Massive South Island quake
Thoughts are with the mainlanders today after the 7.4 magnitude quake which hit at 4.35 am. Centred 30 km west of Christchurch and only 33 km under the surface.
Initial reports have buildings collapsed, widespread loss of power and a row of shops demolished. Hopefully there are no casualities but with that much damage it is sadly very possible.
No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)
No tag for this post.
September 4th, 2010 at 6:15 am
One friend has a house down, occupants ok though. Two others are without power, but nothing seriously damaged.
September 4th, 2010 at 6:27 am
It was interesting that the New York Times website (nytimes.com) was reporting the Christchurch earthquake before tvnz.co.nz!
September 4th, 2010 at 6:46 am
Got a lot of texts here in Melbourne. Sounds like the family is okay, but some serious damage.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:04 am
Thank God for cellphones. All whanau accounted for; shaken, sleep-deprived, but otherwise ok. Sounds as though the worst damage has been in the central city, where there are lots of older buildings.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:29 am
Woke me up. Top story on CNN – no mention of hobbits either
Quote of the day:
PinkFlam
As that shifty-eyed Iranian cleric said, “Earthquakes are caused by promiscuous girls.” Now excuse me, but I need to purchase my airplane ticket to New Zealand.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:33 am
I live in a heritage building downtown. It had been earthquake strengthened, so I and my neighbours are OK. Power but no water. I am using the water from the hot water heater for drinking. Some minor damage in my place, but across the road on Manchester Street, the entire front of a brick building collapsed. Thankfully it was empty because it was being renovated. A car was crushed, but it was empty.
Around the corner on Lichfield Street, the facades from two buildings across from each other, crushing cars. Again, the cars appeared to be empty. I have felt a number of aftershocks.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:34 am
Brendon Burns says he lost his chimney.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:34 am
I have not heard about the Chch Cathedral nor the Catholic basilica. Apparently the Avonside area has been hard hit.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:37 am
Reports now of some damage to the runway at Chch Airport, and everything there is closed until at least 10am. I’ve also seen reports of considerable damage to roads and bridges.
One News is on now
September 4th, 2010 at 7:47 am
Sky News has excellent coverage
September 4th, 2010 at 7:49 am
Expert on NR says 10km deep – quite shallow. Says he’s surprised at the location. It’s a minor fault line.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:49 am
I don’t know why BUT I have never thought of CHCH as an earthquake town .. watching Sky news on ch90 about it.
good luck people, sounds awful .. my wife was in Wanganui last week during their little rumble so what’s happening?
September 4th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Kudos to RNZ’s coverage, shame that it is Mary Wilson heading it though. Even at a time like this she seems so agressive
September 4th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Chch has the second highest risk of any urban centre – Wgtn is first, of course. Chch is close to the Alpine and Hope Faults, both of which have had major ruptures in the recent past (last few hundred years).
The fault was likely one recently discovered. The Springfield Fault has been known for some time, but the Springbank Fault has recently been delineated using a variety of methods. These faults have no historic seismicity, so can’t know how to judge the seismic risk. Still feeling some significant aftershocks.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:07 am
All this on the threat of Anderton taking over. Lord help[ them if he does.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Prayers and thoughts to those of you down in Christchurch – especially out Darfield way.
I haven’t experienced anything like what it sounds you guys have gone through, even though I am a born and bred Wellingtonian of 48 years. Good to hear there are no serious casualties or worse so far.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:12 am
Krisk; I just heard some lady say it was “like the hand of God had shaken their house” Can you have a word with that guy and tell him to stop frightening the people please. especially at 4.30 in the morning. Its just not a nice thing.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Good to know that someone in Christchurch hasn’t lost his sense of humour:
http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2010/09/black-humour.html
September 4th, 2010 at 8:13 am
So far, so good, but we are still getting some significant aftershocks. I have power (so warm) but no water. At least I have food, juice, milk, water from the hot water tank (so need to be careful with it). Power out over much of the city.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:15 am
Very disappointed that tvnz censored images. They would not identify the position of one image they showed. They won’t be able to hold off imagery for long anyway
September 4th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Viking2 8:12 am,
I’ll see what I can do, V2 – sadly, I can’t make any promises …
September 4th, 2010 at 8:22 am
@ WB – there have already been reports of looting, so TVNZ may have had a request from the police
September 4th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Can you still shoot looters?
