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New Zealand Earthquake

T

tezza

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
4,731
Location
New Zealand
Hi,

This has got nothing to do with computers. My apologies if this is too off-topic but I'm posting this as I do have a number of friends on this forum and you might hear something on the news and wonder if I've been affected by this event.

This morning we had a magnitude 7.4 earthquake near Christchurch in the South Island. Some buildings came down, cracks appeared in roads, bridges collapsed and there is substantial damage to infrastructure. There have been some people injured from falling debris but no deaths that I know of.

I live in the North Island. No damage at all here...in fact I didn't even feel it. No family or friends live in Christchurch but my mother lives about 1 hour south of the city. She is ok and so is her home.

Given our low-density housing and largely wooden structures we seem to have come through this one largely unscathed except for a costly clean-up.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4094986/Massive-7-4-quake-hits-Christchurch

Tez
 
That's a large quake. I would guess a lot of historic brick buildings are quite damaged.
The people of New Zealand will be in our thoughts.
-Dave
 
Glad to hear you and your citizens are OK. I've been watching reports on CNN and so far there are no reports of casualties. Amazing considering the magnitude of the quake.

Chuck
 
Seems pretty bad. Apperently one old historical homestend is completely demolished. Those inside came through it unscaved thank goodness.
 
I was watching for a post from you today, but figured you'd be OK on the North Island.
Good to hear you're alright in any case.
I suppose the North Island gets it's share of quakes too.
Glad it wasn't this time.

You do have those vintage computers insured don't you?
Can you imagine what the shipping costs would be to replace them?
 
Hi,

Thanks for the concern. It was a big one, and just outside/underneath our second largest city. There is a big mess to clean up but at least no-one was killed. I imagine many residents will be dazed and confused for a while though. Many will need to repair their homes.

Yes, I need to insure my collection in case it ever happens here.

Tez
 
1ajs said:
wow a 7.4? yikes this has not made any news here from what i can tell txs for posting have to check on a friend now
Click to expand...

It's been downgraded to a 7.1. Still, it's esimated 20% of homes are inhabitable.

The interesting thing about this earthquake was that Chrischurch was considered to be relatively low-risk for earthquakes. To the west runs the Alpine fault and it was always considered that if something was going to go in the South Island, it would be this one. However the fault (or faults) which moved in this earthquake were hitherto unknown ones, much closer to Christchurch.

Tez
 
Hi, I live at Kaiapoi ,next to Christchurch , Kaiapoi was worst hit, Magnatude was 7.1, the house got a big sudden jult just this after noon.

the roads are cracked but now are patched by road works, power was off from 4am till 12 pm when it went back on, water was off only for a few hours here!

The house was shacking so bad that it was differcult to move around, It was dark so I could see what was happening but I expected to see the house split in half, I mean it was so voilent that you cant imagine what it was like.

the next day I drove around, it was hard to spot any damage in christchurch. I only saw a few double brick building damaged, some roads where damaged, mostly infrastructure damage.

Damage was played up by media, zooming in on the odd double brick building gave the impression that damage was emence, not one house was damaged in the development where I live.

Double brick is going cheap in Christchurch...
 
And now it has happened again! I hope you all are OK, in particular Emulator who lived close to the previous quake epicenter.

Time to upgrade the risk factor for Christchurch earthquakes from "low" to "medium"?
 
I’m ok and so are my family and friends. I’m on the North Island and there was no shaking here. I do have a mother and a sister in a town close to Christchurch but apart from some cracks my sister’s house they are fine.

This event is devastating and I really feel for the people of Christchurch. This earthquake was much more damaging than the one in September. Although less in magnitude, it was much shallower and the shaking was far greater. Also the September one happened at 4am when no one was about. This time is was 12.50pm when people were at work, on the streets, at lunch or out enjoying the summer sun.

Christchurch is (was!) New Zealand’s most “English” of cities, with many of the CBD reminding one of London with grand old Victorian buildings made of brick or brick facades. Some of these were damaged in the September quake and were either demolished or were being strengthened. This time many of them partially or totally collapsed falling on residents, buses, cars and pedestrians causing injury and death. Many people are still trapped in collapsed buildings, some of them quite modern buildings. The spire of Christchurch’s iconic cathedral has collapsed.

I recently sold an Osborne 1 to a collector (John Chaplin) in Christchurch. A courier is (was) due to collect it today to ship it to his office. John’s office is right in the Christchurch CBD and no doubt he was at work there yesterday. Hopefully he is ok, and his building is not smoking rubble like some others. I haven’t been able to contact him but I did send him an email saying not to worry about the Osborne and that I’d keep it at my place as long as it takes. I’m sure he has far greater priorities now than receiving an old computer.

The fault that moved this time was different from the one in September. That was west of the city. This one was south east of the city. Hence those buildings that escaped unscathed last time have been severely damaged. It’s just terrible!

To those of us in parts of the New Zealand that are untouched life feels a little surreal. Christchurch is NZ’s 2nd largest city hence most of us have friends or relatives there. All we can do is donate blood and money and hope people still alive are rescued. The damage is not just physical. There is psychological damage too. People were just starting to get over the September quake and all of those constant aftershocks only to have this happen. They now have the prospect of more scary and dangerous aftershocks. Some people have just shut the door on their homes and abandoned the city, unable to cope.

Anyway, thanks for the concern. New Zealand is receiving help from many countries around the world and it’s appreciated. If you want to read more about this event, our main news site at http://www.stuff.co.nz is the place to go.

Tez
 
Tezza, first thing I thought of when I saw the news was you and our other friends in NZ.

I am glad to hear that you and yours are alright and I hope that the rest of our friends there are as well.

I heard early death-toll figures but I'm glad to hear that they were premature and inaccurate.

Around here, we have earthquakes all the time, but, living on the Laurentian Shield (solid granite for several miles down) we don't even know they occurred. Hopefully all will be well when people get over the initial shock (emotional) and after the aftershocks (geological).
 
Thanks Druid,

The death toll is creeping up. 75 now confirmed and 300 missing. Not all of those will be under rubble but many will be. Not huge losses in the scale of world disasters but large for us in a country of 4 million. Devestating for the families concerned.

Tez
 
It's been all over the Canadian (CBC) news and I was thinking about you. It wasn't until now that I had time to look at the forum but I'm glad to see this thread here and you're OK.

This is scary stuff. In Vancouver we get a lot of tremors but some people don't notice because they are not familiar with them. I've lived there long enough to feel some big ones though. I wasn't there at that time, but we had a fairly big one in 1948 (I think it was) where there was damage to some buildings. Interestingly it goes in cycles of about 14 or so months and they can tell when there is more danger than others. Anyway the coast, as we call it, is right on a major fault line and due for a biggie any time. I'm about 200 miles inland on the leeward side of the Coast mountains now, so that's not a worry any more. :)
 
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