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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: voncrump on November 13, 2016, 05:43:42 AM
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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
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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.
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Said a prayer for guys:)
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I just heard this on our early Sunday morning news, might have some tsunami issues, too.
Best wishes to all affected.
Steve.
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Just saw this - hope your all OK.
Maurie.
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They have got the tsunami sirens going. Son and grandson live close to the coast. in the car and heading inland.
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I hope you, your family, and your friends all stay safe!
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All good at this stage thanks Jim. Not much sleep happening at this stage! :rolleyes:
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Our thoughts are with you all!!!
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Earthquakes are not something most believed we would ever have in common Muzz :shocked: Keep safe brother .
Dusty
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BBC reporting 7.8 just 60 miles north of Christchurch...
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37967178
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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
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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?" :rolleyes:
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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.
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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.
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Must have been a hell of a night, hope you all keep safe.
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Hope the news does not get much worse. I can see why some anxiety is widespread.
GliderJohn
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I'll take an earthquake over a tornado, hurricane any time. :grin: Are your buildings designed to withstand earthquakes like in California?
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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!!!! :shocked: That is some ground movement.
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I'll take an earthquake over a tornado, hurricane any time. :grin: 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!
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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.
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That does not sound at all good Muzz.
(perhaps you should consider a move to Golden Bay? :boozing:
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.
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb116/johnr39/Water%20Tower..jpg) (http://s210.photobucket.com/user/johnr39/media/Water%20Tower..jpg.html)
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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.
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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
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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. :thumb:
Which area do you reside in Rev?
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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..."
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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.
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb116/johnr39/Cows.jpg) (http://s210.photobucket.com/user/johnr39/media/Cows.jpg.html)
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.
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb116/johnr39/railway.jpg) (http://s210.photobucket.com/user/johnr39/media/railway.jpg.html)
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)
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb116/johnr39/Rt%201.jpg) (http://s210.photobucket.com/user/johnr39/media/Rt%201.jpg.html)
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.
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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.
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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
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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
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Mabe a little further afield as well John.
If I remember it rightly Papua had some action on their
northern shoreline shortly after your last big one?
Maurie.
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We live in Havelock North 300-400km north of Kaikoura. When the first 7.5 quake struck at 12.02am we were woken by our dog and daughter both arriving at the same time, daughter loudly proclaiming that it was an earthquake. Our waterbed (Yes, I know, ageing hippies) was really rocking and all sorts of stuff in the house was banging and rattling. This seemed to go on for ages although probably only 30 seconds or so.
When it finally stopped I switched on the bedside radio and listened to the first reports coming in and we realised that it was a big one somewhere to have given us such a shake.
My theory is that, in a big quake, all you can do is hold on tight and hope Old Mother Nature isn't hunting you specifically. My best to those of you further south who may find yourselves affected in some way, either serious or, hopefully, not.
Dave
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:-)
I know allot of people that will be happy about that with the rising sea levels and all!
Yep , at least on the West coast :shocked: Of course if we keep getting temblors in Oklahoma , there is the possibility of some nice sea side real estate developing here :laugh:
Dusty
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Lot of earth movement and those trapped cattle remind me of the sinkholes they get in Florida. :evil:
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Mabe a little further afield as well John.
If I remember it rightly Papua had some action on their
northern shoreline shortly after your last big one?
Maurie.
The big one off the Japanese coast wasn't all that long afterwards either.
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http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/
I had a look for last 30 days at +2.5
Fills a lot of the screen!
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The Air Force is busily choppering tourists out of Kaikora now starting with those with kids and the elderly. Private choppers are being used too by those that can afford them and the various "damage control" people.
The local marae has opened it's doors and are supplying food and (mattress on the floor) lodging to people. They are eating crayfish. Crayfish!! Those lucky people! I couldn't afford crayfish in a million years. !.5 tonnes of if was donated! It would be worth being there just for that!
