Note aftershocks ranging from 5.6 to 4.5 have also been felt in the last few hours. Here is a list of quakes.
We wish our Kiwi friends well, and hope that the quake is not as bad as first reports indicate.
From MSNBC
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A 6.3-magnitude earthquake Tuesday rocked the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch, collapsing buildings, cracking streets and causing multiple fatalities and serious injuries.
The nation’s leader, Prime Minister John Key, said at least 65 had died as a result of the disaster and told reporters in the stricken city that the death toll was expected to rise further.
Live video footage showed streets strewn with bricks and shattered concrete. Sidewalks and roads were cracked and split, and hundreds of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered as sirens blared throughout the city. Bodies were being pulled from rubble. Water mains burst, causing extensive flooding.
“There have been fatalities,” John Hamilton, the head of New Zealand’s civil defense, told reporters. “We can’t confirm the numbers yet, we’ll leave that to the police process to go through.”
New Zealand police said in a statement that there were reports of multiple deaths, including a report that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings. The police statement said there were other reports of fires burning.
…
The epicenter of the quake was located in the “worst possible location” for city residents, New Zealand’s GeoNet Center data manager Kevin Fenaughty told the New Zealand Herald.
From comments, link to a photogallery here
======================================================
Quake details:
| Magnitude | 6.3 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 43.600°S, 172.710°E |
| Depth | 5 km (3.1 miles) |
| Region | SOUTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND |
| Distances | NEAR Christchurch, New Zealand
225 km (140 miles) SSE of Westport, New Zealand 305 km (190 miles) SSW of WELLINGTON, New Zealand 310 km (190 miles) NE of Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 12.2 km (7.6 miles); depth +/- 0.6 km (0.4 miles) |
| Parameters | Nph= 0, Dmin=0 km, Rmss=0.98 sec, Gp= 0,
M-type=”moment” magnitude from initial P wave (tsuboi method) (Mi/Mwp), Version=D |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | usb0001igm |
magnitude earthquake Tuesday rocked the
southern New Zealand city of Christchurch,
collapsing buildings, cracking streets and
causing multiple fatalities and serious injuries.
The nation’s leader, Prime Minister John Key,said at least 65 had died as a result of the
disaster and told reporters in the stricken city
that the death toll was expected to rise further.
Live video footage showed streets strewn withbricks and shattered concrete. Sidewalks and
roads were cracked and split, and hundreds of
dazed, screaming and crying residents
wandered as sirens blared throughout the city.
Bodies were being pulled from rubble. Water
mains burst, causing extensive flooding.
“There have been fatalities,” John Hamilton, thehead of New Zealand’s civil defense, told
reporters. “We can’t confirm the numbers yet,
we’ll leave that to the police process to go
through.”
New Zealand police said in a statement thatthere were reports of multiple deaths,
including a report that two buses had been
crushed by falling buildings. The police
statement said there were other reports of
fires burning.
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As I’ve spent some happy times in Christchurch, I would like to send all best wishes to those anywhere this dreadful quake.
Back in the 1980s my husband and I spent a few weeks at the University in Christchurch and the first night we were there we were woken up by the house swaying like a pendulum because of a minor quake (about 5.6 IIRC with the epicentre a few miles off the coast). Little damage was done that time and we discovered that most of their modern tall buildings are built in virtually separate sections to minimise earthquake damage. In the pictures I’ve seen most of the damage appears to be to the older buildings so it seems their strict building regulations have helped to keep the death toll down.
Our prayers are with the people of Christchurch and surrounds. We hope the loss of life is less than the pictures would suggest.
Michael
Just a coincidence, but it is worth noting.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/gms.htm
My sympathies & condolences to the people of NZ, many friends who I do not yet know! May the Lord watch over you all in the days ahead.
It will be interesting to watch the recovery time to this event. Haiti is a poor undeveloped nation, NZ a wealthy developed nation. Who will recover first in timeframe? I know where my money will be, there is a World Cup looming fast & England are going to give the All Blacks a real run :-)) (And purrlease, don’t you chaps & chapesses from the Virginian Colonies ask in what sport, there is only one, after cricket!!!!!)
