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RTC_Marine

Christchurch earthquake updates

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Oh dear.


This time it's much worse than the one that hit there last year, even though the magnitude is less, because it was closer to the surface.

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I keep wondering why its Christchurch being hit, when they've been saying for years Wellington was due for a huge one

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Unbelievable. I was there less than a week ago. Seeing pictures of buildings destroyed that I was in or near so recently is - well, I don't know the right word, but very weird. AFAIK, the hotel I stayed in, the Grand Chancellor (the highest building in the city), was not among those that collapsed, but I don't know.

I was also in Lyttelton, which was pretty much at the epicenter, and is said to be something like 60% destroyed.

The magnitude of the damage and widespread effects are staggering. For instance, the Tasman Glacier, at least a four-hour drive from Christchurch, shed a huge load of ice into a lake (boat tours on which are a popular activity) that I saw from the air last week.

And who knows where this will end?

Planky: as far as I understand, this is a new fault line. How it interconnects with the existing system is doubtless something the experts are trying to work out as a matter of urgency. It could be bad news for Wellington...

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Not so much a new one, rather a fault line they were unaware of. I thought it was bad news for Wellington when it first hit, yet nothing.

The Grand Chancellor has been heavily damaged, with people stuck on various floors, but hasn't collapsed.

I recall that when the French where testing atomic weapons in the Moruroa atoll, Mount Ruapehu would erupt. My thinking being if a test like that causes an eruption thousands of kilometers away, how is an earthquake a few hundred kilometers away going to affect an area known to be somewhat unstable geologically (Wellington). An odd comparsion sure, but it interests me.

As an aside, within a few days of the September earthquake there was another somewhere halfway across the world in a similar magnitude - Im willing to bet this will happen again.

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I'm a little surprised this was only a 6.3, though it was also a very shallow one, which ups the destruction quite a bit. I lived through a 6.8 which was pretty intense, but there was only minor structural damage to the area and no one died as a direct result. Then again, the Seattle area is pretty used to/ready for earthquakes.

I hope all the New Zealanders here are alright.

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Useful site:
http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

They had this displayed at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch (a shortish walk from Cathedral Square). I guess the relatively low activity over the weeks before the recent big quake should be seen as a time when the pressure was building, leading to the release of more energy when it did actually move.

If you click on "Show Greendale Fault", you'll see that Lyttelton is in line with it. Much of the last 7 days' activity has been along an extension of the line in that direction. So the faultline may be longer and closer to Christchurch than indicated.

Planky: Thanks for info about the Grand Chancellor.

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Grazza said:

Planky: Thanks for info about the Grand Chancellor.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/4692170/Christchurch-quake-toll-75-hundreds-missing

There are grave fears that the Hotel Grand Chancellor building in downtown Christchurch may collapse with reports the building is visibly slumping.

The building is almost warped, witnesses say. It is believed to have sunk three metres in the past 10 minutes and several internal floors have collapsed.

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