The smaller of two Navy ships (a patrol vessel) arrives tomorrow. It will have to scout out the place to see if the larger one (the supply ship) that is hot on it's heels can actually dock there. It's only a fishing port.
Road engineers are pushing through clearances on a back road into the place. That may be open in a matter of days.
Things are moving along.
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Wellington also got hit and yesterday things compounded with torrential rain and high winds. Monday people were told to stay at home as no buses and trains were running and a lot had to stay at home yesterday as the roads in and out were impassable. A couple of buildings, at least one was only 8 years old, have been knocked out of action and a fairly major street near one of them is now out of bounds. The 8 story one has the external elevator tower parting company with the building itself with the distinct possibility of collapse.
Kaikoura is still cut off. However, there is a fairly major (for us :rolleyes:) naval exercise about to start and it sounds as though there is going to be an international naval response. A sonar ship is doing a survey now to see how close they can get in, and the slipway to launch small boats is open for business now. The kiwis I know carry de-salination plants which could literally be a life saver. Drinking water supplies are low, as are food stocks etc. With the fibre optic line taken out and the cellphone towers down communication is still at best marginal. We can now at least get to the top of the South Island a bit easier now as they have got a one lane link through the Lewis Pass route open.
Still a lot of tourists trapped there. Sounds as though the first NZ ship to arrive, the Wellington, is going to take a whole heap of them to Christchurch, re-supply, and then head back to Kaikoura. The campervans that a lot of the tourists were in will just have to stay in Kaikoura for a fair while.
edit. Just had a quick look at Geonet. The aftershocks are still coming 1-5 minutes apart but the the intensity of them is falling away. They tend to be in the range of 2.4 - 3.7 with only a couple of 4.8's in there in the last hour.
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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.
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb116/johnr39/Cows.jpg) (http://s210.photobucket.com/user/johnr39/media/Cows.jpg.html)
Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'll sleep better tonight knowing those cows have been rescued:
Moooving on: Cows Stranded by New Zealand Quake Are Rescued
http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/mooove-cows-stranded-zealand-earthquake-43517054
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Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'll sleep better tonight knowing those cows have been rescued:
http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/mooove-cows-stranded-zealand-earthquake-43517054
Ya got a problem with cows ? Funny attitude for a guy what lives in a state named after cows :evil:
Dusty
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Still a lot of tourists trapped there. Sounds as though the first NZ ship to arrive, the Wellington, is going to take a whole heap of them to Christchurch, re-supply, and then head back to Kaikoura. The campervans that a lot of the tourists were in will just have to stay in Kaikoura for a fair while.
I suspect that a whole heap of Portaloos will be high on the NZS Wellingtons priority list.
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I will never ever complain about our little baby temblors again . Saw some news footage today , seems you Kiwis are behaving in your normal understated way , the damage is bad . Our hearts and minds are with our Kiwi mates .
Dusty
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Ya got a problem with cows ? Funny attitude for a guy what lives in a state named after cows :evil:
Dusty
Huh?
I think cows are freakin' delicious... especially as blackened filets....
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Hi Guys,
We are house sitting for friends in Waikanae which is just nort of Wellington
So far we have had earthquakes, strong winds, torrential rain, flooding and last night thunder that shook the house.
Looking forward to hail and snow next [emoji51]
No damage here but the shake on Monday got your attention for sure. Worst
By far I've felt in my almost 70 years on the planet.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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This is a photo of the 4 metre verticle Faultine fracture on State highway one. There has been some serious force at work here. The main Shake has been rescaled up to 7.8.
(http://thumb.ibb.co/cxkb0a/SH_1_Kaikoura_Coast.png) (http://ibb.co/cxkb0a)
free
image
hosting (http://imgbb.com/)
Its a major mess along the whole coast.