I called a good mate of mine in Chch to see if he and his family are OK, luckily they are fine, the ironic thing about it is that he had to ask me what the damage was like in Chch as they are all still without power.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:31 am
A lucky couple:
September 4th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Good thing it hit at 04.30 in the morning and not at 09:30 or 12:30.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:43 am
They’re saying don’t use the phones – and conserve water.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:46 am
Sounds like they’re thinking of evacuating New Brighton (and another area) residents are being told to prepare to leave.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Two major injuries reported so far – man hit by falling bricks, another from glass.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:58 am
A few very old brick buildings have had walls fall over. So far all of the other damage I’ve heard of seems superficial.
There are a lot of cracks in the ground, sounds like fairly widespread liquefaction of some near-surface soil layers. Hope the water supply and sewer pipes are intact.
Power company CEO said power outage appears to be mainly due to major transformers automatically tripping out when the earthquake caused the oil inside them to slosh around. Rather than to destruction of any major components.
@jaba – CHCH earthquake forces are similar to Wellington, there are several major faults nearby and the bedrock is kilometres deep below the surface, so there is soft-soil amplification (similar to what happens when you shake a tray that has a large jelly on it, the top of the jelly/surface of the ground moves more than the tray/bedrock does.)
September 4th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Evacuating is due to flooding and sewage issues.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Rellies have no power.
Watched the reports on fox and cnn from 6am.
pictures look serious, hope it is just isolated pockets or old buildings and no people loss.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Two bridges down. (BTW, this is all from National Radio)
September 4th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Cell phone network may be about to go down in the city due to batteries running out.
Stuff.co.nz seems to be having issues.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:02 am
That was the worst quake I’ve been through. Wife freaked out, but settled soon after. 30 mins later we were chatting while standing under a door frame (hurrah for oversized, rimu door frames!). 30 mins after that we were fast asleep again. Aftershocks all morning. Minor damage, mainly cracks in walls and ceiling plaster. Sirens going all morning. Brother-in-law with the fire brigade – he’ll have a busy day. Seen images on CNN and stuff, lots of damage to brick buildings. All our friends are ok. Now busy updating facebook, phoning family and relatives.
Nice weather outside though.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:05 am
Just heard on RadioNZ news that cellphone tower batteries are due to go down about now – for all you in Chch relying on cellphones. Obviously (for most of you) if you’re reading this you still have landlines.
Edit: Scrubone beat me to it.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:05 am
Hospitals asking for people with minor injuries to treat themselves.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Just spoke to my 100+ year old grandmother who is in a rest home in Christchurch. Some structural damage to building their . No power, water or sewage. Apparently the staff were A+, got eveyone up and together in safe part of building, made tea using BBQ and found snack food
September 4th, 2010 at 9:15 am
They’re hoping to have 90% of the city with power by tonight. Power company guy says his first reaction was “drat”. Heh.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Regarding cellphone tower battery life:
It’s a real concern if these batteries only have a typical charge life of approximately 4.5 hours (4:30 am to 9 am) once the mains go down. Perhaps the powers that be need to look at this in relation to civil defense emergencies?
September 4th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Not really the way to stimulate the building industry….
Ah well, its an ill wind……….
September 4th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Kris K: think you’ll find that it’s a tradeoff. 99.9% of cases, 4.5 hours is more than enough time – you’d usually use that time to get a generator setup if the power wasn’t going to be back up. You can’t design a network for this sort of scenario realistically – it’s just too expensive.
Land-line exchanges do actually have generators and large battery banks.
But for the worst disasters, nowadays people use satellite phones.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:29 am
They’re saying to boil water due to risks from broken sewer lines.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:36 am
That’s if you have water. I have power, but no water, in the central city. Streets are very quiet (naturally). Already some work crews have been out on a nearby street clearing at least a couple of lanes for access, I presume for emergency vehicles.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Apparently landlines are fine! Talk about yer backwards situations…
September 4th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Me ex and daughters apparently have water but no power.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:46 am
scrubone 9:27 am,
Yeah, I guess so.
I just know of individuals who have no landline phone and rely on a cellphone as their only method of communication. So if such an individual had no battery transistor radio, and the mains were down for more than 4.5 hours, they would have no means of communication. For some reason I just imagined cellphone towers having batteries with at least 24 hours of charge life; not 4.5 hours. Who of the general public knew this fact prior to the events of today?
