A Kaikoura mother of three has made the difficult decision not to evacuate as the town rallies in the face of an uncertain future.
Former Dunedin woman Susanne Dunnett (nee Marsh), who lives on the outskirts of Kaikoura with husband Tom and children Jordan (6), Neve (4) and Ben (2), said things were getting better yesterday, as aftershocks were less frequent.
The family had made the difficult decision to stay in Kaikoura after being offered space at her sister's home in Dunedin.
Like many people from the rural outskirts of Kaikoura they had animals - in their case cattle - to look after.
She also did not want to split up the family and leave her veterinarian husband behind.
Their house, which was still without power, was not as damaged as many others and she wanted to stress many had fared worse than they did.
''At the moment, we are able to exist with what we have got.
''We have got drinking water, we have got gas so we have got the ability to boil water and heat food.''
Others who had fared worse, including some of their friends, had evacuated by helicopter.
The real threat of more aftershocks still played on their minds and they might reconsider the decision to stay.
''It's kind of day-by-day stuff at the moment.''
Things were still ''crazy'' yesterday; the petrol station stopped selling fuel so it could be rationed for emergency services and there was a two-hour queue to get into the supermarket.
''Down on the waterfront, if you look out to the rocks you can see about half a metre to a metre of seaweed on the rocks up and poking out of the water. So the whole seabed has lifted up.''
She doubted Kaikoura would ever return to the way it was before the quake.
''It's going to be a new normal. Things will change, people will permanently leave.''
Those with jobs in tourism faced an uncertain future as long as access was restricted.
''The impacts for the future is something I don't even know if anyone has got their head around yet.''
The town and its surrounds had already come together to help each other get through.
People had met neighbours for the first time, were sharing hugs with strangers and helping the worst affected with emergency repairs to make their homes weatherproof.