Cheers, Voncrump
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Kiwikev, looks like tornado should have been added to your list of natural phenomena : http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/nz-earthquake/86549288/mini-tornado-causes-damage-in-kapiti
I like this one as it shows the lateral displacement along the fault of what looks to be around 10metres (http://www.meteoweb.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/terremoto-nuova-zelanda-case-faglia-2-747x420.jpg)
With the revision of the original quake magnitude up to 7.8, then as Geonet have indicated the probability of an after shock in the region of upto magnitude 7 is significant. So restocking your emergency supplies would be sensible at this point, checking your bug out bag etc and be prepared. (http://info.geonet.org.nz/display/quake/2016/11/14/M7.5+Kaikoura+Quake%3A+What+we+know+so+far)
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This map of the Fault lines may give an idea of what is going on.
(http://thumb.ibb.co/iGJDfa/Kaikoura_Earthquake_faults_e1479265716143.jpg) (http://ibb.co/iGJDfa)
The picture of the road that has shifted by 4 metres vertically was taken on the Waipapa fault.
(http://thumb.ibb.co/gcatfa/Cx_RXBe_WVEAA1_Oms.jpg) (http://ibb.co/gcatfa)
The second picture is an aerial view. You can see the Fault trace going across and into the sea. The seabed on the lower side of the photo has risen.
Cheers, voncrump
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I see that the remainder of the people who wanted to get out of Kaikoura have now achieved that by ship. My understanding is that the ship was unable to dock but that they were ferried out to it by RIBs
In addition to our own there are warships present from Canada, Oz, and the US that were here to help with the NZ Navy's 75th anniversary. These have been diverted to help out but with the inability to dock this may be limited to the supply and use of helicopters. That's fine though. There will still be plenty of work for them to do.
The Army has managed to get a vehicle through via the back road to Kiakoura but the road is not safe enough for public (or any other) use as yet.
As I predicted, Chemical toilets will be arriving in numbers aboard the HMNZS Canterbury this morning. Amazing how important such mundane things can be. Presumably they will come with supplies of toilet paper.
There is a tendency I think quite reasonably, to focus on towns in an event like this and forget the isolated pockets of people in the back blocks. This sort of thing is happening in the background.
"People near the Hapuku River had been told to steer clear of it after a lake was formed behind a 150m-high dam was formed by a landslide caused by the quake and there were fears it could fail." If it doesn't I guess we have a new lake.
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No we didn't notice the tornado tho we are close to Te Moana road. All we healed was a single clap of thunder, and man it was loud. Our dogs just about died as did my wife.
Sounded like a ton of boulders dropped on our roof.
Come to think of it now I guess it could have been :-). Or debris of some kind but I just looked and can't see anything from the ground. Two story place so hard to tell from below.
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Oh yeh, the friends we're house sitting for are in the U.K. Visiting family. They heard over there that the North and South islands are now two metres further apart :-)
Mm let me think now .....
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Oh yeh, the friends we're house sitting for are in the U.K. Visiting family. They heard over there that the North and South islands are now two metres further apart :-)
Mm let me think now .....
That'll be a good reason to increase the fares on the inter island ferry. :evil:
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Actually it went the other way, 2m closer. Don't you northerners be getting any ideas about jumping across!
On the subject of costs, all freight companies have increased their bills by 15-20% due to the extra distance they have to go between Picton and Chch now.
There are other issues, the road near St Arnaud on the now shortest route to chch is already breaking up under the extra load. There is also talk of extensive speed restrictions on a lot of that route due to the roads not being suitable for the increased number or heavier trucks.
That road is not a 50max road so it's bridges etc are not up to the standard needed. Drames upon dramas :embarrassed:
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Things are moving past initial response and into recovery now, at least in Kiakoura itself.
We have supplies rolling in by ship, air and courtesy of the NZ Army, by road. Normal traffic can not use that back road yet.
The air part is catered for by the helicopters of 4 Navies.
That of the US, Canada, Australia and NZ that happened to be in the country at the time. The NZ Navy ships are tasked with ferrying in supplies (presumably because they are the one with a supply ship) While the others have supplied hundreds of men who are doing road repairs and other such tasks that require manpower. They all seem remarkably happy with their lot. Perhaps they needed some purposeful time ashore.
