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When Christchurch mother Kelly Jennings woke during the big earthquake, her only thought was for the safety of her three children.
Nearly a week on and her main concern is the same - which is why she's spending another week staying with relatives in Blenheim.
Like many parents affected by the quake and aftershocks, Mrs Jennings has decided the best thing for her family is to leave the affected area until things quieten down in Christchurch.
The family are staying with Mrs Jennings' parents, so for the children - Logan, 12, Millie, 2, and 10-week-old Ava - it feels like a holiday away rather than an attempt to escape from the horror of what they experienced in the early hours of Saturday.
Mrs Jennings and husband Chris were in bed when the quake hit their Rolleston home. Their son and baby were in their own rooms.
"Millie was in bed with us," Mrs Jennings said, "so I grabbed her and dived under the door frame and Chris stumbled his way down the other end of the house to grab Ava and try and get Logan out of bed.
"I was just screaming at him, 'Get my baby, get my baby'. I knew it was pretty horrific what was happening but all I was ultimately worried about was getting the kids to safety and knowing they were okay."
While many items were broken, the family's home appears to have escaped any major structural damage.
The aftershocks were so strong throughout Saturday, however, that they spent that night with friends before returning home on Sunday.
"I was in two minds whether I was going to go home," Mrs Jennings said.
"On Sunday, we went home to start cleaning up and in the space of an hour we got three really good-sized ones. That made up my mind, so I just packed a bag for everyone and left."
Husband Chris had to stay behind for work reasons - a hard decision but one that had to be made, both because of the contaminated water and the stress that came with each aftershock.
"It was really hard for him ... but I really had no choice because I knew I was going to be on edge the whole time with these aftershocks happening and I didn't want to let the kids out of arms' reach from me."
In Blenheim, the children seem to be coping well, despite what they went through. In a bid to keep things as normal as possible, Mrs Jennings has managed to get Logan into the local intermediate school for a week and Millie is attending preschool sessions at the centre her aunt works at.
Bohally Intermediate principal Brian Tuffey said it wasn't usual practice to take in another school's student but given the circumstances, he was happy to accept Logan for a while.
"At the end of the day you make a few exceptions to the rules. [The routine of] schools is a great thing when kids are in trauma."
Mr Tuffey has another student in the same kind of situation who is expected to start at Bohally next week.
Meanwhile, Wednesday's big aftershock was the final straw for sleep-deprived Teresa Mitchell, her 40-year-old flatmate and her two young children.
"Our house is on stilts on the cliff," she said. "We were just so nervous about it after that one because it was quite big, so we just thought we would get out for a couple of days just to get some sleep."
They are now in Dunedin staying with relatives.
Many other Cantabrians are known to have fled the region, some flying to the North Island to stay with friends and family.
