Major earthquake hits Christchurch :(
In the Wellington region, we are always being warned that the “Big One” is due – a massive earthquake which could cause huge amounts of damage to the city and surrounding areas cos its built on multiple fault lines. But this morning – the Big One hit Christchurch – a 7.1 Earthquake and continuing aftershocks. It’s caused massive damage – and is said to be the biggest quake in 80 years in New Zealand. Fortunately – not a single person was killed – though 2 people are in intensive care.
It goes without saying that moving to New Zealand does mean for most of us that we have to learn to accept that we will be living with the threat of earthquakes for the first time. Theres no getting away from it – and you need to be prepared. The news this morning is full of people complaining that they have no water or electricity. Which is baffling because we are constantly reminded that we need 3 days supplies of food, water, battery power and the means to heat water or cook food. In rural areas – you probably need more, becuase you are never going to be the first priority.
A state of emergency has now been declared in Christchurch as of 10am.
Theres a huge amount of damage in the city: roads cracked, buildings collapsed. It looks like this is going to be a long haul to get everything fixed back up.
I think the overall feeling in our house this morning is one of shock – and we are SO not affected. We never even felt a gentle shake. This is WAY too close – and we are already running through our own emergency kit to check whether we have everything we would have needed. To be honest – we are pretty well sorted, becuase we often have power cuts here, so we need stacks of water, and the means to get a drink, food, and flush loos – none of which we can do without power here because our water is in tanks and needs a pump to get into the house. Apparently Christchurch is suffering worst from lack of water – so whatever you do – make one of your first priorities to get some big bottles of water. Looting is already happening – to which I can only ask “What the HELL is wrong with some people???”
There have also been some remarkable stoopid people phoning into the TV station – one guy thought it would be cool to get in the car and have a drive round to see what the damage was. He came up to a bridge with a huge crack in it – and drove across it! What a moron! This is serious – its not actually a tourist attraction.
My heart goes out to everyone down there. Its going to be a fraught and difficult few days as the clean up begins.
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- Christchurch has been hit by another huge earthquake.
- Christchurch Earthquake:2 minute Silence at 12.51 1st March 2011
- Christchurch Earthquake – the day after.
Comments
9 Comments on Major earthquake hits Christchurch :(
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Fran on
Sat, 4th Sep 2010 6:25 pm
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Avalon on
Sat, 4th Sep 2010 8:43 pm
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Sophie on
Sun, 5th Sep 2010 2:39 am
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Avalon on
Sun, 5th Sep 2010 12:52 pm
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Juli Ryan on
Sun, 5th Sep 2010 2:28 pm
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Sophie on
Mon, 6th Sep 2010 1:52 am
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Avalon on
Mon, 6th Sep 2010 8:49 pm
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Avalon on
Mon, 6th Sep 2010 8:52 pm
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Sophie on
Tue, 7th Sep 2010 2:43 am
You should have seen Mega 10 in Petone this afternoon – doing a roaring trade in water containers! They had even run out of one type! My cousin was woken and they did the get under the door jamb thing until they realised that wasn’t going to work. Couldn’t fine the bedside torch – due to the shake (note to self – blutack it to the bedside table!) Ended up under the kitchen table. Coz sustained a big bruise to head due to walking/moving at speed into door! Alos teleom recommend an old analogue phone in the house as the newer handset ones won’t work in a power cut. Will catch up with her later about other lessons but thankfully they are safe. Neice’s flat in downtown Chch has been demolished – a huge crevasse in the garden, contrete driveway at a 90 degree angle and the worse raw sewage!
Over and out
Fran
Oh Fran – I do hope your Niece is going to be ok! I cant even imagine what it would be like to have your home destroyed.
WAY too close.
We actually have an analogue phone already cos of the constant power cuts! (Mostly caused – disturbingly- by people driving into power poles) – I highly recommend having one!
Hugs to your family!
Only a few hours before, I’d booked our flights to NZ, landing – of course – in Christchurch. Um. Is the South Island trying to tell us something???
Thankfully hubby’s family are all ok, though one aunt’s house has been flattened. We’re stuck between being glad we’re not there yet, and wanting to help 
Oh Sophie I really don’t know what to say You must be gutted.
I was only thinking last night (as we oddly enough had a power cut and wondered if we were in serious trouble or it was just another power cut – it was) – what the hell do people do if they are about to arrive in New Zealand and are planning on Christchurch????
Im figuring its going to be chaos down there for a few weeks – when is your flight due? Also Ive seen some comments on other blogs that suggest a lot of rental property has been damaged – so housing is going to be is short supply – so you need to work on a backup plan if you cant live with family for a while.
Do you have to go to Christchurch right away? Do you have jobs to start? The recovery will take a lot of time – so Im wondering is you may be better off moving somewhere else to start with. Just thinking aloud here – ive really got no useful advise sorry
This is the post that I wish I had written about the earthquake. Apparently, I forgot to tell some of my blog readers about “The Shaky Isles”. They didn’t know that we have earthquakes in NZ! Also, I’m double-checking our disaster supplies. Again. xx
We’re arriving on 15/11/10, so 10 weeks away – hopefully things will be a little more sorted by then, but we won’t be expecting optimum conditions. On the other hand, rentals or houses for sales that haven’t been damaged may be slightly deserving of the potentially higher price tag simply because there’s some proof of sturdiness…
Either way we’ll be staying with MiL for the first couple of weeks at least. We don’t have jobs sorted, though now that we have an arrival date, hubby’s applications are starting to go out – he’s in mechanical engineering, while I’m an admin.. not exactly high demand for overseas admins 
If we end up somewhere else for a while, so be it. We have an ideal, but can be flexible if that’s what makes things work!
Cool Sophie – as you say most of the major cleanup should be sorted by then. As long as you have somewhere to stay while you find your feet
I have a feeling your hubby may be snapped up 
Mechanical Engineering – sounds pretty damn useful right now.
Ill be putting together a round up of info on rentals in the area in the next day or so.
Juli – I know what you mean. I really didn’t know how the hell to go about blogging about this to this be honest – but I kinda work on the “Type and see what comes out” principle.
LOL not as useful as STRUCTURAL engineering, I bet!
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