Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: #eqnz: Okay?

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  • Russell Brown,

    Attachment

    Camerman-journo Henry McMullan is surveying the impact around Kaikoura and posting the pics to his Twitter account. He posted this at 5.30am.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    A scroll through Facebook indicates that most friends who were awake here in Auckland felt the swaying. Quite a lot of "if we felt that here, how bad is it further south?"

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • John Farrell,

    I slept through it, in Dunedin. My daughter phoned, and said they were evacuating to higher ground, because of the tsunami warning. I stayed at home, and saw the Dunedin civil defence facebook post at 3am, saying South Dunedin people didn't need to evacuate, so I went back to bed.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 499 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Zachary Bell’s video of the lights in the sky that followed the quake.

    And a Twitter video of same.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    That main earthquake just after midnight was the longest earthquake I've felt in a long time. Three people here shaken awake and under separate doorframes where we stayed for a while. I could hear the odd thing shaking off shelves (nothing major fortunately). It just kept on rolling. Then the earth kept shaking all night.

    Radio NZ was excellent - had great non stop coverage and Suzie Ferguson and later Kim Hill came in assisted by roving reporters and public accounts from around NZ. Social media meant it was easy to check on people and earthquake details - but the reports of earthquakes across NZ were worrying and unusual. Then came the tsunami warnings, but we are up on a hill so felt sorry for those people bundling up families in the dark. Let alone those worrying about NCEA exams.

    Another little shake just now. Followed by a bigger one.

    We've had days of heavy rain here so suspect there are some new slips on this hill. Now a new storm is approaching.

    Last night I attended a lecture by Helen Caldicott about the imminent danger of nuclear war, which was another depressing note in an intensely depressing week. I noticed that monster moon on the way home.

    There has now been a 6.2 earthquake in Argentina and we are still shaking. Is it that moon?

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • JLM,

    We live 300 metres from a beach north of Dunedin but 13 metres up. Geomorphologist husband checked it out carefully before we moved. A neighbour rang and woke us about 3:30 when the sirens sounded but we thought it was safe to stay put. As it happened we were right. The street across the lagoon and Waitati were both evacuated.

    Judy Martin's southern sl… • Since Apr 2007 • 241 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    Radio NZ was excellent - had great non stop coverage

    A real treasure. Good prompt to sign the Coalition for Better Broadcasting's ActionStation petition.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    120 seconds of tension release and tension inducement - not much sleep after that big one, but not really feeling the aftershocks that much here now in chch (personally) - no damage round our way, apart from morning Yoga class being cancelled... reports of opportunist burglaries coming in from New Brighton, grrrrr...
    Radio NZ National is a great resource and a reassuring voice in the dark hours!
    Well done those people...
    Westpac / Garden City emergency chopper just flew overhead, heading north.
    SH1 coastal well compromised apparently, so I guess the rail will be too - time to reinvigorate coastal shipping.

    Hearing Brownlee on the radio does nothing to reassure me - he is the disaster equivalent of Typhoid Mary as far as I am concerned - especially in light of the news that EQC (and related agencies) will not be footing the bill for people to be re-accommodated while their houses are re-repaired, to fix the earlier signed off by Fletchers and EQC botched repairs.

    We live in interesting times...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    120 seconds of tension release and tension inducement – not much sleep after that big one, but not really feeling the aftershocks that much here now in chch (personally)

    They look to be moving north: two in the past hour near Paraparaumu and Levin respectively, saw one centred near Taihape earlier.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Urquhart,

    Just after I had gone to bed - ~10 seconds of "that's a substantial aftershock" followed by ~ 1:30 of "that's not local - that /has/ to be a major event inland" followed by the usual string of Geonet checks and FB check ins. Then slept though the tsunami warnings that followed but have friends who evacuated and have not yet returned. Grimacing at the photos of road damage this morning.

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2009 • 163 posts Report Reply

  • TracyMac,

    Regarding huddling in door frames, if your house is fairly modern, there's no point - there are no extra wall studs around them these days.

    Civil Defence recommend crouching and covering near an interior wall away from windows, appliances, etc, if you can't get under a desk or table.

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    Really felt it in Auckland. Like never before up here. (Not intended as a "let's make this about Auckland too" comment! - just reporting in).

    Totally agree that Radio NZ is a treasure at these times. Broadcasting in pyjamas, I imagine. Professional and comprehensive.

