NZ quake/tsunami

[kingfisher68]

Just heard about earthquake & tsunami in New Zealand. Are there any forum members from there? If so hope they are all OK. Prayers for everyone in that country.

[rcperryls]

I think we used to have a few members from New Zealand. I do know that Sally (Squirrel) is originally from NZ and still has some children and grandchildren and other family and friends there. I sent her a pm earlier, but with the difference in time don't expect to hear anything till much later today or tomorrow. sending thoughts and prayers to all who have been effected by the quake and the tsunami. Hope the damage is as little as can be and that all make it through with no injuries.

Carole

[BizzieLizzie]

DH's best friend and his family live in Wellington. DH contacted them earlier today and his friend says he's on his own because his wife and children are in Malaysia visiting family members. We're relieved that the children are safe, but it's very scary for everyone who's close to the quake area. We're sending our thoughts and positive vibes to all involved.

[Squirrel]

Hi All, It has been quite a night back in my beautiful country I still call home - well I lived there for 70 yrs. Here is what I know from various news sources and the Geofizz site but first - - - -

Checked with my sister last night and my eldest DS has just rechecked with her due to a 4.3 near where she lives north of Christchurch and all OK with her and brother in law.

Right, after midnight last a 7.7 quake hit the small town of Hanmer - a lovely wee town with fabulous geothermal swimming pool complex - been there many a time. Soon after a 6.5 hit Kaikoura - on the coast north of Christchurch and the interisland ferry terminal. Both quakes felt as far north as Auckland.
Wellington, NZ's capital city at the bottom on the North Island also had damage and the national disaster centre was activated soon after.
Small tsunamis have hit both mainland NZ and the Chatham Islands but no damage from these and the warnings have just been lifted although people are warned to stay watchful anywhere near waterways or the coast. There has been 2 deaths so far, 1 in a house flattened by the first quake and the other a heart attack.

Quakes are continuing some very strong.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers. Please continue this as it will be some days or even weeks before all the quake lines settle down again.

[kingfisher68]

Glad your family are OK. Didn't realise there were still smaller ones & will pray no one else dies & that the tremors will soon cease. Thank you for update.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Glad to hear your family are safe, Squirrel. We had special prayers at church last night - thanks for keeping us up to date, it's good to know what to pray for.

[richardandtracy]

The death & damage toll is a testament to the preparedness of NZ. The original quake in NZ is vastly more powerful than hit Italy recently and the huge disparity of damage is an eye-opener. I am so glad there have been so few deaths & injuries, especially to those we know. Looks like NZ should be held up as a model of how to prepare for quakes.

Regards,

Richard.

[kingfisher68]

Is Christchurch lower down or flatter than where the earthquakes were in Italy? There they were several thousand metres high in the Apennines. I know someone who lives in Guiglia & that is high up. Difficult as people have farms in those areas, vineyards too & need to stay where their work is. A shame to see old churches ruined in Italy. The Italian Government were talking of trying to build more resilient homes in those areas as so many were damaged.

Hopefully NZ will soon be clear of the tremors so people can take stock of the damage done & start sorting things out.

[tiffstitch]

Glad to hear your family is okay Sally, and so sad to hear of the deaths. I hope that will be the worst of it and things will improve soon.

[xstitchalanna]

Glad to hear you and your family are safe. Praying for all those affected by the quake.

[Squirrel]

The aftershocks are continuing every few minutes in varying strengths throughout all of central NZ from Christchurch to north of Wellington. No further deaths or injuries and oh yes, all truck drivers found and accounted for. 1 was winched out by helicopter trapped between 2 slips just south of Kaikoura and he is fine. The trucks stays put until such time as it can be reached.

Kingfisher, some of the areas of the quakes is quite flat, Christchurch in particular is totally flat and sits of the coast of the Canterbury Plains.
Some of the other areas like Hanmer and Kaikoura are in amongst the high foothills of the Southern Alps although as with Christchurch, Kaikoura is right on the coast. Wellington, at the tip of the North Island, is very hilly but a main port as well as the capital city.

Richard, quakes are a fact of life in most parts of NZ, and we also have 2 active volcanoes and 3 others which rarely move an inch, heaven help NZ if any of those 'wake up'. Thankfully all are in the North Island - my home town is Christchurch.

Thank you all for the prayers, it will be weeks before the various quake faults settle down again.

NZ is certainly living up to 1 of its titles - "The Shaky Isles.

[agent_clone]

The death & damage toll is a testament to the preparedness of NZ. The original quake in NZ is vastly more powerful than hit Italy recently and the huge disparity of damage is an eye-opener. I am so glad there have been so few deaths & injuries, especially to those we know. Looks like NZ should be held up as a model of how to prepare for quakes.

Regards,

Richard.

A few things I would note about the difference in damage:
1) The buildings would generally be newer in New Zealand than Italy
2) New Zealand is more sparsely populated with NZ having ~4.5 million people in a slightly smaller land area compared to ~60 million in Italy.
3) This epicentre is also apparently in one of the more sparsely populated areas of NZ

That being said, good building codes are very helpful!

Look at Japan, in 2011 it wasn't the 9.1 earthquake that caused severe damage and deaths, it was the Tsunami. Yes there were issues (for example a pipe had obviously burst and was flowing at Narita Airport when I was there a couple of days later, Trains were on limited services while Engineers were doing their checks), and there was liquefaction and other issues in some areas, but in Tokyo so far as I could tell the buildings were still standing and things mostly worked. Other large earthquakes in the country don't appear to have caused too many deaths either (though some have higher death tolls than others).