September 4th, 2010 at 9:58 am
No probs here in Waimairi Beach. Power back on for an hour or so, water back on, have a header tank, recent house on big conc slab, gas hob with full bottle and spare, and camping gear anyway.
Don’t believe all the breathless MSM reports – liquefaction exactly as expected, round Estuary and river and peaty soils have suffered too. As have older below-code buildings. Lots of emo’s wandering round on news reports. We just checked all neighbours, lent gas stoves etc and contacted rellies. No drama.
The old warning applies: your mileage may vary.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Quite a big shake.
Obviously God intended to destroy Timaru for its sins but missed.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Good luck and best wishes to all those affected.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Well gee we’re all standing on the same crack in the earths crust people, have we all got our emergency kits in order now?
September 4th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Reports in that Anderton has lost his mind.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Oh fuck them all. They are getting exactly as greedy people deserve.
GOD is punishing those South Island pricks for their theft of taxpayer money in SCF.
Fuck them.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:25 am
You’re one really fucked up individual swift.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:33 am
This will solve the downturn for southern builders, plumbers etc.
A raid on the Earthquake and War Damage Fund hot on the heels of SCF whacking the guarantee scheme. Swiftman the infidel (10.22 post): smoke that, you crazed fucker. Your taxes are going the right direction to balance southern taxes going into Auckland trains and motorways.
Meanwhile aftershocks continue. Latest at 10.17. My computer screen ended up on the floor, but the rest of the machine stayed on the desk. Long cables, I guess.
An exciting morning.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Thats a big one, i hope everyone is okay.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:35 am
You should update the data etc on the size – 7.1 and 10km deep. It seems that CHCH is managing this in the competent way I know and expect of this fine city.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:36 am
‘You’re one really fucked up individual swift.’
At least I didn’t wake up this morning with a dick in my ass.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:40 am
‘You’re one really fucked up individual swift.’
At least I didn’t wake up this morning with a dick in my ass.”
Perhaps not, but whose ass was your dick in?
September 4th, 2010 at 10:41 am
‘Perhaps not, but whose ass was your dick in?’
My wife’s.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Shook like hell here on the West Coast, though not as bad as the 1994 Arthurs Pass Quake, it was about equivalent to the big Fiordland quake for us.
Have a friend here from Darfield, she is very keen to get home as there is quite a bit of damage to her house, the pass is chains essential though so not too sure how that will go. I can’t think of anything worse than being away from loved ones when something like this happens, her family are all ok though.
There is a huge positive in the timing of this quake, if it was a few hours latter many people could have been killed with those facades and brick work coming down. This has to be an absolute wake up call for all of us down here though, these sorts of events used to be much more common in the South island, and it would appear that the frequency of large quakes is now returning to more in line with the historical average.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:55 am
I really do hope that the news tonight does not lead with how the earthquake has been reported overseas, if ever there was a time to get over our ridiculous inferiority complex it is now.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:56 am
In Wellington we are protected from earthquakes by Our Lady of Immaculate Conception. I thought maybe it might have been all of New Zealand, but no, it’s only for Wellington. Apparently during WW2 the Bishop forgot to reconsecrated the city and there was a bad earthquake in 1942. Since then, the Bishop never forgets! This happens on December the 8th every year.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:58 am
and for the most sensitive comment on this day of tragedy for many look no further than Swiftman the infidel
September 4th, 2010 at 11:00 am
‘Perhaps not, but whose ass was your dick in?’
My wife’s.”
Your “wife” is a bloke?
Oh well, takes all sorts I suppose.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Yeah, right Lucia. And when one eventually hits there will be a different religious explanation.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:07 am
It’s good to get the interviews of experts on TV, they are much more measured and realistic rather than breathless reporting.
Sounds like the looting may not have been looting after all. A bit quick off the mark with that report, repeated more often than the aftershocks.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:13 am
In Wellington we are protected from earthquakes by Our Lady of Immaculate Conception.
.
You are joking right?
Perhaps with what we now know about the planet, plate tectonics etc God would actually expect us to make a rational decision to either manage the risk or move to a safer spot.
A “build your house upon the rock” kind of thing.
Praying to Mary won’t help one iota.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Whoa!!
Just felt an aftershock here in Greymouth, must be a big one over there!
September 4th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Apparently with immaculate conception the “earth never moves” . Well according to Lucia Maria.
