New Zealand hit by 7.4-magnitude quake

[kurai]

Last Updated: Friday, September 3, 2010 | 2:57 PM ET
The Associated Press

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has rocked much of New Zealand's South Island, but no immediate tsunami alert has been issued, and no injuries have been reported.

The quake, which hit 30 kilometres west of the southern city of Christchurch, shook a wide area, with initial radio reports saying items were tossed from store shelves and roof tiles cracked.

Ottawa resident Martin Lee has been in phone contact with his parents, who live in Christchurch. They've had things fall off shelves, but suffered no real damage to their home, he said.

They report roads in the city have massive holes in them. Watermains are out in many places in the city, and most of Christchurch is without power.

Lee said his parents are fine — feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves. The area is still experiencing magnitude 5 aftershocks.

Geological agency GNS Science said the earthquake was 33 kilometres below the Earth's surface.

New Zealand's National Radio reports the temblor hit at 4:35 a.m. local time, shaking thousands of residents awake.

There are no immediate reports of serious damage.


firepokemon are you alright! please respond as soon as possible!

[kainashi]

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k163/kainashi2/emot-ohdear.png

[Blademaster]

FP is fine. No injuries have been reported. At the most, he's probably gonna come back here pissed off because the quake knocked something expensive off a shelf and broke it.

[Telume]

Eh, if no injuries were reported then he's probably fine. Probably just f'in cranky, he did get woken up after all.

:lol:

[Andrew]

That must've been some earth moving sex.

[shazza]

Well, firepokemon's fire moves are resistant to Onix, so it is free to use Earthquake anytime it wishes. :(

[abunaidesu]

Sounds like a story fabricated by FP.

[shazza]

Conrad Lake
August 22, 1983 - September 04, 2010
May his flame burn for all eternity.

[Jeff]

Everyone knows fire pokemon are weak to earthquake. :(

[Telume]

Unless he's a charizard :o

[Deadwood_Zen]

Unless he's a charizard :o
...Or a Moltres, too.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

This topic reminds me of the ice storm in Oklaholma. I had to PM mr_pikachu to see he was alright.

Now we'll just have to wait firepokemon to repond this and say he's fine. We all certainly hope he's OK.

[midnightangel]

I just woke up and was reading the report on Yahoo :o

FP, hope everything is OK with you...

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

I sure hope he's not a Magcargo..

[Asilynne]

Hes probably ok and just waiting a couple days to see everyone get worked up ;D

[abunaidesu]

I just realized this topic was posted by kurai

[Blademaster]

Yeah, that threw me a bit, too..

[shazza]

I just realised I read those two above posts last night coming home after an inebriated evening, however I thought I came home at 2am, yet they were posted at 4am. I'm scared.

[Telume]

I just realized this topic was posted by kurai

Who's that?

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

If you go to TPM you should know kurai. His postcount is over 5000, and he reigned well before you registered, Telume.

[kurai]

friends! this is hardly the time to get distracted! remain focused!

here is a news update on the situation:



Chimneys and walls crumbled to the ground, roads cracked in half and residents were knocked off their feet as a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked New Zealand's South Island early Saturday. The prime minister said it was a miracle no one was killed.

Only two serious injuries were reported from the quake, which shook thousands of people awake when it struck at 4:35 a.m. near the southern city of Christchurch. There were reports of some people trapped inside damaged buildings — though none appeared to be crushed by rubble — and a few looters broke into some damaged shops in the city of 400,000.

Power was cut across the region, roads were blocked by debris, and gas and water supplies were disrupted, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said. Chimneys and walls of older buildings were reduced to rubble, and Parker warned that continuing aftershocks could cause masonry to fall from damaged buildings.

"We're all feeling scared — we've just had some significant aftershocks," he told TV One News. "Tonight we're just people in the face of a massive natural disaster, trying to help each other … and we're grateful we haven't lost a life."

State geological agency GNS Science reported 29 aftershocks in the 14 hours following the quake, ranging in strength from magnitude 3.7 to 5.4.

A state of emergency was declared and army troops were on standby to assist after the quake, which was centred 30 kilometres west of Christchurch, according to GNS Science. No tsunami alert was issued.

Prime Minister John Key, who flew to Christchurch to inspect the damage, said it was "an absolute miracle" that no one had died.

He warned it could be months before the full extent of the damage was known, but said initial assessments suggested it could cost at least $2 billion New Zealand ($1.49 billion Cdn) to repair.

As evening approached and a damaged historic building near the city centre burst into flames, officials ordered residents to stay in their homes until Sunday morning. Parker said the curfew would help prevent people from going near about 120 inner-city buildings that were badly damaged.

Up to 90 extra police officers were flying to Christchurch to help, and troops were likely to join the recovery effort on Monday, he said.

Rescue workers also set up accommodation centres at schools in suburban areas to house hundreds of people forced out of their damaged homes, civil defence spokesman Murray Sinclair said.

Suburban dweller Mark O'Connell said his house was full of smashed glass, food tossed from shelves, with sets of drawers, TVs and computers tipped over.