[Serinde]

Glad to know you are ok. Earthquakes might be a fact of life in NZ, but I'm always massively impressed to see the co-ordination of the emergency response as well as the way folk help each other out.

[kingfisher68]

Thanks for the info Sally. Scary for the truck driver, so glad he was rescued. The rescue service perform some amazing feats don't they? We've seen TV programmes about Australia & NZ emergency services in action. On last nights news saw a few stranded cattle on a small grassy area surrounded by very deep wide gaps, it looked like a tiny island. Hardly room for the cattle to move.

As others have said Love & Prayers to all will continue & hope the worst is over.

[karen4bells]

Sending prayers out to those affected. What a scary situation

[sarclanat]

Glad to hear all your family are ok, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected

[Squirrel]

Here is a link to a news item from Yahoo New Zealand showing how the sea bed has risen near Kaikoura and close to the mouth of the Clarence River. It is totally amazing - just shows there are great forces at work underneath parts of the world.

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/33291900/ae ... ost-quake/" target="_blank" target="_blank

Kaikoura is about 3 hours drive north of my lovely city of Christchurch and is a small costal town and great stopping off place for a break on the journey from the Picton ferry terminal to Christchurch and beyond.

This 2nd link, is of the troops from many nations using the very dangerous inland route.

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/33308187/ae ... ghanistan/" target="_blank" target="_blank

Thankfully it is an area not heavily populated. Kaikoura is a tourist town and a halfway point from the inter island Ferry terminal at Picton and through Kaikoura to Christchurch. It is highway 1 the only route to areas further south due to the Southern Alps which end at Kaikoura. Once out on the Canterbury Plains there are ways and means of getting further south and reconnecting with Highway 1 about where the inland road - which is so dangerous now - starts which I think is near to Amberley 2 hours north of Christchurch.

[kingfisher68]

Thanks for links Sally. Would never have believed seabed could rise that much. I always think of the middle of the earth as a boiling cauldron. Several volcanoes have erupted since this NZ trauma & another earthquake in Japan.

Glad to see the troops are out in force. Never thought of not being able to get water in some areas on that long road until I saw sign at the roadside. Amazing footage from the drone. It looks very scenic with mountains in background but appalling for all who live in that region to have so many earthquakes.

[lillybit]

This quake which lasted 90 seconds was a shocking way to be woken just minutes into my birthday. No damage for me though a neighbour lost a chimney but all the contents of the cabinets in my lounge had quietly moved to rest on the doors ! A surprise to me whne I went to serve myself a medicinal Brandy nearly 3 hours later. We were without power for an hour and my bedside torch lasted just a few minutes but a new LED torch was easily accessed in the dark but for me the drama was going back into my bedroom to hear water dripping ! The header tank for my hot water system is in the roof there and was dripping into the gap between my bed and my dresser so I had to go outside to turn off the water - run off the hot water and turn off the gas pilot. Next morning proved the plumber right - it was not a tank failure but the quake slopping the water over the edge so I only recovered 1/2 bucket and all was over until I had to turn everything on again. Water first, slowly to begin with to make sure there was no more dripping then an hour to fill the hot water cylinder then on with the pilot light again. I had done all before except the pilot light but what needed to be done was very obvious. Then once I had hot water again the contents of the lounge units needed to be washed as I had found them quite dusty when I came to put them into the back of the shelf again. Yes aftershocks continue but the longer they continue the less the risk of another powerful quake and most I don't feel, just see the pendant light over the dining table swing. Kaikoura which has been closest to the centre of this quake is still isolated because the only road access is the daily Army convoy and even that took 4 days to establish. Sadly this town is highly dependant on tourists and just coming into peak season is devastating for them on top of having nearly 1/3 of the houses red stickered. 200 hundred rental vehicles cars and motor homes are also stranded in there though all the tourists have been evacuated by helicopter or via the Navy. Summer is showing itself but gales have not helped and summer torism is going to behit with SH1 in the top of the South Island could be closed for a year or more but slips down onto it along with all the level changes damaged bridges and fall outs.
The Capital Wellington has also been hard hit with many Govt. Dept, being left homeless and the loss of more that 3000 parking spaces hurts and inner city hard. Several large building will need urgent demolition and many many shops will be unlikely to open before Chrisytmas even if their building are safe drop zones need to be safe where building might fall.

[Squirrel]

Lillybit, thank you so much for your experience of the quake and it's aftermath. I can relate to that as Christchurch is still my home - in spite of living over here in Auz for +10 yrs. - I lived there for 70 yrs.

What I have never been able to understand is why on earth there was never anything more than a short discussion on a 2nd road from Picton to Amberley at least. From there one can change direction a little bit and finally get back onto highway 1 again ok. I mean the early settlers made the road north with not much machinery, these days they can go through mountains when they have to. Yes there is a mass of quake lines up that way - all the more reason to have something other than the inland road and even to get to that one has to be south of Kaikoura near where the road turns to head to the sea. Now of course they are stuck high and dry and no excuses really.

May I ask a question which has puzzled me for some time. It is this' I see you come from Whangui - is that Wanganui as I knew its spelling or somewhere different. My knowledge of the N I is skimpy as apart from being in Wellington in 1940 (I was 4) for the Exhibition, and a couple of bus or train rides from Wellington to Auckland that is it.

BTW my sister - who lives at Cust about an hour north of ChCh) has her serviving ornaments secured in the cabinet with blue tac and hasn't lost anything else since. If you want to chat I can PM you my email address.