There is something of an ecological disaster along the shoreline. It seems that the seabed rose about 8 feet and many critters that need to be underwater full time find that they are not. There is talk of closing the fishery there to allow things to recover. This seems an over reaction to me as the commercial species fished in shore are not restricted to the tidal zone and should be fine. Businesses will fail if they close it.
One sadness was a seal colony that was destroyed. The pups would entertain tourists by heading up a creek to play in the pool of a waterfall while the parents were out fishing. http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/86512830/famous-seal-breeding-ground-destroyed-by-quake
Numbers are being bandied about now. The energy released from the initial quake, which has been regraded to a 7.8, is equivalent to 400 atomic bombs, of what size they do not say.
There number of slips created by it has been quoted as 100000. Though I don't see how they have had time to find and count that many.
The number of quakes since the first one on Monday has passed the 3000 mark.
The chances of having a quake up to magnitude 6.9 in the next 3 weeks is over 90%
The chances of having a quake of magnitude 7 or higher in the next 3 weeks is 24%
It should be remembered that each magnitude number is 10 times the power of the next one down.
In Wellington there is an ever increasing number of buildings often relatively new ones, being evacuated as serious damage is discovered. The streets get closed off as this happens to ensure that they don't fall on anyone, so there is increasing disruption there.
It was interesting to watch the interviews with tourists as they got safely delivered to Christchurch. Most seemed really grateful for the way they had been looked after and many were chuffed to bits about the free 'cruise' on a navy ship. The Navy had meals and other food for them and had set up a temporary movie theatre for them to use. The over riding thing that seemed to be on all their minds were hot showers.
Surprising to me is the fact that the Army didn't fly in one of their mobile shower units They work off a converted steam cleaner and can shower 8 people at a time. Maybe there just wasn't the water available. (I've enjoyed one of those a time or two!)
There was one tourist who was grizzly about how long it took to get him out. sigh....
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http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/hapuku-river-locals-fear-dam-may-burst-2016111819
Looks pretty stable to me but what would i know.
Maps are going to have to re done.
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There was one tourist who was grizzly about how long it took to get him out. sigh....
Thanks for the update Johnr,
That poor tourist should pull his head in and get a life, he's lucky to have one. I didn't see him on tv but it surprises me anyone would be so b ungrateful.
Re the seals I guess they will find somewhere else to go, as long as not too many were killed in the event.
I reckon things will settle down given time and a common sense approach. As someone has said the road and rail link was made with pick and shovels back when so a few modern appliances should be able to chew through the slips ?
What happens to the rail link if they abandon the coastal road I wonder ?
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I reckon things will settle down given time and a common sense approach. As someone has said the road and rail link was made with pick and shovels back when so a few modern appliances should be able to chew through the slips ?
What happens to the rail link if they abandon the coastal road I wonder ?
Nothing decided on that one Kev. Already the increased costs and transport times are having a pretty major effect as Rev has said. T'aint quite as easy as it sounds. I suspect at this stage they don't want to just bulldoze the rubble in to the sea, and at this stage ,especially for up there it would be illegal I suspect. The paua and crayfish beds are lterally right by the road. The cliffs on the inland side of the coast are quite steep where the slips have come down. They would have to stabilise them as well, and then truck the rubble and dump it somewhere, lord knows where. The rail runs alongside the road, so the same thing applies.
A lot of freight comes down from Auckland by rail and crosses on the Cook Strait ferries (which are running now but repairs to their docks need to be made), and then heads down on the Kaikoura rail link to as far as johnr's home of Invercargill. I suspect that link is pretty vital. Surprising the flow on effects, the panel beater that my son does a lot of work for suddenly has a two week delay getting parts form Auckland where a lot of firms have their warehouses. He now has a yard full of damaged cars hanging about waiting for bits and he has run out of room to put them.
