you betcha! I'm camping in my company's offices at the airport having come ot CHC for hte day to do interviews. The city is buggered to put it politely, and I'm stuck here. To make matters worse, its now raining and flooding is a serious issue along with thousands of displaced residents. I can't wait ot get out. Auckland never looked sooooo good.
It's been an interesting day.
Not to much damage, the roof shed a dozen tiles and six courses of bricks came off my fireplace, but my house is largely intact. The power is back on, and I have the internet (obviously), but restoration of water and drainage looks to be some time off.
I was outdoors for the second largest shock of the day and saw a two story building collapse and a car pancaked to less than a foot thick, but no one was in them at the time. Despite being smaller in magnitude, the depth, location and weakening from previous shock made this shock far more destructive than the one in September.
One of my B&Ws worked its way off its stand and put a couple of chips in its veneer, but the drivers look okay. Apart from that, my audio gear survived without damage. A friend lost a Pro-Ject RPM 9.2, he wasn't that happy about that. However, overshadowing all of that is that none of my friends or family were injured or killed.
It's going to be a long night, there's a significant shake every 10 to 20 minutes here ....
Not to much damage, the roof shed a dozen tiles and six courses of bricks came off my fireplace, but my house is largely intact. The power is back on, and I have the internet (obviously), but restoration of water and drainage looks to be some time off.
I was outdoors for the second largest shock of the day and saw a two story building collapse and a car pancaked to less than a foot thick, but no one was in them at the time. Despite being smaller in magnitude, the depth, location and weakening from previous shock made this shock far more destructive than the one in September.
One of my B&Ws worked its way off its stand and put a couple of chips in its veneer, but the drivers look okay. Apart from that, my audio gear survived without damage. A friend lost a Pro-Ject RPM 9.2, he wasn't that happy about that. However, overshadowing all of that is that none of my friends or family were injured or killed.
It's going to be a long night, there's a significant shake every 10 to 20 minutes here ....
As a New Zealander living in Scotland I've watched the drama unfold from the other side of the world via TV news and the Internet with horror and disbelief.
The current quake is bad enough by itself but for it to follow so closely after another fairly bad one in September seems so unusual.
Although I don't know anyone in Christchurch and have never lived there (hailing from the North Island, having lived most recently in Whangarei) my heart goes out to those of you affected, directly or indirectly. I have visited Christchurch once many years ago and liked it very much.
At least Christchurch's plight is being noticed in other parts of the world, it's been the top news story every hour all day long on BBC news today, pushing the "Libya unrest" story into second place. (Not to demean that though, as it's also a serious situation)
One thing is sure though, the climate and geology of the world seems to be becoming more and more "violent" and unpredictable in the last decade, it does make you wonder what is going on...
The current quake is bad enough by itself but for it to follow so closely after another fairly bad one in September seems so unusual.
Although I don't know anyone in Christchurch and have never lived there (hailing from the North Island, having lived most recently in Whangarei) my heart goes out to those of you affected, directly or indirectly. I have visited Christchurch once many years ago and liked it very much.
At least Christchurch's plight is being noticed in other parts of the world, it's been the top news story every hour all day long on BBC news today, pushing the "Libya unrest" story into second place. (Not to demean that though, as it's also a serious situation)
One thing is sure though, the climate and geology of the world seems to be becoming more and more "violent" and unpredictable in the last decade, it does make you wonder what is going on...
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Actually, the whole of New Zealand has very strict building codes, but many of the buildings that collapsed were very old, built long before the codes were in force. Some older buildings were retrofitted to meet code, but I believe smaller buildings weren't required to comply, and it was a lot of these that collapsed.
Nope. We have some of the toughest building codes in the world. But Christchurch was settled first so it has the highest percentage of old buildings. Remember there was a 7.1 quake in September last year so what didn't break last time got another chance to fall down...
Thanks for the info! I just came across this: Why Was New Zealand's Latest Earthquake So Deadly?: Scientific American
The first and last paragraphs answered my question exactly.
The first and last paragraphs answered my question exactly.
Hi Hi
Nice to see some other Kiwi's on here, and glad none of you are hurt either. Am at my folk's place at the moment raiding their cupboards; I hadn't had a chance to do my first shop since moving into a new house only 2 days ago. Neither house is really damaged but 100m away the earth seems to have opened up and swallowed the road. The city is trashed, oh my god. Some of us only just got our facilities back from September, too
Nice to see some other Kiwi's on here, and glad none of you are hurt either. Am at my folk's place at the moment raiding their cupboards; I hadn't had a chance to do my first shop since moving into a new house only 2 days ago. Neither house is really damaged but 100m away the earth seems to have opened up and swallowed the road. The city is trashed, oh my god. Some of us only just got our facilities back from September, too
Hi Hi
Nice to see some other Kiwi's on here, and glad none of you are hurt either. Am at my folk's place at the moment raiding their cupboards; I hadn't had a chance to do my first shop since moving into a new house only 2 days ago. Neither house is really damaged but 100m away the earth seems to have opened up and swallowed the road. The city is trashed, oh my god. Some of us only just got our facilities back from September, too
I have just seen some high resolution images of the devastation,and can't imagine what our Kiwi cousins are going through.These images seem to have a lot more impact than what we see on TV for much of the day, with many daytime programs being replaced by continuous live coverage of this unprecedented disaster..
SandyK
Christchurch earthquake, 22/2/2011
A couple of years ago, I was in Napier in the North Island which was the site of NZs worst earthquake so far.
The photos and accounts of the devastation there were quite horrific. The land on which the airport stands did not exist but heaved up out of the sea.
The reason I was there, was to participate in a seismic survey offshore the East Cape to try and map the major fault line which extends North-East out to sea.
At that time, this fault had not moved for tens of years and the Government geologist onboard said that when it does go, it will be unimaginable! Sunamis will wipe out a lot of the cities and towns on the Bay etc.
Beautiful though New Zealand is, you have to remember it is on just about the most active section of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Andy
.
The photos and accounts of the devastation there were quite horrific. The land on which the airport stands did not exist but heaved up out of the sea.
The reason I was there, was to participate in a seismic survey offshore the East Cape to try and map the major fault line which extends North-East out to sea.
At that time, this fault had not moved for tens of years and the Government geologist onboard said that when it does go, it will be unimaginable! Sunamis will wipe out a lot of the cities and towns on the Bay etc.
Beautiful though New Zealand is, you have to remember it is on just about the most active section of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Andy
.
we LIVE for danger here Andy! We had to invent bungy jumping during a particularly boring decade (the 80's) just to keep the adrenaline levels up
Well, I got out this afternoon. One happy flier. The city is devastated and the people are pretty fragile whether they haver been directly affected today or not.
Well, I got out this afternoon. One happy flier. The city is devastated and the people are pretty fragile whether they haver been directly affected today or not.
i suspect Christchurch, just as with Queensland, particularly Brisbane my home town and the effect of the recent widespread floods; will never be the same again.
what a year
Kiwi's are tough though, they'll bounce back. my well wishes to you all
Whats impressed me is the strong sense of community. The Mayor is amazing and showing true leadership.
A colleauges mother lives in Ch-Ch and she was saying she has never hugged so many complete strangers
Our work and many others are collecting lots of stuff to ship down so we hope it makes life a little easier for you all.
A colleauges mother lives in Ch-Ch and she was saying she has never hugged so many complete strangers
Our work and many others are collecting lots of stuff to ship down so we hope it makes life a little easier for you all.
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