Seismologist says it’s an after shock from the Sept 4th earthquake.I didn’t know that after shocks could happen months later.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/christchurch-earthquake/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502981&objectid=10708036
Bad news : The Christchurch mayor stated in an interview that they have stopped counting the casualties and are concentrating on rescuing the living.
That 65 deaths figure will rise unfortunately.
I am in Christchurch and experianced the quake, I saw a building collapse and windows popping right in front of me. My power has just come back on but still have no sewerage or water, house is not damaged luckilly.
The quake felt worse than the sep 4th quake due to the shallow depth and acceleration 1.5 gravity were recorded in some areas. Theres widespread liquifaction, many roads are damaged, the central area is heavily damaged with lots of buildings down. Some key bridges are closed, power is still out in some areas, theres no fuel left due to panic buying, the roads were grid locked today with people trying to leave the city which made it hard for emergency services and people trying to reach loved ones. The phone networks were also grid locked.
There are 65 confirmed dead so far and many still missing, plus a lot of people are injured and in sheltered accommodation i.e. tends or marquees. Will go out tomorrow and try and get out to some of the worst areas and check people are ok etc….subject to being able to get fuel and get there.
For pics of the damage:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/photos/4688271/Christchurch-aftershock-Feb-22
New Zealand, large earthquake on Tuesday, Feb 22.
Philippines, volcanic eruption on Monday, Feb 21.
Thousands flee as Philippine volcano erupts
Coincidence?
I felt it very distinctly in Dunedin, about 360kms to the south of Christchurch. Not quite enough to make me jump under my desk, but it certainly made me put my lunch down.
Images on tv are surreal and make the stomach churn just thinking about it. My thoughts are with all those affected, but glad that all my friends up there are safe. It’s much worse than the larger 7.1 quake last year, apparently this one was much more of a sharp jolt. Many older buildings were already weakened by the big quake and 3000-odd aftershocks before today. This one was at lunchtime as opposed to 4:30am. Would be surprised if the death-toll is much less than 200. There’s been about 30 quakes in the last 11 hours, and just to add to the rescue efforts, it’s now raining.
Just wait until the HAARP conspiracists get hold of this, again..
My heart goes out to all my Kiwi friends. Our prays are with you tonight. Tomorrow we will all do what little we can to lend a helping hand from afar.
God bless New Zealand!
New Zealand is not called the “Shaky Isles” for nothing. It has about 14,000 earthquakes every year – though people only actually feel up to 150 of them.
The country straddles the boundary of two of the earth’s giant tectonic plates which are constantly grinding together below the surface. It also contains five active volcanic areas. To geologists it is one of the most unstable parts of the globe.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/34497#ixzz1EgbmR7pT
———————————————————–
To NZ readers and their friends and families – best wishes from Australia. Many people here have direct connections with NZ, and even those who don’t feel a special affection and concern for you.
We will help in whatever way we can.
“Alan the Brit says:
February 22, 2011 at 2:13 am”
There are ~50k Kiwi’s living in London. I think there may be some trouble there about the coverage.
“Noelene says:
February 22, 2011 at 2:13 am”
After significant events like that of Sept 4th 09, “aftershocks” can persist months, even years after the initial event.
The Bulusan event was more of a dome/summit collapse rather than a true eruption.
There have been numerous 5+ earthquakes around the pacific rim lately – south of Fiji and Vanuatu etc etc
The Philippines is not on the same plate as New Zealand.
Steve C says: February 22, 2011 at 12:47 am
“Grim news to wake up to this morning, and for once a chance to feel grateful for living in the UK, about as far away as possible. NZ, you’re in all our thoughts.
Shall be interested to see how long it takes before the echo chamber blames it on “manmade global warming”. It looks to me a lot more like an effect of the weekend’s full moon coupled with the moon’s being very near perigee – strictly gravitational stuff. If lunar cycles are at all responsible here, just wait for new moon on Mar 19th – when there will be an even stronger influence, as perigee proper is roughly bang on the next new moon.”
I’ll second that!
I’ve often considered doing a check between the phase of the tides and earthquakes. I know the surface of the water “buckles” as the earth rotates, so there will be a similar flexing of the earth itself as the gravitational effect of the moon moves around the earth. Obviously that effect will be greatest at full and no-moon, so “on the face of it”, you’d expect there to be some kind of relationship between the “tides” (i.e. the position of the gravitational lump and earthquakes.