    Thoughts to all those coping with the aftermath.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • Mike O'Connell, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    reports of opportunist burglaries coming in from New Brighton, grrrrr...

    Scumbags! See: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/86419856/evacuated-brighton-family-has-house-ransacked-truck-stolen
    One report is from a family whose daughter Alisha (who has FSHD - a form of muscular dystrophy) who had her all important iPad stolen. Makes you sick.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 385 posts Report Reply

  • David Hood, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    Is it that moon?

    No, it isn't. I've actually spent the past couple of months involved in a lot of planetary geophysics calculations, and I am going to say that the amount of difference the visual fullness of the moon or the closeness of it in the monthly lunar cycle makes is so tiny it makes no practical difference to the occurrence of an earthquake.

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks,

    I usually just ride out earthquakes without running for cover under the door frame or whatever. This one was different: it was really scary. It was like a movie; the slow build up was ominous and I just knew there was going to be climatic moment.

    I can’t believe more things didn’t fall over or get disturbed in some way.

    Also I’m in the ‘not noticed aftershocks’ camp.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • Rosemary McDonald,

    Waikato, or on the road • Since Apr 2014 • 1346 posts Report Reply

  • Shaun Lott,

    I used to notice little ones in Palmerston North all the time, but hadn't felt one in Auckland, since we moved here in 1999. Last night the lights were swaying and the whole house was creaking and shifting. My reaction was 'if that is far away, it's bad; if it's close, it's a new volcano coming up in the harbour, just like that exhibition at the museum.' The 'we dodged the first bullet but got hit by the second one' sequence of events from 2010 comes to mind as we wait out the aftershocks. :/

    Waitakere • Since Aug 2009 • 113 posts Report Reply

  • Jarno van der Linden, in reply to David Hood,

    No, it isn’t.

    A couple of years ago I downloaded all the strong earthquakes of the last 50 years or so from GeoNet, and plotted them against the phase of the Moon. I got nothing of significance.

    Nelson • Since Oct 2007 • 82 posts Report Reply

  • Jarno van der Linden, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    Radio NZ was excellent

    The calm reporting of the quake happening while bouncing around in a chair can be heard from the 4 minute mark.

    Nelson • Since Oct 2007 • 82 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart, in reply to TracyMac,

    Regarding huddling in door frames, if your house is fairly modern, there's no point - there are no extra wall studs around them these days.

    Civil Defence recommend crouching and covering near an interior wall away from windows, appliances, etc, if you can't get under a desk or table.

    Or simply stay in bed.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Kiwiiano, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    A possible link between earthquakes and the phase of the moon & its tidal effects was one of the very first explanations for quakes, but it wasn't long before they could see no pattern in the distribution of the two events.

    ChCh • Since Nov 2006 • 46 posts Report Reply

  • Alfie, in reply to JLM,

    We live 300 metres from a beach north of Dunedin but 13 metres up.

    The street across the lagoon and Waitati were both evacuated.

    We’re over the hill from you in Long Beach… at sea level. We’d just driven home from ChCh and gone to bed, and felt the first quake as a 1-2 minute gentle sideways movement, at the same time as RNZ was live reporting the situation from the Wgtn studio. It was damn spooky as we rarely feel earthquakes here.

    There was no damage so we fell asleep, until our daughter rang from Germany to tell us we had to evacuate. We could hear distant sirens and assumed they were coming from the radio, until we went outside. The Police were driving around the village with sirens on and evacuated us all to the top of the hill.

    I’d also like to throw in a big thank you to RNZ. In times like these Nat Radio is a reassuring voice.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Lots of people have got in contact to make sure we're OK. ... But we're in Tokyo this week, they probably never have earthquakes here

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Hugh Wilson,

    Tangential, but as people are commenting on possible causal phenomena this Pulitzer winning piece on the expectations for the US northwest may be of interest:

    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

    From afar two positives seem to be the quick reactions of people to move to safety & technology aided family/friend check-ins working well

    Melbourne • Since Feb 2013 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • linger, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    One month after the Tohoku quake (and two months after the second big Chch quake, which had had no small amount of media coverage because of the number of Japanese victims) one of my colleagues actually asked me, with some surprise,
    “Oh, do you have earthquakes in New Zealand!?”

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report Reply

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