The inland route that the army are using also has significant damage, and some major bridges are damaged or out. They are fording some of the rivers, and suffering delays when it rains.
I am glad it is not me making the decisions on what to do, and there is no quick and easy fix. The coastal road is not only the quickest (and shortest) way south, it is also a major tourist road and Kaikoura runs on tourism. The South Island has really just one big ringroad running around the coast, and there are only a couple of links coneecting the West Coast to the estern side. Whatever is decided, the cost is going to be horrendous.
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Nothing decided on that one Kev. Already the increased costs and transport times are having a pretty..
Ok let's just abandon the South Island then, cut the cable and let them fend for themselves ;-p
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Muzz the PM (Prime Minister) has mentioned the probable need to re-align (read "Ruin") that coast road a number of times already. If it's done you can bet it will lose a lot of it's value as a tourist route. It will be the cheapest fix that will be implemented though.
Of course when the Govt maneuvered the NZ Shipping Company out of existence we lost our coastal shipping service as well as the companies main stay, the excellent road rail ferries between Christchurch and Wellington. Alternatives that are badly missed now.
I have been over a large part of the back road to Kiakoura. It was a Canterbury BSA Owners club run up to visit Jim Swarbrick on his farm. (Jim won the 1949 Isle of Mann 500 TT. Jim and his daughter were delightful. We camped out in his wool shed and had a wonderful time) The road was a scruffy little one lane gravel one never intended for lots of heavy traffic.
You are probably right about not dumping debris along the foreshore. That would be a disaster in it's own right. However there have been a number of new valleys created by this earthquake, some of them surprisingly large (what an adventure for a tree, to find itself dropped a few hundred feet into a new valley!) These could take the rubble, if anyone thinks of it.
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This is not so good.
"An MP who has visited Kaikoura says police should tell "malingering non-locals" to continue their travels.
NZ First's Ron Mark says they're accepting free food and hand-outs so they can spend their nights partying and drinking in the quake-stricken town.
"We were advised there is some frustration with non-locals and non-emergency helpers who have decided to stay in the town and are accepting the tremendous generosity of locals," he said.
"Kiwis are known as being generous and hospitable, but this only goes so far.
"These people who are prolonging their stay and receiving free food and hand-outs should be advised to move on."
Mr Mark wants the government to issue instructions to the police.
He didn't say whether the people he was talking about were foreign tourists.
Civil Defence has confirmed that while all the tourists in Kaikoura who wanted to be moved out have been evacuated, some decided they wanted to stay on."
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For those of you from the US.
The vid here is of the recent welcome in Auckland of a US navel vessel. The first, I think, since we decided to go nuclear free! Nice to see that freeze-out thawing. It seems the US Navy guys enjoyed it. This is one of the ships that are now busy down at Kaikoura.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/video-us-navy-welcomed-with-haka-2016111811
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This one covers some of the evacuations.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/kaikoura-residents-desperate-to-escape-tough-conditions-2016111719
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I have been over a large part of the back road to Kiakoura. It was a Canterbury BSA Owners club run up to visit Jim Swarbrick on his farm. (Jim won the 1949 Isle of Mann 500 TT. Jim and his daughter were delightful. We camped out in his wool shed and had a wonderful time) The road was a scruffy little one lane gravel one never intended for lots of heavy traffic.
It is a great motorcycle road now John. Gets tighter up the Kaiakoura end. Great day ride up the inland road to kaikoura for lunch and then back down the coast road in the afternoon. Makes for a fantastic day. (or used to :rolleyes:)
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For those of you from the US.
The vid here is of the recent welcome in Auckland of a US navel vessel. The first, I think, since we decided to go nuclear free! Nice to see that freeze-out thawing. It seems the US Navy guys enjoyed it. This is one of the ships that are now busy down at Kaikoura.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/video-us-navy-welcomed-with-haka-2016111811
Thanks for the great clip. Amazing to see the extent of the movement of land. Just doesn't fit with normal experience. Here's to some boring seismology for you guys for the next 100 years or so.