Sad for you. think what you have missed out on.
There is help available with these things.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Yep! A couple, only a few minutes apart.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Twas. Went under a doorframe for that one.
Can’t tell the difference between an aftershock and a nervous shiver.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Lucky you guys. John key is off to visit you all this afternoon. Bring out the brollies and scones.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:25 am
If I went out I doubt I’d be let back in. I live in the central city, and the police are taking a pretty tough line, trying to control foot traffic. Not much vehicle traffic due to rubble in many streets.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Well they had better hurry up and get some covers over the holes for the weather coming is pretty damm shit. Adelaide and Melbourne and NSW have just had a pasting.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/gms/largec.html?area=4&element=0&mode=UTC
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDX1299.shtml
September 4th, 2010 at 11:33 am
David, I see on the Geonet site that there is a line of earthquake epicentres in a line almost at right angles to the southern Alps, do you think that some ancient unknown fault covered by the Canterbury plains could have ruptured?
I am fascinated by geology and this event certainly seems unusual, it doesn’t seem to be in line with the common explanations of South Island seismology.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:41 am
No, it’s more likely that the early reports mislocated the event, and as more information is gathered, the location improves. Right now, I think it’s likely to have been the Springbank Fault, which colleagues of mine discovered a few years ago. It doesn’t have any obvious surface feature. Right area. The rupture is also shallow, which might also fit. But I will await the more detailed and complete analysis of my colleagues, both at the various unis and at GNS.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Looking at the map of the Springbank Fault, the Quake’s epicentre is to the SW on the other side of coalgate.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:46 am
7hrs gone, and no one has [yet!] blamed global warming for the disaster. I’m amazed.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Don’t be so sure KK
Russ and the rest of the Greens are still sleeping off their latest drug induced coma.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Quite a lot of damage to old buildings in town, new buildings, and suburban homes were generally ok. We had suprisingly little damage of fragile belongings considering how it felt and the damage observed in some places. There are apparently no deaths, but a spike in ED admissions.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
krazykiwi, you made my day!
I feel sorry for Chch, but we are very lucky, no loss of life, just damages.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
FYI:
EQC earthquake damage claims
Homeowners with insured properties that have been damaged by the earthquake can lodge a claim with the Earthquake Commission. Call EQC’s free phone number 0800 DAMAGE 326 243. People have up to 3 months to make a claim. EQC Chief Executive Ian Simpson says he expects thousands of claims over the next few days and advises people who strike a busy signal to keep trying the lines.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
@pappito – Yes, the lack of injury is really good news. Have spoken to a few friends down there and they’re happy to be unscathed, but a bit nervy about these aftershocks.
@Fot – not sure Red Rus is a drug coma kinda guy: Marxism requires a clear head to perpetrate the lies and deceit.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Thanks for the GW kk.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Yes, that’s noticable. Much less significant (maybe) – is the Haast-Wanaka pattern down the island, Haast is on the main faultline but I haven’t seen much centred around Wanaka. Interesting to know what stress these right angled moves may have on the main faultine stresses – will they relieve or increase the pressure?
September 4th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
@krazykiwi: as far as I see, all the officials are on duty, working hard, good to see. No panic, no hysteria. There are serious issues (water, sewage, etc.) and major parts of downtown is closed, buildings are under checking against hidden tensions and stuff like this.
Obviously the PM’s visit is rather PR, but not too bad. My wife is working for a big retail chain, she is receiving emails about the stores over there.
Fortunately Chch is not a remote area, we can supply drinking water for the people, the power grid is back, roads are damaged but not completely down. I’m watching the news, saw working traffic lights. Big luck.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
David in Chch – “The fault was likely one recently discovered. The Springfield Fault has been known for some time, but the Springbank Fault has recently been delineated using a variety of methods.”
Of course if Labour and the Greens had been in power it would have been nobody’s fault.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Here is a graphic that may be interesting to some people:
http://images.geonet.org.nz/maps/quakes/262-christchurch-quake.jpg
September 4th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Bishop Brian Tamaki has blamed the Crimechurch earthquake on Sonny Bill Williams and his agent Khoder Nasser
September 4th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Cool graphic, sb. Thanks for that.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Anyone here understand the financial state of the EQC?
In my youth I believed that all those levies and fees were being squirreled away ready for the ‘big one’.
I subsequently heard that successive governments had pillaged the fund and left an IOU.
