Damn. I'm seeing reports that 65 are dead, and many more still trapped in collapsed buildings. An estimated $12 billion in damage.

My prayers to everyone in New Zealand.

[censored], I hope that things settle down there and everyone is alright. Hopefully our forum-goers are going to be alright; hell, I hope the people who aren't on the forums are alright as well.

Are you for real? Or just for the lulz?

Heard about this on the radio this morning, I hope all our NZ forumites in the affected area check in a-okay.

Does anyone know which fault is -ah- at fault? I found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zealandia-Continent_map_en.svg on wikipedia about the tectonics of the area, it seems like there's a fault line and also a trench.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_fault - seems to be a very active (in geological terms) slip-strike fault. I wonder if this current bout of extreme activity could be associated with a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_fault#Major_ruptures?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermadec_Trench, associated with a subduction zone.

Both the slip-strike and subduction zones are associated with earthquakes.

:lol:

In case you're new to this world, earthquakes happen everyday. :thumbsup:

And it's been that way since.... well the dawn of time.

Death toll is confirmed at 75 now I'm glad everyone I know from Chh is safe and alive. I was just watching a press conference with the prime minister before, their estimate at the moment is 6 billion. Around 300 reported missing. They found a pocket of 15 people alive in a building though, which is a bit of good news.



I know that from the last earthquake they discovered a whole new fault line that they didn't know was there O_O Not that this answers anything, but I thought it was fairly interesting.

I'm so glad all my family and I live way up North...

I spent quite a bit of time earlier checking out New Zealand in Google Earth and it is a very interesting place. I wasn't sure of the proximity of the towns to one another. I am amazed at how deep the sea gets very quickly just south of Wellington and off the eastern coast of the North Island. It literally sits on a shelf. Overall, I am envious of those who live in such a beautiful place notwithstanding the current crisis. I went to street level view in mid town ChCh however, and looked around and I was parked right in front of an advlt book boutique. Just my luck... :nope:

Blessings to all in NZ !

Those people have friends, too.


Oh, and the entire population of New Zealand is less than that of Sydney (and about half that of New York or London). Which means the impact on the country as a whole is that much greater .

Reading this makes me glad that we don't have many earthquakes in North Carolina.

As PersonWorm said, the death toll is at 75 with 55 of those victims identified, and a further 300 are still missing.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10708226

Rescue efforts are now focused on areas where people are likely to be alive. They're already talking on the news about the economic impact of the quake, it's gonna affect the whole country.

Does New Zealand require special building codes to make the buildings quake-resistant? I remember reading/hearing that buildings in Japan and California have special designs to help prevent structural collapse during earthquakes.

I believe it's along the Ring of Fire, so it probably SHOULD, even if it doesn't.

That said, I hope everybody who posts here is OK. My condolences and prayers to those who lost family members in this disaster.

Yeah, I think so. In Wellington at least, which is sitting right on a fault line, I think isolators are compulsory for all large buildings. Something like that anyway.

The September earthquake revealed a whole new faultline, a horizontal one, which is odd considering all the other faultlines in NZ are vertical (ish). We're pretty screwed here because we sit right on a plate boundary

Oh, and in response to the 2012 thing, there was an earthquake bigger than this latest one 80 years ago in Napier, and no doubt there's been bigger ones before. So having an earthquake now, in New Zealand isn't really going to back up the 2012 theory in my opinion :shrug:

Yeah, me too. What really struck me was when I saw the sobbing woman on her mobile, trying to reach her loved ones. I'll be praying for Christchurch.

Sydney is a great deal smaller than New York or London,

All of my New Zealand friends are okay, but I don't envy the people who have to go back and clean up , And my heart goes out to the families of those

A little more than half the size, to be more precise. Perhaps my phrasing was unclear.

Sydney's actually pretty big. It's devastating really, to see the damage the quake has caused.

Thanks to all those thinking of us in NZ - especially those in CHC - while I live in the North Island I grew up in the South and have friends and family in CHC - so far they are safe - its heartbreaking watching the news here - and talking to traumatized friends who have seen terrible things. This is a national disaster for our small piece of the world but everyone's thoughts are much appreciated.

I was talking in terms of population. Sydney is ~4.5 million, London is slightly under 8, and NY is around 8.5. New Zealand is 4.3 million.

For a large country, this would be a small to medium disaster, for a little one like NZ, its pretty big.

Hey guys,

Many thanks for all the thoughts for myself and everyone else that is here in Christchurch. I'm happy to report that I'm alive and well, though badly shaken. The quake, though smaller, 6.3 compared to the 7.1 of the first one was in fact a lot sharper and far more damaging due to the fact that it was quite shallow, only 5km below the surface I believe.

The damage to our infastructure is massive. Power and water is out for a good chunk of the city including my place which is a write off. I'm currently somewhere out further from the city where the damage is less so I now have net access but it is patchy and I might actually be able to have a shower which I haven't done for close 48 hours.

I'm sad to report that as previously mentioned, the confirmed death toll is in fact at 75 people with it expected to rise as there are many more hundreds still trapped in collapsed buildings. The support that we have have from other nations is fantastic with specialist support teams coming from all corners of the world including Australia, Great Britain, The United States and Taiwan.

I've taken some pictures for those that are interested. I apologise for the quality as they are taken with my phone since my camera got rather squashed.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Cool_Shady/Earthquake/IMAG0053.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Cool_Shady/Earthquake/IMAG0054.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Cool_Shady/Earthquake/IMAG0055.jpg
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http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Cool_Shady/Earthquake/IMAG0095.jpg

If you don't know what liquefaction is, Google it now as it's in some of the pictures that I've taken and it is all over the city. They are completely covered in mud and I don't think that I've come across a road that is straight or un-buckled.

Thank you all for all the PMs that I have received. As I'm sure you can understand, internet access is rather patchy and I may not be able to reply to them all. Just know that I am safe and well.

Please direct your prayers to all the emergency services crew that we have on the ground risking their lives to try and save those that are still trapped.

Thank you all for your support.

Yay! I'm glad you're ok. I was hoping nothing bad had happened to you. I hope your house is in good structural shape. Looks like it took a bit of visual damage. Hopefully nothing more serious than a little elbow grease to fix.

I wish it was that easy to fix the house but it's [censored]. It's a two storey house as you can see with a brick chimney going up the middle. As you can see, the chimney has splayed out at the bottom and is right on the verge of collapsing which is going to leave a huge hole in the middle of the house and it will make the second storey floor very unstable.

There is also a problem with the wall that borders my room and that side of the house and how much it has moved. Since the quake and all the aftershocks, a gap has opened up between the wall and my floor which I can fit my hand through. This sadly means that any decent sized aftershock to come along can quite possibly knock the whole thing over.

In short, the house is screwed and none of us really expect most of it to be there tomorrow morning.

Good to see your alive

I'm glad to see you're ok, and like you said, my prayers will go out to the emergency workers.

We still have no water, same for 80% of the town...

So amazingly lucky school finished at 12 yesterday due to PPTA meetings, can't imagine nearly 2k kids having to be organised and stuff.

Good thing it rained today, collected tons of rain in pots