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A few more pics.
Kiakoura. (pre quake)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5446/30745290360_0c17229b15_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/NQRDF7)
The supply convoy. Held up by impassable roads.
(https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5581/30745290460_420121eb49_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/NQRDGQ)
There are three rivers blocked in this manner. (at least that we know of so far)
(https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5530/30745290900_8ea381b3a7_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/NQRDQq)
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The big one off the Japanese coast wasn't all that long afterwards either.
Just heard that "the tsunami warnings in Japan have just been downgraded" - did they just have an incident? If so it was quicker and further afield than I thought it would be, I thought Papua NG
would get a wake up first.
Maurie.
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Something like a 7.4 off Fukushima. 1.2 mt tsunami or round about, certainly visible traveling up the river. No significant damage,
We are still feeling some of the shakes Kaikoura is still having, over 2000 aftershocks and counting. Don't envy them up there. Seems like some are still flushing their toilets while there is nothing in the way of a sewer system functioning. It is flowing across people's sections further downstream. During Christchurch's earthquakes I dug a longdrop and surrounded it with tarps; pain at night but it worked just fine.
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Yes. Aftershock of 5.4 in NZ today centered at Culverden has blocked the back road to Kaikoua again. That would normally be considered a significant shake in it's own right.
The 7.4 in Japan does seem to support my theory, does it not Maurie?
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Would seem so John. I thought PNG first mainly because Japan
Had such a big hit last time, but it's all a bit of guesswork -
let's wait and see if it's settled for a while or if PNG and
Indonesia are now pressure points.
Don't envy you guys at times like this. Big, flat, stable Oz
Seems warm and cuddly right now.
Respect.
Maurie.
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Well Maurie, as Dusty said, it's the price we pay for a spectacular landscape as it is this that has formed it.
Having continuing earthquakes is a good thing in so far as it means the pressure is being relieved on a relatively continuous basis Though I think 7.8 is a bit over the top in this regard but then these have been happening along faults that have been quiet for too long. A few more of them but all kept below 5 is a more comfortable scenario In something less that 5 you would be unlucky to break a window.
I would be more concerned in areas where the plates have jammed and are building up pressure.
One such is the Cascadian Fault which runs from Cape Mendocine up the west coast of the US and British Columbia to Vancouver.
The Juan De Fuca plate is subducting below the North American plate there but the North american plate is not riding up over it. (which would produce a lot of small earthquakes) Instead the North American plate is stuck on the eastward traveling Juan De Fuca plate resulting in it bending upward. (the land is rising)
Like the top part of the pic below.
(https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5582/31042240782_2e880b9769_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Pi6AFY)
Of course such a state of affairs cannot continue indefinitely and the stuck bit must unstick. That though results in a mighty big earthquake of (unlike the San Andreas fault) a Tsunami producing type. Alternatively the 'bent' part could actually break with similar results. See bottom part of the diagram.
Based on historic records that event is 79 years over due.
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That 5.4 was evidently a very concentrated shake and caused quite a bit of local damage to buildings. The small settlement of Scargill was right on top of it. Watertanks have come down, the local hall has serious damage and a lot of the houses have suffered damage.
Evidently bubbles are now coming out of the sea bed in Kaikoura. Sea temp has come up. Should be a good tourist attraction. The whales that the Kaikoura Whale Watch rely on have at least stayed around.
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That 5.4 was evidently a very concentrated shake and caused quite a bit of local damage to buildings. The small settlement of Scargill was right on top of it. Watertanks have come down, the local hall has serious damage and a lot of the houses have suffered damage.
Evidently bubbles are now coming out of the sea bed in Kaikoura. Sea temp has come up. Should be a good tourist attraction. The whales that the Kaikoura Whale Watch rely on have at least stayed around.
