7.0 earthquake hits Christchurch, New Zealand

wow that sounds bad. at least most of you would have drank so heavily you slept through it.

reply to post by zealman77e


Glad to hear you and yours are safe. Keep us informed of any developments please mate. Stay safe, good thinking on the water front.

All the best, Kiwifoot

double post, somehow!!

[edit on 3-9-2010 by kiwifoot]

Hi all,

just a quick update from Christchurch.

The aftershocks have calmed down slightly since earlier. Its now 2.20pm and the big quake was at 4.30am.

The Prime Minister has just been on live TV saying that many many buildings are destroyed and that it may take some time to fully assess the damage.

They are sayig the initial quake was 7.4 and the 1st aftershock was 7.1.

Families and friends are getting together already to help each other clean up and to give each other support.

Thanks again to everyone for their great support to those of us here in Christchurch, Canterbury, NZ.

Grant

Another Kiwi checking in here. Not from Christchurch though. Up here in the North Island I am watching the news and following along.
the following info is from local news on tv:

Almost twenty aftershocks so far, the strongest one being 5.2,
welfare centres have been set up for evacuated residents,
aftershocks could continue for days.
weather down to 4 degrees expected over night,
power outages expected to continue over night.
Prime minister is expected to arrive in the area any minute now.

I hope every one stays safe.

[edit on 3-9-2010 by KiwiSoul]

im from auckland felt nothing
here are some pics from a mate

www.crashbang.co.nz...

reply to post by zealman77e


Good Day To You. Glad to hear from you - and that you and yours are safe!! Thank you for your report. Things do not sound good there - appears to be many things brewing in the caldron there in NZ.

cousin lives there. spoke with my uncle and he got in touch with her. she is ok. house has some damage. chimney is tilting and both halves of the house are now 8 inches lower and 8 inches higher.

Originally posted by XPLodER

closest faults to christchurch "blind" unknown to geoligists
southern alps suspected to have grown as plate goes over australian

largest after shock 6.5

aftershocks expected to last up to a week

xp

They have been suspected to extend across the Canterbury Plains, but due to the great amount of alluvial material (600m+) it is very difficult to get zny surface expression, and as well as being geologically active the 'evidence' (historical) can be erased relatively quickly.
Certainly there has been ongoing research into the seismic potential of the Canterbury Plains for at least a decade.

Originally posted by XPLodER

many historical sites and heritage buildings are totally destroyed
churches hit hard with alot over 60 years old

Yep, most churches have damage but the Mosque appears unscathed!

Originally posted by XPLodER


city wide devistation is being reported
every house has damage (citizen unconfirmed)

Mostly chimneys (brick) and walls....ceretainly there are a load of brick buildings in the city with various degress of damage, and related to the subsurface geology as well.

Originally posted by XPLodERstill no loss of life reported

xploder

We are so lucky it didn't occur during the daytime when people would have been milling in the CBD.


www.abovetopsecret.com... age=202#pid9520374

Some more in this thread too.

Originally posted by TortoiseKweek


WTF is going on in NZ?? That kind of quake is unheard of in NZ. They are volcanic islands, but EQ's?? Nuts!!

[edit on 3-9-2010 by TortoiseKweek]

Actually, historically there have been much larger quakes with return intervals of c. 270 years +/-.
We are on a plate boundary with (in the South Island) at least 480 km of lateral (strike-slip) movement as well as subduction occurring at the Southern and Northern 'ends' of the fault.

This 'quake was a 'good' practice run for the Big One.

Originally posted by XPLodER

i have heard stories of napier eq lifting the sea floor up to 1.5 mtrs
not sure but i beleive thats were the land for the airport came from
it lifted up out of the sea



[edit on 3-9-2010 by XPLodER]

Yep. They're also saying that this was the biggest quake since the 1931 Napier earthquake.

I work with Dr Mark Quiggley who has been one of the geologists on the telly... (TV1). It will be interesting talking to him on Monday...I hear the university has been closed for a week. I hope my labs are o.k. but I fear there will be some spilled chemicals and some of our equipment (microscopes, capital items) will be damaged.

We have lost one chimney (fell onto the neighbopur's driveway) and I am just about to demolish the other which is on a lean.

Apparently we will be having gale force winds tomorrow which creates another hazard regarding loose material (roofing iron) and can further compromise damged buildings...oh joy!

Wemhave a plate on our wall that rattles quite frequently...there are aftershocks quite regularly, even now!

Good to hear the other Christchurchians/Cantabrians are safe.