Is this right? Will the quake costs now be added to NZ $1b/month borrowings?
September 4th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
There is some absolutely shocking weather on the way for the South Island, it will be very important for Cantabrians to get things ready for some big winds (and us Coasters for major flooding).
http://metservice.com/national/warnings/severe-weather-warnings
September 4th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
@ mikey – I didn’t think SBW’s performance last night was THAT earth-shattering
September 4th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
The impression you get from the earthquake coverage is:
(1) The use of bricks in construction in NZ should be banned.
(2) So called “Heritage” buildings should all be bulldozed forthwith.
(3) Any person who forms a protest movement to save said “Heritage” buildings should be jailed for endangering the lives of the populace.
The citizens of Christchurch seem to have escaped relatively lightly.
I can only imagine what it would have been like in Wellington especially when I consider the “Heritage” (slum) buildings of say Jackson St. Petone.
September 4th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
krazykiwi – just to put your mind at ease
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/christchurch-earthquake/55967/earthquake-commission-expecting-huge-bill
So the EQC is prepared for the claims. Let’s hope it’s a while before the next one.
September 4th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Have a look at the weather here.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/gms/largec.html?area=4&element=0&mode=UTC/en
September 4th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
But if you look here http://metservice.com/national/maps-rain-radar/rain-radar-forecasts/rain-forecast-7-day it doesn’t look bad for the SI.
September 4th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
It must be a miracle there have not been significant casualties.
Looking for the silver lining, will this be a tremendous boost to the economy? The reconstruction effort will require a national effort. If you’re in the building industry in chch, you’re gonna have a bit of work.
They are estimating 2 billion dollars of damages. This is a little over the damage that Alan Hubbard wreaked to put things in perspective .
September 4th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
wreck – the miracle is because NZ is God’s own country.
2 billion repair bill but the disruption to the economy will be much more. Coal from the West Coast won’t be going anywhere fast, as the access to port is aparrently badly damaged.
September 4th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
More like good luck, the time of night when hardly anyone was exposed in the open where debris fell, relatively low rise and low density housing, and relatively high quality building standards.
September 4th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Does anyone know how the Cashel Street area houses are just past Fitzgerald Ave is? I’m concerned about a family who live there but have totally lost their contact numbers.
September 4th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Pete; you think the met office ever gets it right?
Up here we have missed about 8 or 10 violent storms that they have predicted this year. They are woefully deficient in their forecasts. Looking at that map one can see why. They have changed their predicting computer to the new global warming scenario which we know only too well is false and therefore their predictions are false.
Keep an eye on it and see. Snow and rain heavy on the west coast and spilling over into Canterbury. High winds as well.
Well that was their forecast earlier.
September 4th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
@gazzmaniac 2:14 – Thanks for that
September 4th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I use Metservice and local knowledge and think it works well. Their weather prediction models and climate change models are on completely different scales so can’t be compared.
Weather varies a lot within small areas here so that has to be taken into account. It’s not uncommon for one suburb in Dunedin to have twice the monthly rainfall than another a few km away. Local topography makes a big difference, as does country topography. The angle of the southerly storms makes a big difference, sometimes they come up the coast, but often the island splits them and it depends on how much they deflect.
September 4th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
CW: It’s far too piecemeal to know. Sorry. Some places collapse, if they haven’t been earthquake strengthened or are on soft river sediments; others don’t. The row of buildings across the road collapsed, but my heritage building did just fine because it had been strengthened some years ago.
September 4th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Random thoughts:
Liquifaction is a facet of geology totally under estimated in planning.
“Saving” “Heritage buildings” is a greatly overused classification leading to unnecessary danger and wasted resources..
Swiftman should be staked out on an ant hill with honey in every orifice.
Our dogs who were in our caravan with us at Steam Scene, McLeans Island Rd were awake and looking for trouble at 0400 hrs.
Being in a Caravan 30 odd Kms from epicentre of a 7 plus quake was a new experience, the longest cuddle Mrs GD and I have had in years.
Swiftman is a complete fuckwit and seems proud of it.
Parker’s and Hone Carter’s reaction and response is timely and very much appreciated.
Infrastructure backups are in urgent need of review.
Talkback ZB’s back up systems are bollocks. CD advice is to listen to local radio, and all they could manage when thier link crashed was inappropriate musak and no info, Went to Radiolive for info but the home and garden show hosts were left with it and were somewhat exposed and facile, relying on inane phone ins for info. TV was nowhere on the horizon.
