't even realise my husband had left for work as I was busy looking at Facebook like millions of others do when they should be doing something else. I glanced up to look at the big old clock on the mantle and I noticed something was wrong. I felt a ripple go through me, almost like when you get up to quickly. I thought that the dog had bumped into the mantle as it wasn't uncommon for him to do that but then I realised he was standing at my feet looking up at me. The ripple went through me again and the clock moved and I heard a noise outside like someone was kicking our wooden fence. Then I realised this is the big one so I got down under my desk, put on my hard hat and waited it out. Then the noise stopped and I came out. Nothing had fallen and miraculously the big mirror was still intact but slightly tilted. It didn't take long for my phone to start going crazy. I forgot to mention earlier I live in Wellington which is the capital of New Zealand and the administrative centre of government. There are thousands of people who work there so when something happens everyone tries to ring their friends and family to check that they are okay. I waited for my husband to ring which he eventually did and he told me to stay home that there was liquefaction up the road. I didn't understand why he said that till he came home later on. I quickly checked the internet and could see that the quake had registered 7.8. It wasn't long after that the government put out a warning saying that there was the potential for a large aftershock and to stay away from buildings and out in the open if possible. My first thought was about those poor people who work in buildings with no place to go. I ended up taking the dog with me and we went out and sat in the car. It was a beautiful day and it was such a contrast to what had just happened. There were quite a few other people around doing the same thing. We stayed out in the car until midday as we decided that if there was a big aftershock we would head into the park which was further away from buildings. We did end up going for a walk along the beach later on. By this time the aftershocks were coming thick and fast. Many were big enough to make it difficult to walk if you were close to buildings and some had a real rolling sensation to them. The house survived with no damage and I was rapt that the mirror hadn't fallen and broken. A few days later I was talking to a friend who lives in a neighbouring suburb about the earthquake. We were discussing how bad it was and she said she hadn't felt it as she had been in bed asleep. I was shocked and said that it was such a big earthquake. It was then she said something that really struck a chord with me. She said "Oh it wasn't that bad, it didn't feel as bad as the 2011 quake". I suddenly realised that you get used to these earthquakes. In the scheme of things it wasn't that bad. Luckily no one was killed in this quake. What scares me is the big one that is going to come. It has been predicted by scientists that Wellington will get a big one that is going to be at least 8.0 on the Richter scale. I just hope I am not around when it happens or I am on holiday overseas. I have heard many times that you shouldn't sit under a door frame as you used to be told, but should stand in a doorway. That way you have a means of escape if the wall collapses. The best thing is to try and get under a table or bed and put the mattress on top of you. Just hope that you don't live in a concrete building as they seem to get the worst of it. I have also heard if you are outside and you see powerlines coming towards you and you can't move out of the way then you should drop to the ground but not crawl as you could still get electrocuted.
I have to say that the dogs were really chilled about it all, the cat on the other hand is a completely different matter altogether. At the slightest aftershock he scarpers outside and you can't get him back in the house for hours.