Mother Earth has no mercy for CHCH

Since the September 4 earthquake (magnitude: 7,1) in Christchurch we've been getting used to hearing about new quakes and aftershocks in that city, but when Scott called me from work yesterday to tell me about the new earthquake it sounded like this was a real nasty one. It took a while before the TV started showing footage and it was only when I left the house around 5 to start my daily census (volkstelling) round that I found most of my respondents in front of the tv, watching the continuous updates. The number of casualties was rising by the hour and the images were shocking. Everyone was very concerned. In every house people were glued to the tv, radio or internet. Many opened the door with the phone in their hand, looking extremely worried. I think we all have relatives and friends in Christchurch and that makes it so much more real. The phone networks were not functioning properly of course, with all those Kiwi's trying to get in touch with each other.

This earthquake was 'only' 6,3, but much more shallow. Unlike last time, when the city got hit on a Saturday night, it happened during lunchtime on a week day. Buildings came down on commuter buses, people on the streets, office buildings and hotels collapsed with lots of people still trapped in them. At the moment rescue workers are focusing on getting the survivors out, leaving the bodies on the streets (and in those buses...). Many of them have not been identified yet.

Two Belgian backpackers, who had just arrived to CHCH, managed to escape from their hostel, went into the city and were shocked at what they saw. Here's an article about them in Dutch (with excellent pictures of the destruction): http://standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20110222_041


On the Geonet website every earth quake in NZ is reported: http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html. Just look at the frequency of the aftershocks! This is what the poor people of CHCH have been going through after the September 4 earthquake and those shocks continued on a regular basis until this new earthquake. They will have another couple of months of shocks ahead of them. How do they cope with this? I would just pack my bags and leave!

Thanks for all the concern that you've shown! Fortunately we're living 500 km and a ferry crossing away from CHCH. The weird thing is that Wellington, the capital, which is 60 km south of our place is right on a faultline. Basically, if earthquakes have to take place, it's right here, and not on the South Island! Not that this is reassuring news for you...