A geologist I just spoke to who knows the area well (been here for decades but grew up in NZ) is a bit confused by the location of the epicentre as it appears to off the fault.
Yes David, the fault-line is on the opposite coast. Very strange indeed.
They have also announced that 2 buses have had buildings fall on top of them and they haven't got them out yet. They are expecting the buses to be pretty full as it was lunch time, not night time like the last big one.
They also believe there were a lot of people in the church when it collapsed. Rescuers have been calling out in the rubble but receiving no answers.
The Spire that fell down also had people in it, so far un-found.
They are only just starting to get a trickle of reports coming in by phone from the suburbs (all the reporters and cameras are in the city), and so far the few reports say many many houses are destroyed.
@Gary - if you're online - I guess that you felt it in Hamilton?
No Chris, sorry to say I didn't, well thankful as well. We were on a trip off the west coast of the north island, well out of any form of communication, and didn't know about it until flying home, when we got cellphone coverage again.
Sorry to see so much destruction.
Gary
It is very tragic news. We are touring New Zealand presently and heard the news just after lunch while in Napier. We were due to be in Christchurch in 5 days, flying home from there in 14 days. Until the situation stabilises, we cannot make any plans.
This year is shaping up to be quite a year we are having social revolutions breaking out all over the place regimes that have been around for the best part of 50 years collapsing due to popular relatively peaceful people power and huge natural disasters. I think that this year is going to be one to remember for good and ill.
Before and After of the Pyne Gould Building where they believe there may be more than 100 people still trapped.
It was lunchtime and many staff were out of the building at the time.
The before pic shows just how much building there is in that pile. Photo: SMH
Last edited by ballaratdragons; 22-02-2011 at 08:45 PM.
TV One over here has been transmitting 'live' from about 4pm and won't finish coverage till 11 pm. Lot of people hurt from falling debris and masonry. Some amazing escapes, 5 floor collapse and crawl out !!
Christchurch will never be the same after this, so many old buildings gone, history destroyed. The Cathedral spire and north wall just crumbled. Lots of offers of help from overseas, bunch of Aussie USARs arriving tomorrow (Thanks you guys, much appreciated ).
Fault line .. if you look at the region it is not a fault but a series of parallel tears where the tectonic plate has a kink in it from down the coast to across the the alpine divide so it could rumble on any of many cracks. There has been nearly 5000 aftershocks since the Sep 4th 7.1 mag earthquake. Check out www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz to see it all happen in sequence. Gives you a good idea of the geology of the area.
Now we're all just holding our breath to see how bad it is tomorrow.
Hi All,
My concerns are for Gary P.
We met Gary and his family in Sep 09. We had a beautiful dinner that his wife cooked up. I do hope Gary and Family are all okay.
They are a little ways out of Christchurch but close enough for damage I
suspect.
I think it will be a while before we hear from him.
I'm in Christchurch. Even though this one was smaller in magnitude than the one in september - it was much shallower and much closer to the city. It has been way more devastating than the september quake - another problem is that it was around lunch time and really busy rather than the middle of the night like the last one. The Police superintendent has said we should prepare ourselves for a dramatic rise in the death toll, he said some streets have bodies strewn down them but the workers have to focus on finding the ones who may still be alive.
I'm in Christchurch. Even though this one was smaller in magnitude than the one in september - it was much shallower and much closer to the city. It has been way more devastating than the september quake - another problem is that it was around lunch time and really busy rather than the middle of the night like the last one. The Police superintendent has said we should prepare ourselves for a dramatic rise in the death toll, he said some streets have bodies strewn down them but the workers have to focus on finding the ones who may still be alive.
Ben
Thanks Ben.
Bodies strewn in the street? Strange.
Sounds a bit like Black Saturday bushfires here. Radiant heat will do that. Kill you out in the open.
But I don't understand how an Earthquake strews bodies in the street
Bodies in the street meaning recovered bodies that have been laid there but they aren't able to deal with them because of limited manpower - so they are focusing on finding survivors.
Our house is ok. A bit of a mess. We now have electricity, water, and phone - but a lot of places don't.
My family is ok. Not sure about all my friends yet - phone systems have been pretty unreliable. One of my friends had someone die right next time them (Hit by falling rubble from a building - in the CBD). So yeah, this is much worse than the september quake
and ill.
just found out a couple of hours ago, hope all my old school friends in christchurch is alright :S
