Shake Rattle and Roll N.Z. earthquakes

[voncrump]

We are having a series of Earthquakes down here in New Zealand. 6.6 magnitude and lots over 5.0. The most severe shaking I have ever felt. No sleep tonight.
Cheers, voncrump

[Muzz]

Around midnight and for the last 1/2 hr the central NZ is being hit with swarms of earthquakes from 6.6 down, with many over 5.

First one was a 6.6 about 60kms north of us, went on for over a minute. Having a cup of tea to let the nerves settle. Bugger. No major damages reported at this stage, but it is night time.

21 in the last hour, ranging north to Taupo and as far south almost to Christchurch.

[Ncdan]

Said a prayer for guys:)

[stevet]

I just heard this on our early Sunday morning news, might have some tsunami issues, too.

Best wishes to all affected.

Steve.

[RANDM]

Just saw this - hope your all OK.

Maurie.

[Muzz]

They have got the tsunami sirens going. Son and grandson live close to the coast. in the car and heading inland.

[Triple Jim]

I hope you, your family, and your friends all stay safe!

[Muzz]

All good at this stage thanks Jim. Not much sleep happening at this stage!

[Johncolleary]

Our thoughts are with you all!!!

[oldbike54]

 Earthquakes are not something most believed we would ever have in common Muzz  Keep safe brother .

 Dusty

[chuck peterson]

BBC reporting 7.8 just 60 miles north of Christchurch...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37967178

[SED]

Hope you and yours are all safe Muzz.

More info here along with the claim that a similar 1929 quake injured no one.  Hope it is the same today!
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000778i#executive

[Stevex]

Hope everything's OK down there, my daughter's in Hamilton.
Edit: just talked to her, said ''is everything OK after the earthquake?"
She replied, "what earthquake?" 

[Muzz]

Just surfacing bleary eyed.

Two deaths, one in a collapsed house in Kaikoura, another earthquake related here in Christchurch. First quake has been upgraded to 7.5. The east coast 100 to 200 miles north of Christchurch was hit the hardest. The road around Kaikoura travels on the coast is cut in to the cliffs at times, and this has cracked in places and is blocked by a few slips. They had 2 metre tsunami waves there, but as far as they go the warnings have been downgraded now on the more outer fringes of the coastal areas to just "stay away from the beaches". Some of the aftershocks which hit the area were over 6.

No water or sewerage in Kaikoura. The township sounds as though it is isolated with road damage and slips at both ends. Showing aerial shots of collapsed houses now.

It is in the middle of the University and NCEA school exams, and all the schools between Christchurch and Wellington have been closed for inspections which is going to affect those. Wellington has some damage by the sounds of it. All buses and trains, along with the Cook Strait ferries are not running. Some people evacuated from hotels in Wellington evidently spent the night in our Parliament buildings.

Fortunately, Christchurch dodged a bullet this time.

[gsp0702]

It was a biggy that's for sure, had everyone up for a couple of hours managed to get some sleep but the after shocks are popping of at irregular intervals and some pretty big ones, work from home today keeping kids, dog and cats as calm as possible. But looks pretty bad round Kaikoura.

[RANDM]

Must have been a hell of a night, hope you all keep safe.

[Gliderjohn]

Hope the news does not get much worse. I can see why some anxiety is widespread.
GliderJohn

[Arizona Wayne]

I'll take an earthquake over a tornado, hurricane any time.    Are your buildings designed to withstand earthquakes like in California?

[Muzz]

After the Christchurch one(s) the design requirements went up hugely. A lot of the early stuff was un-reinforced masonry and they went down in the Christchurch ones. New codes are designed to cope with a 9 I believe.

Just saw an aerial shot of a house just out of Kaikoura that has moved off it's foundations by 10 metres!!!! That is some ground movement.

[johnr]

I'll take an earthquake over a tornado, hurricane any time.    Are your buildings designed to withstand earthquakes like in California?

There is no-where to hide from an Earthquake.

Building codes have varied over the years so to a degree it depends how old they are and the quality of the original build. 
Older less well built buildings have for the most part gone already (through accident or decay) and the new (post Christchurch) building codes are almost too tough.

I remember when I lived in Christchurch looking in horror at an old warehouse (I think)  built in brick, but not by any architect. More likely built by an accountant.  It was about three stories high and it was obvious that its walls were unsupported. They bulged! The only thing stopping the whole thing falling down were the big bolts that had been fitted holding the walls to each other!  Of course Christchurch was not then considered an earthquake area.  I would be extremely surprised if it is standing now.

Problems arise when you find buildings that have not been built to code. A problem that has increased since more and more people have buildings designed by people other than architects.  Time was the architect had total control and responsibility for a building.

It was the collapse of a modern (non architect designed) building in Christchurch that caused the vast majority of casualties there.

It should be remembered though that an Earthquake proof building is a contradiction in terms.  It comes down to reasonable risk.

Odd that the first I've heard of these shakes was right here on this site!

[Muzz]

Count yourself lucky John.

At the moment we have our street full of trucks and diggers redoing all the drainage as it ran uphill after the big quakes. Those same quakes also did something to the ground so now it shakes every time a truck or a bus goes past. Just at this moment we have a digger parked across our drive, so now every time it moves or a truck arrives it feels just like a quake. Lucy is really stressing out; it is like non stop quakes and you don't know whether it is a real one or a faux one.