Orion’s information flow on power outage totally inadequate.
Cellphone alternatives with service were swamped and I was unable to put money on my Tstick to reach the internet.
Too many people are using essential infrastructure to check on friends and rellies.
A 2Kva generator is a great investment.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
12 hours earlier and it would have been a very different story. I have some very shaken up rellies but no-one hurt. Got an investment property in Richmond that has had some damage and there is a threat that the neighbours chimney may fall on my house if there are any more large aftershocks. Tenants have been evacuated so now it is just wait and see. I doubt there will be any unemployed builders, sparkies, plumbers, drain layers, insurance assessors etc after this lot.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Lucia Maria posted at 10.56 attributing Wellington’s lack of earthquakes to the Bishop reconsecrating the capital every year to the protection of “Our Lady of Immaculate Conception”.
Perhaps Christchurch Mayor Parker ought to be praying thanks for the quake. He’s clutched it like a sinking passenger grasping a floating deckchair. Parker’s popping up everywhere with reports, advice, and instructions. Am I deluded or does he really look on today’s TV like a man thinking: whew, a chance to snatch victory from the jaws of angry voters. And, given this was a 4.30am earthquake, does his PR team never sleep?
Regardless, IMHO, the quake has as much chance of getting Parker re-elected in the next few weeks as one flimsy deck chair would have had of saving two obese passengers from the Titanic.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
The quake would never have occurred if Jumbo was Mayor.
He has a direct line to God.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Based on his aged state I’d say it’s a local call.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
And collect I should think.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I won’t be voting for Anderton, but Parker is toast.
Why Key hitched the National wagon to lame Parker beats me.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
O ye of little faith Jack5.
Cometh the moment cometh the man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani
September 4th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Two aftershocks that felt fairly strong in the last few minutes. I think I’ll dismantle my computer. Next time it tips, might break the screen.
Toodaloo for now.
September 4th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Bob Parker will now be a heavy favourite to retain the mayoralty despite his past unpopularity.
People will see him with Mr Key etc and forget Jim Anderton.
Maybe Mr Obama needs an earthquake in Califdornia before November !!!
September 4th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Here in Papanui we’re OK for now, water and power on, PaknSave able to operate (thanks to massive effort from the staff- even the store manager was serving people on cash only sales at the door in the morning before EFTPOS was up again) most trees still standing, people calm and I think I have now met almost all the people on my street. People even taking their dogs for a Saturday morning walk!
An awful lot has been lost however in other parts of the city, ripped roads, brick ruins, flattened small shops, sewage in the Avon, fire in the ruins of the central city, some being evacuated in other suburbs and another little shake even as I type this. Hope the big after shock doesn’t happen.
P.S Jack5: Bob Parker is just doing his job as mayor of this city in a civil emergency. And doing it by the book I might add.
September 4th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
The biggest aftershock is the latest one on Geonet, less than an hour ago. Still quite a long way off the initial shock, hopefully activity will gradually subside. We only felt the big one in Dunedin, would be just the strongest I have experienced, but haven’t felt any of the aftershocks.
September 4th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Zarchoff (52) Says:
September 4th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
12 hours earlier and it would have been a very different story.
8 hours later and it would have been even worse. There is a small sort of farmers’ market in the area on Saturdays, lots of people shopping, etc. It would have been so much worse.
September 4th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
So there I was, commanding the latest type XX1 U-Boat zat ze Fuhrer’s ship yards can build, powering into strike range of an Illustrious class fleet carrier of ze British pigs dogs royal navy, my second victim of the day.
Up Scope, carrier at 05 degrees of the bow, enemy frigates and destroyers hopelessly out of place and scrambling to catch up, but to late. Fire tubes one through three and, holy fuck thats not depth charges, the room is rocking and Keira Knightly is no where in sight, what a tragedy!
Power goes out, and so do I, out side to check the house wasn’t collapsing, then straight to bed. The earth moves and I wasn’t causing it, what a bugger and a rotten start to the day.
September 4th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
My thoughts go to all those affected by the ‘quake.
The EQC has $6b ,well this is going to make a big hole in that!
Our pollies better wake up and start putting more aside for the next one. Let’s face it ,while big and terrible for Chch it wasn’t “the big one”.It wasn’t the Alpine Fault which is overdue.
