Mike,

Just saw the news about the 7.8 earthquake & tsunami there in New Zealand.  You OK?
From the photos, it looks like the people around Christchurch had a very rough ride... Please let us know...

V/R, Batch

Mike,

Just saw the news myself....let us know how you are.

Best,

Peter

Absolutely fine here in Auckland. Although I was woken by my phone notifications of earthquakes every minute but didn't feel a thing as we're about 600 miles (1000km) from where the main quake was.

So far it looks as if people have been very, very lucky with only two fatalities reported so far.

There has been a tsunami, but only 1-3m high, although I saw a report that in Wellington the sea was sucked out over 200m.

Pictures and reports can be seen at:

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I've recently been working down in Wellington (300 miles from Christchurch) a lot although my last scheduled trip was last week. If I'd have been going down this week I'd have cancelled it.

Right now the concern is around aftershocks with well over 100 so far, at times one or more a minute from multiple faults (I bet geologists will be studying this one for years, especially as NZ has a lot of seismograph instrumentation).

Not too sure on the damage but it'll no doubt be in the billions of dollars.

Good to hear you're OK Mike.

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That's got some amazing data about the quakes, including details of how the 7.5 quake resulted in movements right across the USA, especially in California! Plus a load of other analysis work which shows just how good the instrumentation is.

It is also showing GPS data with some places having moved 2 metres as a result of the quake that lasted 120 seconds.

Some photos...
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Mike,

Yikes  [smiley=JAW_DROP.gif]

Looks like a whole lot of shaken going on!

Glad to hear you're ok...

I've been talking to quite a few work colleagues who live in the areas hit. All are fine, just a little shaken with no real sleep overnight.

Just after midnight on a Sunday night is probably about the best possible time for it to have happened since most people will have been at home.

If anything, it is incredible how light the damage was, but then since NZ is on the ring of fire and prone to earthquakes buildings are engineered to survive much more significant quakes.

More photos...

Quite incredible how far the rail track has moved.
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A huge slip, one of many. There are reports of a truck driver being missing, hopefully just in an area where mobile phones are out of action [now safe, just stuck between two large slips]. To give you an idea of the scale, the rock slip is over a main road.
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Thank you America and the crew of the USS Sampson.

The US navy ship was already here in NZ for the celebrations for the NZ navy 75th anniversary but it is now helping out getting to people who have been cut off when slips have blocked roads.

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The US is also sending a P3 Orion plane to help survey damage to remote locations.

The US ship has now been joined by ones from Canada and Australia with the addition of an aircraft from Japan.

The earthquake has also been upgraded from a 7.5 to a 7.8, so with a single earthquake it has released more energy that all the earthquakes in NZ for the last 7 years. Plus there has been more than 1700 aftershocks, which is pretty hard for those in the areas impacted which will include some previous posters to the forums.

I've worked in multiple buildings which have been impacted with one likely to need a years worth of work to fix and have had lunch many times in one which is at risk of collapse.

Glad you are OK Mike. Those photos are amazing...hard to imagine the energy that was released.

Glad to hear you're Ok Mike.  An earthquake is not something i would ever want to experience.

Yeah Mike...thanks for the pics...glad you and yours are ok...praying for your country-mates
who may not be...

Am reminded to be a little more concerned and prepared. I used to live in Alaska...60 miles
from an active volcano....in a fish plant on pilings over the water. Earthquakes were a DAILY
experience...some real rollers in the plant or laying in bed. So common...and seemingly benign
....they became "fun". They're NOT...and living in Seattle...I  expect and dread a big one some
day.....

Best

Jon

Racer1_NC wrote on Nov 16^th, 2016 at 1:18am:

hard to imagine the energy that was released.

The amount of energy released is simply staggering at 32 quadrillion joules (32,000,000,000,000,000 Joules or 7,648,183,556,405,000 Calories). That isn't something you can too easily visualize, so to put it into perspective, the great pyramid in Egypt is estimated to weigh about 5.9 million tonnes and the energy would be enough to lift it about 550km into the air (just over 300 miles).

Or for the Washington Monument, which is 81,000 tons (73,482 metric tonnes), this could be lifted almost 28 thousand miles into the air.

Or if the moon was resting on the surface of the earth, it could be lifted 2.8 miles into the sky.

This amount of energy is beyond comprehension.


maz wrote on Nov 16^th, 2016 at 7:07pm:

An earthquake is not something i would ever want to experience.

This is all down to how strong the earthquake is, however once the magnitude exceeds 5 they stop being "fun". For years the strongest earthquake I'd personally experienced was a 5.4 in Wales (START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE).

For me and many I've spoken to once they get to 5+ it is the not knowing how strong it will be and there isn't anything much you can do during one other than get somewhere safe(ish) quick and wait.

What takes a mental toll on people are the aftershocks, with well over 2000 so far. At first they were arriving virtually every minute, but this has settled down to perhaps once an hour or so, with everyone reacting differently.

Jon - a lot of dealing with earthquakes is about being prepared, e.g. having emergency supplies, knowing where to go when a bad one happens (under a table or a doorway), etc. So in many ways it is just like dealing with CH.