Obviously, it would depend on the orientation of the fault line and the type of fault because some would be more susceptible to flexing in certain ways – but if there were an increased likelihood of earthquakes at specific times, one would have thought someone would have noticed … so I assume there isn’t??
Having said that, it amazes me how much money goes into the none problem of global warming, and how little goes into real problems, so perhaps it all comes down to a lack of money to research the “unfashionable” problems like earth quakes?
Ones heart goes out to the Kiwis again. The USGS states this is an aftershock of the main 7.3 quake in September 2010 but was about 20 miles from town center. This one was only around 3. Fyi, Christchurch is the hometown of Hayley Westerna (Celtic Women). Her web site says her family was not harmed.
For those who want to contact loved ones
Person finder for the Christchurch earthquake
http://christchurch-2011.person-finder.appspot.com/
Maps and emergencies for NZ earthquake
http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/christchurch_earthquake.html
NZ ministry of Defence updates
http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/
New Zealand supposedly uses the MMI (Modified Mercali Scale) which is a surface shaking scale rather than the Richter Magnitude scale (total energy). The former is independent of depth and more indicative of violence at the surface.
Interestingly I could find only one news report which estimated the MMI scale and it was at VIII which is defined as:
I lived in Southern California for 18 years and never saw any heavy furniture moved. Some I experienced it was difficult to stand up and water sloshed out of my swimming pool but that was about it. Was never over or close to the epicenter of a major quake (6.0+ magnitude) though but 30-50 miles (horizontal) a few times.
Patrick Davis says:
February 22, 2011 at 3:42 am
“Alan the Brit says:
February 22, 2011 at 2:13 am”
There are ~50k Kiwi’s living in London. I think there may be some trouble there about the coverage.
I’ll have a word with Al Gore, to see if he could use his personal jet & fleet of vehicles to tow NZ a little closer to the UK in the Autumn! No worries, mate. 🙂
Quake causes ice to break off New Zealand’s largest glacier
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/quake-causes-ice-to-break-off-new-zealands-largest-glacier/article1915552/
First claims that it wouldn’t have happened if the glacier hadn’t been weakened by (C)AGW, shall be arriving in 3… 2…
—–
@Les Francis:
Thanks for the info.
I am a New Zealander living in Haarlem and working in Amsterdam. A colleague gave me the bad news when I arrived at work this morning. I immediately phoned my wife, who turned on the TV and said it reminded her eerily of the feeling we had on a dreadful September day, glued to the TV set and watching the twin towers fall.
My wife has checked with our friends in Christchurch, and all are safe. One of my Dutch colleagues is presently on holiday in NZ and was in Christchurch when the quake hit. By text, he tells us he also is safe. Our thoughts are now with those who have died or are injured, and with their families.
One of my staff is from Christchurch. We waited today with bated breath for news – thankfully all are safe and accounted for. There are a lot too, being a Maori Family! We’re waiting for news on what they need, and will be taking up a collection to help the family, if required.
Not sending a penny to a Government collection, after what we’ve seen in Queensland with The Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal. Little money is flowing, and the Government is collecting interest…
I’ve been working late analysing the fire alarm data from the quake – in terms of fire alarm activations, that 6.3 quake was 5 times worse than the 7.1 quake in September.
Fortunately I’m in Wellington – far enough away not to be impacted by it.
The constant aftershocks since September have been upsetting many Christchurch residents – I’ve had one visiting me in Wellington, just to get away from the quakes. Today surgeons had just completed surgery on her knee in Christchurch Hostpital when this new quake struck – the staff had to move her in a groggy state to a newer safer part of the hostpital.
Mike Haseler says:
how little goes into real problems, so perhaps it all comes down to a lack of money to research the “unfashionable” problems like earth quakes?
I think it is more tragic than that… there is a tendency to avoid things not under human control especially if they might be accused of dabbling in astrology… but more than anything they tend avoid anything that can’t be commercially exploited… predicting earthquakes will only save the lives and money of other people… what they want is an earthquake alarm they can sell to everyman and his dog… and when they run out of real ideas they move into fictional science so they can invent some scare that can be commercially exploited like CO2 emissions, BSE, HIV and bird flu.
And the last one was 5 months ago. One of the problems living on a dynamic planet.
I wish the Kiwis all the best.