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another earthquake in Christchurch NZ

The Fool

Penultimate Amazing
The Fool
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Aug 1, 2002
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Just had word that there has been another major earthquake.

are all our NZ members ok?
 
Australian news reporting witness statements that the city's famous cathedral and surrounding buildings have been "destroyed" fatalities expected.


****......
 
It was a 6.3 and just 5km deep, but the major issue is that this is the same place that had the 7.1 last September, a lot of buildings have been getting major shakes since then and that has weakened them, and likely the nerves of most of the people living there. They had a big one on Boxing Day too, and were just starting to recover from that. This has apparently done quite a bit of damage to buildings, roads, and infra-structure.
 
Latest from Australias Herald sun news site


UPDATE 11.35am: A LARGE earthquake - more violent than one that struck in September last year has struck Christchurch in New Zealand bringing down buildings, power and phone lines.

Buildings and houses have collapsed, with fears there may be fatalities.

Already many people have been reported missing, feared inside buildings that have collapsed.

But along the main streets of Christchurch entire buildings have collapsed onto the streets.

While the extent of damage is not yet known, the US Geological Survey has rated the event as of 6.3 magnitude.

It says the quake struck at a depth of 4km, 5km north-northwest of Christchurch.

Some reports suggest it should be considered as an aftershock to the 7.1 magnitude quake that hit on September 4, but some have described that event as a "tea party " compared to the latest disaster.

Amid chaotic scenes and the wail of sirens in the city centre, one Christchurch worker Julian Hobday told Sky News he felt lucky to survive as the apartment store he was in was severely rocked.

It was just horrific."

"The previous one was just tea party stuff compared to this," Mr Hobday said.

"I hate to think what it will be like when I get home."

“It was incredibly violent, very very scary,'' one visitor to the city, Philip Gregan told AAP over the phone.

“We're all standing out on the street with sirens going off around us.

“Oh no, there's another one,'' he said while on the phone.

“I want to get out of here.''

Kay Cowlishaw said there was descruction everywhere.

"There's just water pouring out and sewerage, the whole garage is filled with water. There are cracks in the road."

The quake struck at 12.51pm New Zealand time, or 10.51am Australian eastern standard time.

Witnesses told stuff.co.nz they expected there may have been fatalities after buildings collapsed across Christchurch.

Those reports said buildings were down “all around Cathedral Square in the city”, while a church suffered massive damage.

Residents says it is the biggest earthquake since the city was rocked in September 4 last year, but some believe it was far more violent.

The Christchurch Hospital is in the midst of being evacuated.

But Twitter users have reported feeling the quake as far as Wellington and Dunedin, with the violent episode lasting at least a minute and rocking buildings.

The event has also cracked roads, burst water mains and rocked items from shelves.
 
Latest reports are saying at least two buildings have collapsed, though these are unconfirmed, lots of confusion down there, and communications and power are damaged as well appartently.
 
Phones are apparently coming back up. Several older buildings have collapsed, there are injuries, talk that there may be fatalities this time. Rumors of the Catherdral suffering serious damage, from the spire having collpased to complete destruction.
 
Difficult to find out much. GNS says this quake is smaller in magnitude than the original quake, but will be more damaging due to closer proximity to the city, shallower depth, and the specific features of the quake.

Also, as PhantomWolf pointed out; the city has been nearly constantly hammered for a long time, weakening structures. I talked to a lot of CHCH people during my recent holiday down that way and most said the Lyttleton aftershock caused far more extensive damage than the original quake.

Once you take into account that this happened right on lunchtime... not good, not good at all. Feeling pretty horrible right now. My thoughts are with my fellow kiwis down south.

Media is reporting first fataities and pictures from NZherald confirm Canterbury Cathedral has been totally destroyed.

:(

Oh this is bad...
 
TV footage coming in has shown people being pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings. The reporter called it a "warzone" a lot of buildings damaged, dust and broken glass everywhere. She says the floor of the TVNZ building is like a wave it's been rippled by the quake. The epicentre was just 10km from the city centre.
 
Photos and eye witnesses have confirmed that the Cathedral spire came down into the square which was packed, but reports are that there were no fatalies there. Police are moving to evacuate the centre city as quickly and calmly as they can. Reports of aftershocks as well, some causing more damage.
 
Confirmation of What Gumboot stated, currently reports are 1 fatality for certain, and likely others.

Police say "multiple fatalities" have been reported at several locations in the central city, including two buses crushed by falling buildings.
 
Footage coming through looks pretty bad. Seen a couple of distinctly modern buildings that look like they've suffered internal collapses, reminiscent of damage we saw on 9/11.
 
One guy on the news... blood streaming from his head; the spire fell on him during the Quake. The reporter asked him if he was okay - "I'm fine, right as rain mate."

The kiwi spirit was forged in the endless battle against this young, troublesome land we call home. These rugged rocks have never defeated us yet.
 
Fire Serivice is talking about unconfirmed reports of people trapped in collapsed buildings. Footage of the scene looks like something from Tripoli rather then Christchurch, cars destroyed, blood covered people walking aboput dazed, dust and stones everywhere, maore brickwork falling down. It's a real mess.
 
PhantomWolf said:
Fire Serivice is talking about unconfirmed reports of people trapped in collapsed buildings. Footage of the scene looks like something from Tripoli rather then Christchurch, cars destroyed, blood covered people walking aboput dazed, dust and stones everywhere, maore brickwork falling down. It's a real mess.
Click to expand...


Yup. I was through there in early Jan and there was surprisingly little visible damage, so most of what we're seeing is from this quake. Damage looks extensive. Notably, the previous aftershock that caused more damage than the original quake was also centred around Lyttleton.

Reports and video of cliff face collapse around Sumner. Seems to still be a lot of aftershocks and the risk of further collapse. Gutsy police etc. diving into the rubble to try rescue people, scattering when a shake hits, then diving straight back in. Latest word NZDF has been mobilised.
 
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