What would the cost of Wellington moving a meter be? Both in terms of life and property damage.You could kiss the EQC goodbye.
How prepared is the general population? Honestly,how many have taken basic precautions to look after themselves for even the minimum 3 days?
This kind of an event should be a reality check that global warming ,peak oil and those other greenie scare mongering issues are not the real threat to us . Why tax ETS for pie in the sky shite when we have a current and real problem. Unfucking believable!
On a positive note there’ll be plenty of work for tradies for the next while.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
For Cantabrians who didn’t want to waste money on insurance, there is the mayoral fund to help replace their hire-purchase items. Our government has promised support. (I wonder who’s paying).
Now I’ve got absolutely no problem with tax going to help reconstruct the city, but I don’t really want to be paying for uninsured people’s flatscreen TVs, and validating their shirking of home & contents insurance. Well, I guess I pay to ensure that rich old people don’t lose their unrealistic 8% interest, so what’s another few hundred million.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Talking about the Christchurch Earthquake where is Phool Goff and wanabe Mayor Pensioner Jim both seem to be missing in action, are they sunning themselves in Samoa?
September 4th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Natural disasters could easily bankrupt this country, think what would happen now if the earthquakes of the late twenties and early thirties happened now.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Johnboy – Brick buildings can survive strong earthquakes. Internal strengthing and bracing is required, attaching the bricks to the building and not the ground will mean they won’t fall. The Hutt CC has given all substandard building owners 10 years to get their buildings up to standard (including sending a letter to themselves advising to get the Council Buildings up to standard). About 8 years to go before the council begins prosecuting owners who do nothing.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
“Johnboy – Brick buildings can survive strong earthquakes. Internal strengthing and bracing is required,”
Can only agree Michael but that was not done when all this old crap that fell over today was built and it is not cost effective or practical to do it retrospectively.
The answer is to knock them all down and build some well engineered stuff in their places.
We live in a very dodgy seismic area and the fools who wish to preserve slums at the expense of peoples lives need their collective arse’s kicked.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Shunda barunda: That’s why we have the earthquake commission. They have large reserves, which are more than enough to cover this situation, (a large, shallow earthquake near a major city) which is close to as bad as it’s going to get (in terms of building damage).
Also for some years now large buildings have had to meet earthquake standards, with older buildings being modified to reduce their earthquake risk. Because of these standards, the damage is not as bad as those days.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I have to say I looked in vain at the TV images today to see failed reinforcing rods in the old slums that collapsed.
I never saw any failed reinforcing because there was none there to fail.
It is a bloody miracle IMHO that nobody was killed today in Christchurch.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
My complaint is the Aucklandisation of the news.
If it doesn’t happen in Auckland it does not happen.
TV3 at 8 a.m. were broadcasting infomercials.
Radio Live at 7 a.m. had their Kitchen & Garden show on. I was so bored I shifted to National Radio and in a surreal moment thought they were talking about a big civil defence exercise. After several minutes I found out it was the real thing. Only an Auckland radio network would consider the Home & Garden Show more important.
Tv news during the day did not get out of Chch city. I wanted to know what happened at Dunsandel’s dairy factory and how it compared to Edgecombe’s big shake in 1987 (1987 I think). And those big big Canterbury dairy farms with 1000 cows to milk and no electricity. Try hand milking 4000 teats. Your hands would get rather sore.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
An on the ground perspective. that is posted at http://www.interest.co.nz/insurance/it-will-be-our-largest-natural-disaster-it-may-give-fillip-economy
interest .co have an article about what this might cost. A property owner in ChCh writes thus:
by chris_J | 04 Sep 10, 8:13pm
I spent the day inspecting
I spent the day inspecting and securing our 25 odd Christchurch rental properties.
The scale of destruction is staggering.
One of our properties (a substantial 1920s 2 storey property in 7 flats) lost 3 chimneys completely destroying the tile roof and wrecking most of the ceilings. All walls need major plaster repairs, you can see daylight through the ceiling so there will inevitably be rain damage, skirtings have detached from the walls I’d estimate $150-200k damage on this one property alone and it doesn’t look bad from the street. All of the tenants have had to move out (we’re insured for rent fortunately).
Almost every property we own has some damage (mainly chimneys collapsed, some with slumped foundations, and lots of cracks). The total cost is going to be much larger than estimated.
