It looks like Christchurch in New Zealand's South Island has had a very lucky escape when a 7.1 earthquake struck at 4.38am. So far there have been no reported fatalities and only two people seriously injured althouth there are lots with broken bones, etc.

There are a lot of buildings damaged, with many partially collapsing into the road. If the earthquake had struck a few hours earlier or a few hours later when the streets were full of people than the results could have been a lot, lot worse.

There are lots of pictures and more detail at:

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Things like buildings can be replaced, people can't.

Glad to hear the news is good. 7.2 is a big shake.

Yikes! What a mess. Thanks for the link.

Glad you're all right.

Charlie

It's incredible looking at the damage, with parts of central Christchurch looking more like a set on a war movie. But the most amazing thing is that there were no fatalities and only two serious injuries reported. For an earthquake of this size, a shallow earthquake (7 miles) with an epicentre under 20 miles from a city of about 400,000 people it is a huge escape.

However about 20% of houses are uninhabitable, 5% of commercial buildings are badly damaged, 33% of people are without water, 10% without power (it's the end of winter and it gets pretty cold).

For other NZ members in the area they might not be able to check in as there are problems with phone lines, internet access, etc.

The only fatalities in the area was when a sightseeing / skydiving plane crashed on take-off about 50 miles away killing 9 people, which is NZ's worst plane crash in over 15 years.

For the faults in the South Island there has been a 7.5 - 8 earthquake every 300 years and it's been over 300 years since the last one, so the predictions are that it's pretty likely there will be a much bigger one in the next 50 years. When that comes I doubt we'll be so lucky.

I have never been in an earthquake and do not have intentions of going to places where the ground shakes.

BUT, since you've had your 300 year *shake*, I'd love to visit the country, it's a photographers dream.

It's ironic that I live in a country that gets over 14,000 earthquakes a year but the biggest I've personally experienced (so far) was in Wales in 1984, which was the largest one ever recorded in the UK at a mere 5.4.

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Bonus points go to anyone who can pronounce the location correctly, which was the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales.

And if anyone has any questions about New Zealand, just ask. Although I'd suggest avoiding the Christchurch area for a while at least unless you have a hobby around earthquakes! However there are some amazing places to see and things to do around the rest of the country.

Damn, another place off the retirement destinations list.

Glad all is reasonably well.

I read from your links there were sizeable aftershocks, also.

from NZ Herald link:

The worst of the aftershocks, one of which was measured at 5.1, [!] were expected to be over by today.

Smaller aftershocks were likely to continue for weeks, diminishing in size and frequency.


also:

Saturday's earthquake took scientists by surprise, as it revealed a new faultline in a territory not known for seismic activity.

GNS regional geologist Simon Cox said there were several known active faults under the Canterbury Plains and in the Canterbury foothills, but this earthquake came from a previously unknown, buried faultline.

"There is no evidence at this site for previous rupture. We don't think it has ruptured often, or at all, in the last 18,000 years."

While the tremor could awaken surrounding faults, it could also relieve pressure on the earth.

Scientists will place 40 instruments near the faultline this week to determine whether stress was transferred to other faults.


and:

Dr Ristau suspected that three earthquakes occurred nearly simultaneously on Saturday. A magnitude-5.4 jolt was followed five seconds later by two larger quakes 10 seconds apart. The larger, 10km-deep one caused the earth to shift horizontally, before being thrust up vertically.

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Looks like a slight left shift pictured.






aside:

From the other "stuff" link, down the page under TRAVEL, it mentions the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, also mentioning other attractions, The Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmer's Museum.

Father of James Fenimore Cooper, William Cooper made himself an extensive realm there with the help of a lawyer named Alexander Hamilton, becoming the richest man in Otsego County and promoting development of Cooperstown while risking and gambling all to win.

Landed security was important to William and James, both favoring Jefferson's idea of agribusiness in America instead of urban industrialism.  It could be understood less than coincidental a Farmer's Museum is located there.

Yikes.

This is from Bloomberg News so it has a bit of a business slant but I thought it pretty informative.

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Charlie

Mike NZ wrote on Sep 6^th, 2010 at 7:43pm:


Heck no.  If life was unhurried enough to not pay more to fly around NZ while visiting, or to avoid being involved in congesting traffic, it's hard to imagine a better loooong train ride top to bottom and back a couple times.    

from Charlie's link:

Quote:


Nice choice.