Earthquake, South Island, New Zealand
Now finalised to a short bulletin with the original as-news-came-in report below. Further information is mostly in the comments that follow.
At 4:45am, New Zealand time, an earthquake reported at 7.1 on the Richter scale, occurred ~30km to the west of Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. The USGS and GeoNet have reports of the event. A short summary of initial news is below the images.
I’m not at the scene, but am familiar with the town and neighbouring region as Christchurch is my hometown. My overall impression is of damage to brick structures (facades, chimneys, walls on a few older buildings) particularly on older buildings, surface damage to roads and footpaths. Several reports include a broken water and sewerage mains. Power is out in the region, with the airport closed at the time of writing. There are many reports of damage to goods within houses, as you would expect. There appear to be no causalities reported, but more recent reports are of some more serious injuries including one patient in intensive care.
A good early summary can be found at the National Radio website.
Kudos to the TV news for getting a hold of geologist early on (9am report). From his comments, there was apparently a surge of water down the Avon river which may be responsible for some of the flooding reported.
The remainder of this post is the original, written with updates as the news came in. It’s messy, hence me hiding it under the fold, but there are some early pictures for viewing. Some advisories or reports of more interest to local readers are still occasionally being posted in the section below; most are in the comments that follow this post. (The lazy solution!) These updates will be infrequent from now.
My best wishes to all those in the region.
On-going report of earthquake this morning close to my hometown, Christchurch. I am editing this as news comes it. It is a little messy, but you’ll have to live with that!
Latest in (most recent at top)
9:45am: Christchurch Hospital is asking that minor injuries be taken to local services if possible and that people stay at home (I imagine they would like to limit ’disaster tourism’ from hampering services). People are asked not to use the cellular phone network, to reserve it for those in need.
9:30am: Christchurch Airport is closed until midday, with all flights at this time cancelled. (I have conflicting reports on this at this time, with more recent accounts saying it is being opened.)
From TV news bulletin. Centred 30km west of Christchurch. Chimneys down. Facades down (as in photos below, I would think, the central part of the town features these). Civil defence repeats report of no causalities.
From Twitpic:
Source twitpic:
More from twitpic (http://twitpic.com/2kwb1q):
(Silly aside: Henry’s breakfast show features we are living longer lives. ’Expert’ says ’some of the things we do are futile’ (paraphrasing). Can’t deny that, but is that news?!)
Power down in Christchurch / central Canterbury. Christchurch Hospital reports no major injuries. On that positive note, I may slow down this reporting!
Shamed to hear reports on news bulletin of looting (liquor shops, apparently…)
UGSG report updated to expect damage, centred on Western suburbs of Christchurch.
Tsunami report says no threat to Pacific/Hawaii region.
From twitpic (http://twitpic.com/2kwbf8):
Instructions for what to do after ’quake (Stuff website)
Police report mentions minor injuries only. (At 06:05 04-09-2010.)
Initial reports are of a 7.4 event centred near my hometown, Christchurch. Reports from relatives are of broken paintings from the walls, pottery, etc. No reports of personal injury.
Early media reports include buildings from my hometown badly damaged.
Below I have included seismographs from GeoNet.
I will update this as I get further news. (Unlike most posts I write, this post will be live-edited substantially over the next short while.)
Best thoughts to others in the region.
This shows a sampling of the drums from throughout the country:
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44 Responses to “Earthquake, South Island, New Zealand”
Certainly was an impressive shake, Grant. Up here in Waipara we were on the edge of the big movements, but our old house was flexing like it was on an ocean swell. But very little damage beyond a few pictures askew. Family in ChCh report much more shaking – at my son’s girlfriend’s house, a foot of water slopped out of their spa pool, plus lots of furniture/TV damage etc.
Good to hear family is OK. Similar reports from my folks.
Check out these pix of crumpled tarmac…
http://drquigs.com/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&Itemid=36&page=inline&catid=7&id=182&limit=1&limitstart=2
Thanks. Seen photos of what someone described as ‘mud volcanoes’ – must look into that more later. Any geologist want to comment?
