Christchurch Earthquake 3/4 September 2010.

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Yesterday, on the 4th of September (3rd for most of the world) an Earthquake measuring 7.1 on the richter scale occurred in the Architectural city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Many older brick buildings collapsed as did bridges and the riverside town of Kaiapoi flooded. I was a victim of this traumatic quake, but the building I reside in, there is no damage. How has the media of your nation convered this tragedy?

'There would not be a house, there would not be a family in our city that has not in some way have damage done to their person, to their property.
'I think it's like an iceberg; there is ... below the visible line, significant structural damage.' http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0904/newzealand.html

(The architecture looks amazingly like here, a former British trading city).

Ironically, there is a cluster of large aftershocks now. We were told this too, but I actually reside in a small town 30km North of the city, so the quakes we get are stronger, but since the town is built on Sediments. Christchurch USED to be the most English city out of England.

Reports here say there was heavy structural damage, 2 sever injuries but no deaths, and very little looting. Based on what I heard it sounds like people handled it in a civilized manner. If that happened here in southern California there would be widespread civil unrest.

But civilians here ( Christchurch ) are qued and well mannered. In Auckland, chaos would erupt.

no damage at my house, not even anything broken.

damage in the city is quite bad, and roads in the east are pretty bad I think.

it would be very unlikely for there to be a significant earthquake in Auckland, but if there was, it would probably signal the start of a volcanic eruption, so chaos would quite literally erupt!

What sector of the city do you live in?

Well behaved colonials. Seriously though, I hope everyone's ok and no further injuries come about. How is the cathedral (and the city centre in general) holding up? It was a lovely building when I was there a couple of years ago.

I will take it that you are referring to the Anglican cathedral. It lost part of it's spire I believe, but it was actually re-structured a decade or do ago, so the actual building is intact. However, a lot (90) of the old charming buildings in the city centre are damaged beyond repair.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10671271

The cathedral is okay - spire is intact anyway. Structural engineers need to assess many building to check for damage.

I live in Hoon Hay, a few chimneys have fallen down, and there was some liquefaction (sand volcanoes), but nothing major in my area.

Oh yes, Hoon Hay was mildly damaged I hear. I actually live in Rangiora, which as you know (hopefully) is located near Kaiapoi, the most interesting town in relation to damage. The township is flooded, and entry to the town is prohibited as is exit. Liquefaction effected Kaiapoi dramatically. Rangiora is continuing as per usual. Schools are open and really it is a haven compared to the city, and the close township.

It is so odd that Kaiapoi was so badly hit, but Rangiora and Oxford were unscathed. We certainly felt the earthquake, and it was strong enough to make me fall out of bed, yet there is hardly any structural damage or any evidence of the quake. We were very fortunate!

Chch seems to be recovering well - i missed all the fun being up in Kapiti

Some interesting info here:
http://www.geonet.org.nz/news/article-s ... quake.html

Check out the walking fridge! lucky it was on a leash (powercord)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3SKi8Dze4g[/youtube]

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