[edit on 3-9-2010 by aorAki]

My prayers are with the NZ-ers. Thanks for the link to that earthquake site. Informative stuff!

Hi

We have just got power back - we live just 10km from the epicentre near Darfield. It was the most horrendous and terrifying experience I've ever had.

Having only just seen the news in the last half hour it's amazing no-one was killed.

We are experiencing lots of aftershocks although the magnitude is smaller and the movements more of a sway than a jolt. However, we're not out of the woods yet and are now also expecting gales and bitter weather tomorrow.

No structural damage to our house, thank god.

Hope others in our situation are staying safe and are not being complacent - the next few days, or even weeks/months, will be unpredictable with aftershocks.

I have just taken my aberrant chimney down and noticed some smoke in the CBD.
On the news(TV1) there are flames in the buildings on Manchester Street!
I live in Woolston and it looks like one of lighting rigs in the Sports Stadium (Lancaster Park ) is on a strange angle.

Be safe people.

Good to hear from you MoorfNZ. Glad you're safe. It would have been intense there, it was bad enough here!...let's hope that's it for the larger shocks!

[edit on 3-9-2010 by aorAki]

[edit on 3-9-2010 by aorAki]

Good to hear other fellow Christchurch residents are safe and well. I've just come back from getting my grocery shopping done at Riccarton Countdown.

Saw some damage to walls and things on the way there, but nothing too major.

Seems way worse with the central structures. The church at Church Corner, riccarton has some bad damage.

g

reply to post by SunnyDee


Phage has explained that the Sun
bears no influence on earth quakes.

reply to \post by davidmann



uummm - And? - You hang on his word? - This subject is highly debatable!! We all have our own opinions - what you have to say personaly about it?. Science is ever changing don't ya know.

Glad to hear that there are no deaths at this stage. Hope all you ATS'ers down south are doing ok. I know a few people studying down there, haven't been able to get hold of them yet. Luckily, didn't feel anything up here in Auckland.

Originally posted by XPLodER
just noticed an earth quake at taupo
its a small quake but taupo was one of the biggest eruptions recorded here and is new zealands largest volcano
it is filled with water and is a recreational lake

lets hope she doesnt wake up

Hey XPLodER, I lived in Taupo for many years, and earthquakes are fairly common there. I felt at least 4 earthquakes when I lived there, and slept through a few more. I'm a heavy sleeper
I wouldn't be too worried about Taupo blowing just yet, but if it did go, I'd be the first to freak out as I have lots of family and friends there!

That must have been quite a sight seeing Ruapehu from National Park. I could see the eruption from my house in Taupo, and it was bloody impressive from there. Only a matter of time before she blows again...

All the best to the clean up operation in chch. As some have pointed out, NZ is no stranger to earthquake activity, and we have pretty good building codes in place to deal with them. Unfortunately, a lot of the old structures would not have been built to these standards, as shown by the devestation in the old CBD.

At least we can be thankful it hasn't been as bad as it could have been

Edit to add link to photos. These are on the NZ Herald site, with loads of photos.
NZ Herald Photos

[edit on 4/9/10 by Curious and Concerned]

reply to post by aorAki


Hey Aoraki, glad to hear you're ok, even if your chimney's didn't take it so well. Hopefully the uni isn't too damaged, and your labs are ok. I may have seen your friend earlier on. A geologist was commenting on the considerable land displacement caused by the quake, around 3m if I remember correctly.

When asked if this was a significant quake for the area, a geologist commented that it's not as bad as what will happen when the west coast fault line goes, as it is expected to at some point.

It's always good to hear about quakes such as these first hand. I haven't felt one in a while, and I always got such a rush when I did. Must have been pretty terrifying, but an exciting experience for those who like a bit of an adrenaline rush. Although the largest quakes I've experienced were shallow 5's, not anywhere near as powerful as this one.

All the best

Originally posted by kiwifoot
double post, somehow!!

[edit on 3-9-2010 by kiwifoot]

Double posts happen more often in times of crisis because it is where our reality splits off into an alternate reality and they can overlap at the initial break point.

It's true. I saw it on stargate.

Originally posted by Acido
im from auckland felt nothing
here are some pics from a mate

www.crashbang.co.nz...

Holy buckets.. Just goes to show, despite how important we think we are, the earth can just rip open and say "STFU" anytime she wants.

The landscape literally has been altered.

Sure not epic movie scale, but strike a light that's still hefty considering you just don't see it happen before in NZ.

Ol' mother earth is sure getting cranky with us...



[edit on 4/9/2010 by badw0lf]