Good to hear you guys are okay – I was on the 5th floor of my girlfriend’s apartment in central Wellington and it woke us up and had the place gently shaking for 10 seconds.We knew then it was fairly sizeable. Hope all other Scibloggers in the region are okay, especially our natural hazards guru, Jesse Dykstra!
10am:
Just for anyone following this, any updates now will be infrequent, if at all and quite likely will be only in the comments.
Best wishes to those in the region.
As of around an hour ago Stuff.co.nz is reporting two serious injuries, and man struck by a chimney, and a 50-year-old man hit by falling glass. This will be quite a lot of work to clean up, Christchurch friends are facebooking with destroyed chimneys. Hopefully there aren’t any other serious injuries.
Reports from the Christchurch Civil Defence are on the CD website:
http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/
The infonews website is running situation updates:
http://www.infonews.co.nz/default.cfm?l=1&t=117
A spectacular example of earthquake-related ‘mud volcanism’ from an exposed shale diapir near Poverty Bay was documented by Strong in 1933:
Strong, S.W., 1933. The Sponge Bay uplift, Gisborne and the Hangaroa mud blow out.
New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 15, pp. 76-78.
For a more recent paper see:
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/media/publications-journals-nzjg-2003-008-lo.pdf
Useful GNS infographic comparing the quake’s magnitude to previous NZ quakes back to 1848 http://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2010/09/04/gns-the-christchurch-quake-in-context/
Thanks for the extra info guys.
I know it’s a weekend, but I actually have work to do (sigh), so I won’t be able to follow the news all day, so any info updates are appreciate from here! Like a lot of people I’m waiting until services are more normal to catch up on the wider family & friends up that way and hear how they fared.
There is a good collection of photographs here (H/T: Robyn):
http://www.crashbang.co.nz/quake040910/index.html
Here’s an unexpected offer – free IT serving for a month for anyone affected (H/T @five15design):
http://www.wheresmyserver.co.nz/christchurch-earthquake-rescue
The inner city area (inside Kilmore, Madras, Lichfield and Durham streets) will remain closed until tomorrow: http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?id=56991 “No businesses or licensed premises will be open and no persons, other than inner-City residents or persons with a bona-fide reason to enter the area, will be allowed in.”
“People living in all areas of Christchurch city, Rolleston and Banks Peninsula are being advised to conserve water and boil drinking water for three minutes because of potential contamination from broken water and sewer pipes.” (http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?id=56993)
A geology blogger’s take on the nature of the earthquake (H/T @highlyanne):
http://all-geo.org/highlyallochthonous/2010/09/tectonics-of-the-m7-earthquake-near-christchurch-new-zealand/
Canterbury University is closed for the up-coming week, “The University will not open before 6:00am on Monday 13th September.” (H/T @five15design): http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/closure.html
Isn’t this an iconic earthquake shot?:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KgIqQvYUs3I/TIKQA9QmkzI/AAAAAAAAbAs/vaKiGmFgefQ/s1600/Chchearthquake04rail.jpg
Notice to the left of the rails the neat parallel furrows in the soil where the sleepers have been pushed sideways.
(From: http://itsnotthecoffin.blogspot.com/2010/09/christchurch-earthquake-new-zealand.html)
Latest advisories include closure of all schools and early learning centres in Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri districts & public health concerns over water (esp. Rolleston area) and H1N1:
http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/memwebsite.nsf
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/AboutUs/mediaCentreLanding/mediaReleaseIndex/MR15CanterburyEarthquakeSchoolClosures.aspx
Excellent summary page at GeoNet: http://bit.ly/bzAbz1 (H/T: @eruptionsblog)
Some people are using a #NZquake twitter hashtag
Excuse me for filing so many comments, but I can never decide which is best: a rolling post that is constantly updated (which I prefer, but I stopped this…), or new titbits as comments. I keep changing my mind on this. A rolling post doesn’t pollute the comment stream on the top page, but it requires that people check in. Win-lose both ways I think. Or perhaps people would rather I shut up both ways?! …
Two loose thoughts not seen in news:
Many people have been without power for a couple of days. (A small number are still without power.) Most frozen food would have to be discarded. That’s a lot of frozen food to discard and replace.