[johnr]

That does not sound at all good Muzz.
(perhaps you should consider a move to Golden Bay? 

Invercargill as you know, is right in what is considered an earthquake zone.

This un reinforced brick building was (well) built in 1889. It has withstood many an earthquake since at least two of which I know to have been 7.8.
It has yet to develop a crack.

[Arizona Wayne]

I have experienced earthquakes in soCal and being an ex-sailor, it takes quite a shaker to get my attention.  Any building made out of bricks is a gonner, usually.  My brother lives in Atascadero, Ca., earthquake country.  A few years ago he was driving his PU truck 65 mph and suddenly thought he had a flat tire. Pulled over and checked all his tires. They appeared OK.   It was an earthquake and some brick chimneys, an old brick building still standing came apart.  Then you have the aftershocks.

Off & on parts of Alaska get earthquakes too.   Most houses, buildings are designed to withstand earthquakes to a point in California.

[Mr Revhead]

That first one roilled on for a minute.... Not at all cool.
The main road State highway one is pretty rooted. It'll be months, not weeks, before it reopens. And I wonder in some places, IF it will reopen. Especially looking at some of the stuff hanging over the roads.

Some pics:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/NBROnline/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1253421208012273

https://www.facebook.com/pg/NewZealandDefenceForce/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1149960331707778

[Muzz]

Not looking good. Just had the nephew around. They were going to stay late in the Sounds and drive back late at night. We have just celebrated the fact that he changed his mind and came back late afternoon.

Which area do you reside in Rev?

[steamdriven NZ]

All good here.  A friend of mine lives to the north in Seddon which is copping a real pasting, and says a lot of bits of his house are not together anymore. Bummer.
Our big dog ran out and barked at it to tell it to bugger off while her 5 month old pup ran along beside her trying to figure out what mum as going on about. The cats had a feed and went back to sleep!
Biggest problem was deciphering what the tsunami warnings REALLY meant, they were all over the show so we stayed put.
Not much sleep but most of my work colleagues fronted for work and life seemed to be pretty much normal, which was very surreal. 

In the words of the band Madness......"Welcome to the House of Fun, here we go again, welcome to the House of Fun..."

[johnr]

A few pics.

There is something both whimsical and analogous  about these cows. They are, like the nearby people of Kaikoura and about 1800 tourists with them, stranded without food water or sanitary arrangements.


I believe a Navy supply ship is on it's way and will serve Kaikoura from Lyttleton (The port of Christchurch) It's going to take a day or two to get there though.

A road to nowhere and an example of the much 'maligned' NZ rail system.


That road is our main route North and South. It, and more particularly the rail line along side it, is the main way goods get moved about in that part of the country. Alternative road routes exist, but are much longer and at this moment blocked. There is a road /rail ferry running from Wellington to Dunedin but it's not a very big one. I imagine though it will be flat out busy for a while. 

Here is one of a number of blockages of Route 1. (The main route North and South)


It will all be cleared and repaired of course, and without doubt it will be improved in the process. From a purely personal point of view this is a great shame. That is one of my absolute favourite rides, especially coming South just after dawn with the sun just rising out of the sea on your left.  I have never bothered to capture that on film and now, it will never be the same.

[johnr]

Pictures are startling!!!

It is said thjat CA is due for a bad one, just a matter of time. I guess in that sense it goes with the territory(CA and NZ).

I went thru a bad one in T'iapei while on a lay over. On the 15th floor of a hotel and it was scary. One building down the block (10 story) fell over onto the building across the street. I later read in the news paper is was due in part to very shoddy construction of the foundation.

Hope the worst is over!!

As do I Kirby, and it probably is for a while.

My worry is my (personal and unsupported by any evidence that I know of) theory  that one earthquake sort of leads to another.  Changes in stresses.   It seems to me that the Pacific plate is letting go in places. This must (again IMHO) lead to increases in stresses in other, especially nearby, parts of it.

Invercargill (Southland) is in an earthquake zone. We get them all the time, mostly too small to be felt.  Deep Cove, which is in Fiordland (and part of Southland) gets an average of 260 a day. Again, mostly too small to be felt.

My feeling is that given that we are sitting on the edge of the Pacific Plate this is a relatively safe scenario. The plates are juddering and relieving their stresses continuously and this would seem to me to reduce the chances of a large damaging quake.

Then we had the Christchurch quakes which revealed new or previously unknown faults.  Now a couple of years later we have this set centered some 60 miles further North.  Neither of these involved the main fault which runs the length of the country and is the reason the land is here in the first place.

This most recent quake caused some minor damage in Wellington, our capital city.  A major fault runs right through there, and the main fault is nearby. My concern is that in the not distant future we might be looking at a really big one centered in or near Wellington. That could be really horrific.

[Mr Revhead]

Given the damage that's happened in Wellington in this and earlier quakes, it's clear to me Wellington is doomed. It's just a matter if when, not if, its obliterated. But with quakes "when" can be hundreds of years.
I think the last big one to hit there was 1855?
That's where most of the flat land around there came from

[oldbike54]

 I've said this before , all of the truly beautiful places on the Earth are the product of seismic violence. Here is hoping the planet gets herself adjusted before anymore damage is done to the lovely Islands of New Zealand . As for California , my understanding is that the entire state is being tilted upwards , with the West side doing the rising .

 Dusty