In St Albans, Merivale, Avonside, Central City the vast majority of chimneys are gone.
In Avonside, Avondale, Aranui houses have been sucked into the ground as the land liquified. I’ve seen houses today tilting up perhaps half a metre higher on one side than the other. Others slumped half a metre into the ground. Whole streets around the lower Avon may need demolished and to my eye appear to have sunk so much that they are now near river level hence the huge amount of flooding.
Hundreds of buildings are largely destroyed, perhaps thousands are unable to be occupied. Perhaps tens of thousands have gapping holes in roofs or structural damage. At the very least hundreds possibly thousands of houses may need demolished.
If 50,000 homes need $10k in repairs that’s half a billion.
1000 buildings needing $500k average repair is another half billion
2000 houses needing rebuilt that’s another half billion
There’s probably half a billion in infrastructure repairs (there are hundreds of kilometres of roads turned to rollercoasters, damaged bridges, broken pipes, damaged power lines etc)
I can see the number above doubling. The scale of destruction is unbelievable. This could be a $4 or $5b bill. Some streets around the Avondale bear a resemblence to New Orleans. The scale of destruction won’t become clear until engineers assess the movement of some of these houses over coming weeks.
All I can say is that the property oversupply in ChCh is now gone for some time – for instance even working full tilt the property of ours I mentioned above with the most damage will take 6 months to repair. There will be billions of insurance cash (a lot from overseas reinsurers) flowing into ChCh. Many will take payouts rather than rebuild compounding the shortage.
This was not one the scenarios I envisage for the property market. This event will either turnaround or break the economy.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
The above article confirms what I thought I saw on the TV. It looked to me that the lower Avon reaches had gone under water. If so there’s a lot of homes to move, rebuild, repile or create stopbanks around.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
First of all, I live in a heritage building, mostly brick, that had seismic strengthening done some years ago. The building did just fine. Lots of minor annoyance damage, but nothing major.
Secondly, I noticed that a LOT of those collapsed properties (but not all I concede) were empty or half empty. Finding the glass half full and the silver lining in the dark clouds, what would it have been like if we had been in full tilt, fast forward economic growth and ALL of those properties had been fully occupied? It’s a small blessing, but those properties that have largely failed were largely underutilised.
Just a random thought after a full day of shaking. I have lost count of the aftershocks, too many of which made me stand up and move to a doorway. I am so ready for the shaking to end. I will hunker down in the CBD where I live, staying put during the curfew, when really it would be nice to share the day’s experiences with other punters at a local pub.
Damn! And yet ANOTHER bloody aftershock as I posted that!!
sigh. Not much sleep tonight, I can tell.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
David in Chch
I don’t think anyone in Chch will be sleeping well tonight. This morning I was sure I was going to have a house fall on me.
Wish the after shocks will end.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Having just got electricity back I’ll answer a few things that I read in this thread.
Parker gained my vote today.
I heard him interviewed just after 05:00 and he was on the ground and directing people to civil defense or where-ever they needed to go for help.
In fact throughout the day I thought he performed excellently.
Radio Live was the only station I could find immediately after the ‘quake and despite the inane crap from some callers was bloody handy when you’re in darkness, shaken up and just need basic information.
A few ex-Wellingtonians misbehaved and tried tried looting (badly, they got caught) – everyone else just helped whenever they could.
Quite a few suburbs are basically shot to shit. Wanna job? know how to swing a hammer? Come to Christchurch – we’ve had OUR earthquake.
The ‘quake was not divine retribution for SCF, nor for the disgrace that is SBW, it was in fact the gods’ reaction to the outright lies the slime were using to describe the SBW debacle Friday evening.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
# Inky_the_Red (177) Says:
September 4th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
David in Chch
I don’t think anyone in Chch will be sleeping well tonight. This morning I was sure I was going to have a house fall on me.
Wish the after shocks will end.
Inky, I can assure you I’ll sleep like a baby.
If the house can handle last night it will handle any-bloody-thing.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
@Tauhei Notts
I was watching the TV One almost all morning and there was nothing but the Chch situation. During the day as the station has collected all the new pics and news and whatnot – broadcasted it.
The commercial radios can decide what is on show, who cares? Mind, even it is a serious disaster, should have worst.
I think the media was rather correct and focused than not.
Today we had two major thing, Chch and a plane crash.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Just felt quite a jolt here on the West Coast, you guys over the hill are sure having a rough time!