What impact, if any, would this ‘quake have on the natural underground aquifer system that Canterbury relies on? (Not trying to scare-monger, just curious.)
[…] Earthquake, South Island, New Zealand […]
Via twitter:
Allochthonous: A poster on liquefaction risks around Christchurch (pdf). Interested to see how hazard map matches up to reality. http://bit.ly/9o3pxV
Be advised that the PDF is large!
A couple of more significant after-shocks tonight, magnitudes 5.2 and 5.4, both at 9km depth and 20km SW of Darfield, at 11:24pm and 11:40pm. They’re easy to spot on the McQueen’s Valley seismograph: http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/drums/mqz-drum.html
Another M5.4 overnight (3:24am).
A number of infographics of the after shocks are on-line, including from scibling Chris Dowell http://bit.ly/clQjZZ and elsewhere: http://bit.ly/9S4CAw http://twitpic.com/2ltxpk
(For what it’s worth, one of the reasons I chose the seismograph that I did was that it shows the “baseline” activity before the event to contrast with afterwards. I wouldn’t mind seeing the almost (but not quite) motionless “before” scenario in the infographics so that the activity of the after-shocks are better appreciated – ? If you look at the McQueen’s valley recording (http://bit.ly/9YHCLy) now it’s easy to see how “bumpy” things are compared to how quiet it usually is!)
After shocks may affect recovery, etc., work in short-term. Civil Defence has written asking not to contact them offering assistance, as they already have enough. Those wishing to donate goods are being asked to prefer to make a cash donation + contact details. More at Civil Defence advisory: http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/memwebsite.nsf
Question & answer at the Herald website (good effort guys):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10671458
Demolition of the old buildings is a bit sad to hear of. (Hey, it’s my hometown.)
The latest after-shock include a M5.1 event within 5km of Lyttelton at a depth of 6km:
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/3368445g.html
Reports are of further damage, including a report of damage to and closure of the Lyttelton road tunnel that is the main road connection between Lyttelton and Christchurch.
A long time-lapse map of the main event and after-shocks can be see here: http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/
You can nitpick these infograhics endlessly (everyone’s wants/needs are different…), but one thing that occurs to me is a tendency to think of the circles in terms of areas that the shock impacts, rather than being just a representation of the magnitude of the event. I found myself having to mentally remind myself that they’re not areas of impact. Ideally I would like to see the same thing, but plotted using effect on the ground but of course that could only be after lots of work gathering ground reports… One nice feature is that your can start from several different starting points, 3 hours ago, 6 hours ago, etc. The full thing takes quite a while to play.
One of the images seen on local television that has struck me is that of the Canterbury University library shelves toppled on their side. Here’s one on-line image of this (H/T @cpikas):
http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/recovery/photos/graphics/gallery/01Damage/images/IMG5059.jpg
I used to walk in those rows. The collapse shown on television (a different set of shelves I think) have re-enforcing bars that span one row and the next at the top, but it seems these weren’t enough to stop them from collapsing on one-another. Perhaps the re-enforcing braces simply weren’t strong enough?
[…] Earthquake, South Island, New Zealand (updated news is being posted as comments) […]
For a one-stop shop page with links to all the key official sites with information regards the earthquake, visit: http://www.canterburyearthquake.govt.nz/
(H/T: @five15design)
I shouldn’t quite say ‘all’ in that last comment, but you know what I mean. Most, the key ones, etc.