If the Gubint builds its proposed super highway to Christchurch there will be little to no tourism in Kaikoura at all. What do the bubbles and sea temp signify Muzz?
Ps
It seams the sea bed has risen up to 8 meters in places. No wonder those navy ships could not trust their charts.
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Maurie, if I'm understanding things correctly (and that is a big if) Australia is essentially a large bit of sea floor that lifted to the surface.
I'm curious to know why it lifted (and whats holding it up there).
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If the Gubint builds its proposed super highway to Christchurch there will be little to no tourism in Kaikoura at all. What do the bubbles and sea temp signify Muzz?
Not an expert , but it sounds like magma is venting from the ocean floor .
Dusty
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If the Gubint builds its proposed super highway to Christchurch there will be little to no tourism in Kaikoura at all. What do the bubbles and sea temp signify Muzz?
Ps
It seams the sea bed has risen up to 8 meters in places. No wonder those navy ships could not trust their charts.
So far the scientists are itching to get in and do some research. To me, the Keneperu fault must just about start at Hanmer, which is geothermal, and stretch through to Kaikoura and beyond. I suspect that things have ruptured enough to do as dusty has suggested.
I think that when things settle down, they will rebuild the coastal road. to important to the tourism industry, and the railway, not to.
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If the Gubint builds its proposed super highway to Christchurch there will be little to no tourism in Kaikoura at all. What do the bubbles and sea temp signify Muzz?
Ps
It seams the sea bed has risen up to 8 meters in places. No wonder those navy ships could not trust their charts.
That superhighway you mention is not at all a proposed government idea. It's merely advertising by a mapping company, it has many serious shortfalls for a new SH1. Loand ownership, conservations concerns, and the facts it gets more snow than Arthurs pass...
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So, Dusty and Muzz, You think we may have cracked open a new volcano? That could get interesting!
Mr Revhead, I hope that is all that it is, but I have heard Gubint ministers bandying the idea about. Even severe re-alignment could ruin that road.
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Maurie, if I'm understanding things correctly (and that is a big if) Australia is essentially a large bit of sea floor that lifted to the surface.
I'm curious to know why it lifted (and whats holding it up there).
Well if I've pieced together the bits and bobs I've heard and
read properly the Pacific Plate moves Westward and slides
under the Australian Continental Shelf and China/ Japan.
The Hawaii we know now sits over a hot spot creating their
Volcanic action - but to the Westward there are a string of
previous Hawaiis which have sunk beneath the water,
deeper the further to the west you go as the Pac. Plate starts
to go under.
I think we're pretty stable because the edge of our
Continental Shelf is far enough off our Coast that we don't
get much trouble that way, forget how far - learnt it as a kid
- 200 miles rings a bell for some reason.
I think of it this way, as the Pac. Plate moves West and goes
under it's not going to go easy - to many variables in thickness
density lumps and bumps. It's going to catch and crumble
unevenly along that whole side of the Ring of Fire.
When it crumbles it only relieves the stress in that Regeon
but when it does it's the Plate moveing and that creates the next
Pressure Point - the next hot spot.
That's how I make sense of it in my own dyslexic way.
Because Japan got a big bit last time I thought PNG would be
the next hot spot but Oz is heading North as well so there's
the Ringer. Indonesia had some over the last few years so we
might be pushing hard enough to make a difference.
Maurie.
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There has been talk by some ministers about partial realign, which I understand because in place it's pretty dodgy!
I imagine it would simply be cutting out some of the more unstable bits under cliffs.
It's never been a fun road for me. Far too much traffic and to straight. The Lewis is much more fun
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It's never been a fun road for me. Far too much traffic and to straight. The Lewis is much more fun
Heading south just after dawn with the sun rising out of the sea. Then there is magic!
The lewis is fun too of course as was Arthur's Pass before they fixed it. Come to that so is the Lindis and the Haast.
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The inland road that the army is using is a blast, especially at the Kaikoura end. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: Tight and twisty. :grin: (At least it was before the earthquake.