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.
The UK coverage of the earthquake has been very scant so far. This is a travesty but not an unexpected one. Sad to say, the vultures in media won’t go into a frenzy unless the death toll rises. I hope this doesn’t happen.
Although I’m an agnostic I can only say, God be with the Christchurchians.
“Dave Springer says:
February 22, 2011 at 4:10 am”
Depends. Chch is built mainly on alluvial deposits which shake more violently in quakes which results in more damage (Liquefaction).
The airport at Wellinton will suffer a similar fate, in a similar quake, as will Petone, Lower and Upper Hutt and large expanses of the Wairarapa.
In my post @ur momisugly February 22, 2011 at 3:42 am I meant 2010, not 2009.
Would the editors, in the interests of human decency, please suspend arguments about global warming or anything else on this blog at a time of tragedy for many families and residents of a great city?
It really is pathetic, sad and demeaning for people to reduce this event to a political pawn in a scientific argument.
It is not.
It is a human tragedy and I respectfully request that Mr Watts and his team issue a firmly worded reminder to their readership advocating that line.
Please……..
“Alan the Brit says:
February 22, 2011 at 4:27 am”
As long as he can drag the islands up north using Maui’s hook.
@Rhys Jaggar: I guess people are just cynical about the AGW folks, but yes, this is a human tragedy of major proportions. My condolences to those who have lost loved ones in it, and my sympathy to all who have suffered harm.
AlanG says:
February 22, 2011 at 1:43 am
I think I saw a 1.5g estimate! The relationship between Mercalli and Moment Magnitude (the Richter scale requires using a particular, now antique, seismograph) is approximate. The low depth of this quake, only 5 km or so, means that the surface shaking was greater than the 6.3 magnitude would typically be.
There are (surprisingly to me) few logs at the USGS “Did You Feel It?” page at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/b0001igm/us/index.html . However, the max logged relative to their Mercalli-like scale was VIII.
>> Rhys Jaggar says:
February 22, 2011 at 5:45 am
It really is pathetic, sad and demeaning for people to reduce this event to a political pawn in a scientific argument. <<
The few commenters that mentioned AGW all agree with this sentiment.
As soon as I saw the news, I came to WUWT knowing that I'd find the most detailed coverage of this tragedy. My heart goes out to all of those who lost loved ones.
@Rhys Jaggar, Speaking as someone who grew up in and around Christchurch and still has family and friends living there: The quake and its aftermath is sad, but bigger calamities happen weekly around the world to people who are mostly of no interest to the MSM, and we don’t afford them the same consideration. (5000 brown people dying somewhere unpronouncible is apparently not as important as the recreational activities of Lindsay Lohan). So try to keep your sense of perspective and humour and don’t please don’t demand pious rectitude from others – we kiwis are not so fragile.
twawki says:
February 22, 2011 at 4:02 am
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/
=======================================================
Not that the Kiwis will probably need any, their metal is well known, but is there a place/link to volunteer or send help?
My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the victims of the quakes.
Lot of reports in the Aussie MSM of Chch being very cold. Ok, so it is the end of summer.
Just got home ( 4 am ) after spending all the time at the PGG building breaking though floors to get to trapped people.
Well panckaked, but spaces between beams, surprising number of survivors given the dammage there.
Auckland teams relieved locals recently.
Robert L
I didn’t say Kiwis were fragile, I said that making cheap points about global warming wasn’t appropriate. That’s got nothing to do with an earthquake in Kiwiland, Africa, or anywhere else.
If next time you’d like me to say: ‘Oh who cares, they aren’t bloody Africans, let ’em all die, this is an opportunity to PLUG GLOBAL WARMING REFUTATIONS’, then fine.
If you think what I said was pious, I think you need to drink about 10 pints of beer to return to sanity, mate.
And lest you wonder, go ask Dick Cheney who gave him the most grief in the blogosophere over sodding Arabs dying in their hundreds of thousands, he’ll probably say: ‘that miserable little fucker Jaggar.’