The Doug Copp earthquake advice is doing the rounds by email again (by again, I mean from years ago since when I first learnt of it):
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/canterbury-earthquake/4111313/Dangerous-quake-advice-circulated
The CD update has a number of services recommencing (schools able to open, bus services, water supply [with some exceptions], etc.):
http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/memwebsite.nsf
SMC Alert about psychological impacts:
http://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2010/09/09/expert-on-psychological-impacts-on-canterbury-quake-victims/
Looking at the GeoNet on-line seismographs and recent ’quake reports, it looks to me as if the last 24 hours will be — if I am correct — the first full day without a ‘quake equal to or exceeding magnitude 4.0 in the Canterbury region since the magnitude 7.1 event. It’s still pretty active compared to Canterbury’s usual “not much of anythingâ€.
The previous earthquake at or about magnitude 4.0 reported in the region was a magnitude 4.5 event at 10:03 am yesterday, centred 20km SW of Christchurch.
At least they’re getting something of a breather.
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/drums/mqz-drum.html
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html
A series 4-5 of close shallow aftershocks have occurred this evening within half an hour. One is reported M=3.8, but within 5 km of the city and at 8km depth, another M=4.1 again 12 minutes later within 5km of the city, at a depth of 7km.
GeoNet has slowed to a crawl. (I guess everyone knows the website address by now!)
Those wishing to follow might try the #eqnz twitter hashtag: https://twitter.com/#search?q=%23eqnz
A M4.0 occurred just 3 minutes after the M4.1 referred to above.
To help those outside NZ get a better perspective of these more modest ‘quakes if the central reference point for Christchurch is the Square, as I’d expect it to be, these events should be centred within the city boundaries.
A month to the day since the main event, has seen a magnitude 5.0 event, 30 km east of Darfield at a depth of 12km, which places the centre close to Christchurch:
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/3382676g-maps.html
Geologists have said that the after-shocks would continue for weeks, and they certainly are. Today saw a M5.0, 20km west of Christchurch (depth = 15km).
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/3388384g-maps.html
One tweet reports this is centred at a Winery and worries for the wine…: https://twitter.com/five15design/status/27209512129
Another wit wants to start CRAPT, Canterbury Residents Against Plate Tectonics, with the slogan ‘Stop the Movement’: https://twitter.com/kcolbin/status/27208737896
Yet another concludes ‘Sudden release of a build up of noxious fumes in South America blamed for new Christchurch earthquake’: https://twitter.com/2FBS/status/27209735889
(The first of the buried Chilean miners has been evacuated: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/4226029/First-of-33-trapped-Chilean-miners-rescued)
Follow #eqnz on twitter if you want more entertainment 😉
(URL: https://twitter.com/#search?q=%23EQNZ)
This report should interest, giving statistics on damaged properties, their location, etc.:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4258585/Quake-land-report-released
(They don’t give the original source and I’m out of time to locate it.)
Less than half an hour ago a M4.8 after shock occurred, centred 10 km to the NE of the city, near some of the worst affected suburbs of the main event on September 4th.
Readers might be interested to learn that for the most part I can tell if there has been a larger after-shock from seeing a cluster of visits to this post! Remote earthquake sensing by blog stats! 🙂
While the after shocks continue, this news briefing reports that burglaries rose ~22% in the period after the earthquake. Hot water cylinders were apparently one target, with water damage from removing them adding to the repair damage & costs.
According to NZ aftershocks were the BBC’s most read story on the day, see http://twitpic.com/3jv3bp
I was in an inner-city store when the 4.9 event occurred on Boxing Day. (A story for another article, perhaps.)
Several further >M=4 events occurred over the next 24 hours.
I can’t imagine anyone reads these added notes, but… there’s an excellent explanation of the aftershocks by Prof. Furlong in today’s Press:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/perspective/4576219/Aftershocks-exactly-what-we-expected
(H/T @five15design)
(He must tire of hearing people say this, and my apologies in advance, but isn’t furlong a good name for a geologist? It’s a good thing that it isn’t used much today or there’d be some confusion during field surveys.)
[…] Earthquake, South Island, New Zealand (The Sep. 4th event.) […]
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