"We were thrown from wall to wall as we tried to escape down the stairs to get to safety," he told The Associated Press.

Sheep farmer Paul Cowie from the town of Darfield, near the quake's epicentre, said his family was knocked to the floor.

"We couldn't stand up, but we had to run across the house to get to the kids … and they were shaken up," he said. The family fled the house and huddled in a car parked in an open field.

GNS Science initially reported the quake as magnitude 7.4, but later revised it to 7.1. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 7.0.

Minister of Civil Defence John Carter said there was "a lot of damage to our key infrastructure … water, waste water systems."

Experts said the low number of injuries reflects the country's strict building codes.

"New Zealand has very good building codes … [which] means the buildings are strong compared with, say, Haiti," which suffered widespread damage in a 7.0-magnitude quake this year, earth sciences professor Martha Savage said.

"It's about the same size [quake] as Haiti, but the damage is so much less. Though chimneys and some older facades came down, the structures are well built," said Savage, a professor at the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University in the capital, Wellington.

Christchurch fire service spokesman Mike Bowden said a number of people had been trapped in buildings by fallen chimneys and blocked entrances, but there were no reports of people pinned under rubble.

Rescue teams were out checking premises.

Christchurch Hospital said it had treated two men with serious injuries and a number of people with minor injuries.

One man was hit by a falling chimney and was in serious condition, while a second was badly cut by glass, hospital spokeswoman Michele Hider said.

Christchurch police reported road damage in parts of the city and cordoned off some streets where rubble was strewn about. Parked cars were crushed by heaps of fallen bricks, and roads buckled.

Civil defence agency spokesman David Millar said at least six bridges had been badly damaged and the historic Empire hotel in the port town of Lyttelton was "very unstable" and in danger of collapse. Several wharves at the port were damaged.

People in the city's low-lying eastern suburbs were told to be ready to evacuate after power, gas, sewage and water systems were cut by the quake, Police Insp. Mike Coleman said.

Kiwirail rail transport group spokesman Kevin Ramshaw said 13 trains, mostly freight, had been halted, with some damage confirmed to lines north of Christchurch.

Christchurch International Airport was closed as a precaution as experts checked runways and terminal buildings, a spokesman said.

New Zealand sits above an area of the Earth's crust where two tectonic plates collide. The country records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year —but only about 150 are felt by residents. Fewer than 10 a year do any damage.

New Zealand's last major earthquake registered magnitude 7.8 and hit South Island's Fiordland region on July 16, 2009, moving the southern tip of the country 30 centimetres closer to Australia, seismologist Ken Gledhill said at the time.


also you can find a number of pictures of the damage to christchurch here:
http://www.nzboards.com/news-views-and-issues/christchurch-earthquake-pictures-91511/

firepokemon...

[shazza]

Well, here is a post from a poll in September 2009 to confirm that firepokemon does indeed reside in Christchurch:


5. How much do you use car compared to trains, busses, bikes, walking etc.?

Christchurch doesn't have trains. I hate buses. When I first moved to Christchurch at 18 I used buses for a few years. They sucked. I don't like bikes. I use to walk alot. Now I'm just lazy.

Furthermore:


Last Activity: 3rd September 2010 10:05 PM

[Blademaster]

"New Zealand has very good building codes … [which] means the buildings are strong compared with, say, Haiti,"

I gotta admit, that subtle dig at Haiti made me laugh.

[firepokemon]

LOL this thread made me laugh. Unfortunately the Earthquake knocked out wireless services so I couldn't connect to the internet until five minutes ago.

Still having aftershocks. But no major damage for me. Our house has only suffered a broken cup and my maple syrup bottle dropped on floor so had a sticky floor. Of course couldn't access internet but unlike most of Christchurch never ran out of power and water services were back to normal within 3 hours. Building completely fine.

The city centre is rather fucked with many buildings being condemned but with no lives lost I think we Christchurch were very lucky indeed.

[kurai]

thank goodness!

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

I knew you weren't a Magcargo..

Glad to see you safe.

[Katie]

Unfortunately the Earthquake knocked out wireless services so I couldn't connect to the internet until five minutes ago.


I'm happy to hear TPM was one of the first places you went

I knew someone who was looking to do their geology field camp in NZ this summer, I bet this would have made that ridiculously interesting. can't remember if she ended up going to NZ or Africa though, would have made for a cool story though.

[Blademaster]

Still having aftershocks. But no major damage for me. Our house has only suffered a broken cup and my maple syrup bottle dropped on floor so had a sticky floor.

See? Told you he wasn't hurt and would come back fine and dandy, albeit pissed over earthquake-related household drama.

Nice to see you made it back in one piece, fp. :yes:

[woz]

it killed his mam and set his house on fire

[firepokemon]

lol woz.

Had a bloody sizable aftershock today. Was very shallow but not a high magnitude. Worse one I've felt so far that is for sure.

[Blademaster]

Did it knock over any more condiments?