To Hamish Hamilton:
God bless you! And all the victims in New Zealand – it looks horrific there.
Rhys Jaggar says:
February 22, 2011 at 7:06 am
Robert L
………
If next time you’d like me to say: ‘Oh who cares, they aren’t bloody Africans, let ‘em all die, this is an opportunity to PLUG GLOBAL WARMING REFUTATIONS’, then fine. ……….
=======================================================
Rhys…….try decaf. I agree with your sentiments, but ………dang.
@Rhys Jaggar
It really is pathetic, sad and demeaning for people to reduce this event to a political pawn in a scientific argument.
Rhys,
You are absolutely right. Will you please make the same point with these people?
http://blogearth.wordpress.com/2008/03/15/scientists-earthquakes-can-be-caused-by-global-warming/
http://www.celsias.com/article/global-warming-causes-massive-earthquakes/
http://www.zimbio.com/Danny+Glover/articles/2xGl-wtY7Od/Danny+Glover+Haiti+Earthquake+Due+Global+Warming
It is tragic. And we are relieved that Wellington was not hit.
Best wishes to all Kiwis and visiting…
John from New Zealand says:
February 22, 2011 at 12:29 am
It’s pretty bad. Here are some photo’s – look at the cathedral in the town square (#40).
John I design and sell metal cutting tools to a company on Lunns Road about 3 miles from downtown Christchurch. We have been selling to them for 12 years or so. A small prayer has been said. Stay as safe as you can.
vukcevic says:
February 22, 2011 at 2:10 am
Just a coincidence, but it is worth noting.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/gms.htm
I did read (several decennia ago) a book about sun-earth connections, where earth quakes and volcanic events were described as clusters centering around certain solar events… Not sure if that holds, but magnetic storms may be a good example of such an influence.
Anyway, I wish the people of Christchurch much strength in these sad days (was there myself a few years ago: very friendly people, marvellous country!).
Sad to see so many deaths. I’ve lived through a few similarly powerful quakes in So.Cal. Seeing the destruction they’re dealing with, I guess I’m now glad our commercial building codes are so stringent.
Some people have been wondering whether Warmists will blame the earthquake on global warming. They seem to have started down that track I think. Also keep an eye on Romm, he is a desperate, desperate man indeed.
I have friends from the Bay Area (Marin County), who retired to a Ch-ch suburb; she a NZer by birth, and he American. They came through the earlier 7.something ok, but this looks a lot worse.
I am trying to determine, if that totally collapsed building that you see in the news videos; which is clearly a multi-storey hotel structure, and not an office building, is the YMCA building. That is where I stayed with my family (one night only) during Christmas/New year, 2006/7 The cathedral that has its Tower collapsed is right on the main city center square. Overall, it looks like it came through fairly well besides the tower. It is all stone construction I believe.
Have left messages with friends and family in Auckland for more details; not going to clutter up the Christchurch air waves.
“”””” Jeremy says:
February 22, 2011 at 8:43 am
Sad to see so many deaths. I’ve lived through a few similarly powerful quakes in So.Cal. Seeing the destruction they’re dealing with, I guess I’m now glad our commercial building codes are so stringent. “””””
You can bet your bottom dollar, that theirs are even moreso. I once worked at the DSIR in the Wellington area; and they were doing building /Earthquake research constantly, and evaluating building designs (with a building analog computer) from all over the world.
They’re studying the link between increased Earthquakes with general increases in solar proton events over at WeatherAction.com
Piers Corbyn says:-
“We now think that it is not just general solar proton event levels which point towards more earthquakes but that individual solar proton events exacerbate immediate earthquake (and associated volcanism) risk either directly or due to consequent storm activity and related surface pressure changes such as caused by our solar triggered and predicted Tropical Cyclone Atu which is currently centred North of New Zealand and heading closer.”
Very interesting! and I’m glad to see some real research being done that isn’t linked to Anthropogenic Co2 in some form or other.
Quake shakes icebergs into Tasman Lake
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8214948/christchurch-quake-shakes-icebergs-into-tasman