NZ earthquake

[muikabochi 208]

NZ friends - all ok?

Heard about the biggie you have had.

[Mintyjulep 0]

It happened 30km from christchurch - the city that a large portion of NZ's rrecreational skiers live in.

 

It was absolutely terrifying. Mr Minty got to the doorway and was trying to coax me on because I was getting thrown around and the chandelier was swaying dangerously over my exit route.

 

It lasted for over a minute, and there was an hour of constant aftershocks about 1 min apart afterwards.

 

It felt like a rippling through your house because of the gravel bed that christchurch is built on.

 

Well, we are fine, never lost water or power, our chimneys didn't fall in and the house is wooden so all in one piece. We found our cats at about 10am.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

wow...didn't know that NZ was susceptible to quakes!! Did any buildings fall down? any fatalities? Hope everyone is ok

[Mintyjulep 0]

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver

wow...didn't know that NZ was susceptible to quakes!! Did any buildings fall down? any fatalities? Hope everyone is ok

Hehe, we sure are - we're right on two plates, there is the main divide down the south island which is constantly building up the southern alps (where most of NZ's ski fields are)
Ruapehu (Whakapapa and Turoa) is a active volcano
There are Active and dormant volcanos scattered around NZ, and Auckland has over 50 volcanic cones in the city. Most extinct.

A huge amount of damage - well into the millions.
No damage here, but liquification happened in suburbs five minutes drive to the northeast from us.

No fatalities that i've heard of

[RobBright 35]

After Japan, heard something crazy that NZ is the 2nd most tectonically active region in the world.

 

Is that true?

[joshnii 2]

Sorry to hear that.

Us Niigatans have a few experiences ourselves, so know how scary it is.

 

Isn't NZ on that famous "Ringpiece of Fire"?

[RobBright 35]

And it burns burns burns!

The ring of fire.

[spook 0]

what's liquification?

[Tubby Beaver 209]

when the solid ground (typical made of sand or some other unstable material) shakes so hard that it takes on the properties of liquid, so anything built on top of it starts to sink into it as if it was water

 

but its Liquefaction

[spook 0]

if you shit yourself, does that count?

[Mintyjulep 0]

Well we have a lot of geothermal hot spots as well, and welly and napier experience frequent earthquakes too (I felt a moderate one a few years ago, apparently it was a 6.something) - rotorua, taupo, hanmer and maruia springs, so I'd say we're close to Japan for activity.

 

Aw, TB, you should correct the reporters here in NZ that have been saying liquification.

[Mantas 3]

Mount Hutt avalanches

 

The destructive earthquake also caused some avalanches on the Mount Hutt ski field, which is popular with Australian holidaymakers.

 

The ski area manager, David Wilson, says they are assessing the infrastructure to decide whether or not to open the ski field.

[Slippery Jim 65]

Danger zones:

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/find_regions.cfm

 

An Aussie colleague told me the broken pavement is causing problems for the streetwalkers after the quake:

[panhead_pete 27]

Originally Posted By: Mantas

Mount Hutt avalanches

The destructive earthquake also caused some avalanches on the Mount Hutt ski field, which is popular with Australian holidaymakers.

The ski area manager, David Wilson, says they are assessing the infrastructure to decide whether or not to open the ski field.

Glad it hit at night...

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Glad you are OK Minty.

 

My #2 experienced his first earthquake staying in Queenstown about 13 months ago - NZ moved a little closer to Aus that time....did it shift closer this time too?

[Ross 4]

glad to hear all our kiwi mates are fine.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Just when earthquakes get put to the back of minds, another one popups up somewhere. Hate those things.

[Jynxx 4]

 

While the earth quake has shocked many, this one got me. A skydiver´s nightmare.

It´s sad and crazy that people die on their first skydive and perhaps their only skydive that will be an experience of their lifetime, while other´s with thousands of jumps are still kicking. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10671083

 

[boardbaka 3]

bad things happen in threes as well -

[Jynxx 4]

A lot of plane accidents happen while take off. No time to bail out.

We had a dust devil chase our plane pararell along the runway while take off. Never seen so many faces turn so blue ...

I think it´s safer to jump off a hot air baloon.

[RobBright 35]

One of these?

 

[panhead_pete 27]

Bit shakey again last night by the sounds of it...

 

So sad about the sky divers.

[RobBright 35]

[grungy-gonads 54]

Yikes.

[JA2340 16]

There are a lot of images, some sad, some scary, some funny at this place