Teeth Rattled Again in Christchurch

[Muzz]

Five years and 3 days after the 2nd of the two big ones another quake, 5.9, hits just to let you know that things are not quite back to business as usual. Shallow at 15kms and not far offshore at 15kms in Pegasus Bay. Although I have not been too upset in all the others, this one actually has given me a few butterflies. Sort of, "oh sh*t, here we go again.

Actually, it felt bigger. Just been downgraded to a 5.7. Interesting to hear on the radio from people who were not in Christchurch for the first two just how terrified they were.

Photos coming through of Sumner on the coast with plumes of dust being thrown up as the cliffs have obviously collapsed.

[RANDM]

I can't even begin to imagine what that must feel like, I can
only hope there's no follow up and that all will be well for you
guys. All the best Muzz - fingers crossed.

Maurie.

[HardAspie]

As a reformed Cali I have some idea what those are about. Hang on tight. I hope no harm comes.

[Muzz]

No reports of much damage to date, but the photos of the rockfall look spectacular, or, at least the dust cloud does.

I think most people are still pretty much earthquake proofed as far as houses and artifacts are concerned.

[trippah]

Haven't studied the fault lines in your area; is NZ slowly becoming a three island nation??   Hope all is well with yoyu, I remember the horror of that quake you reported on back then.

[balvenie]

I heard that the earth keeps moving for some time afterwards. That and the shock would be quite nasty.

[oldbike54]

 For you guys down under , Oklahoma is in the middle of a continent . We had a tremor that registered 5.1 just after midnight last night , the epicenter was over 200 miles distant and we still felt it here . Another one today about 1:00 PM that gave us a minor shake .

 Dusty

[Muzz]

Haven't studied the fault lines in your area; is NZ slowly becoming a three island nation??   Hope all is well with yoyu, I remember the horror of that quake you reported on back then.

We have four anyway, North Island, South Island (also known as the Mainland , Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. The three main faults around Christchurch weren't even known about 2 years before they happened, and the first one that went, the Greendale, no one knew about.

Little damage reported. Some shops had to close because of stock all over the floor. Hospitals report no increase in patients. Oops, another aftershock just then.

Onwards and upwards as they say. Guzzi content; went for a nice ride after the main shock today.

[Johncolleary]

Hope you guys get it all cleaned up before I get there in a week and a half.   

Had our first little shake down ride today just north of Auckland and was having lunch when I saw on the TV about the quake.  hope all is well!

[Muzz]

Looking forward to it John.

Yeah, shook us around a bit.  All the old dunger buildings in the city had fallen down already anyway. Getting regular aftershocks but nothing like the first one.

Enjoy the riding.

[Kent in Upstate NY]

The biggest I experienced was a 5.8. It scared me silly. Since then, anything less was met with a yawn. I have been on the edges of bigger quakes but near as much as you Kiwis.

[steamdriven NZ]

I was on the verge of getting out of my seat and legging it out the door. Normally they start and you start looking up and wait to see how close to your personal threshold it's getting. But this one kept coming, and the wave action afterward went on a long time. The cats legged it, the dog looked at me for the 'go' command and......we waited and rode it out.
But nothing of note fell over.
Pretty much anything in this town is either already down, prevented from falling down or is nailed down.
No signs of any issues with our 105 year old house, the internal wall linings were all repaired and the FiberFuse system they used came through marvellously.

And something I realized after the big 'un and subsequent 10,000-odd following that was....... that stuff was happening all around the world. Some worse than our stuff, some less. The perspective you people from all around the world gave was quite heartening really so thank you for that.

"Coulda been a lot worse" 

[vstevens]

Found a great video illustrating the unique characteristics of the Indo-Australian and Pacific plate boundary.  Interestingly, the Pacific plate subducts under the northern island of New Zealand whilst the Australian plate subducts under the south tip of the southern island.  In between, the plates transform past each other.  It's a very interesting dynamic!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Nyr78Mqyg

[toolittletime]

I absolutely loved my last visit to Christchurch in 2010 before the last quake. We stayed at the Chateau on the Green in town. Had a wonderful 10 days touring the South island and plan to come back for a longer mc trip in a couple of years.
Sorry to hear you have the rock and roll again!!!
Tim

[DaSwami]

Christchurch....had a fond visit there back in 1987 while waiting to jump off to the Ice.....Lion Brown beer, lively people that love to debate politics over a cold one and sweet Kiwi gals......neat city in a neat nation!

Stay safe down there!

[Nic in Western NYS]

Accuweather had this clip of the collapsing cliff near Christchurch:

http://videowall.accuweather.com/detail/videos/trending-now/video/4756167056001/cliff-collapses-into-sea-as-earthquake-rattles-christchurch-new-zealand?autoStart=true