But I notice the Christchurch Mayor called it "a sharp vicious shock". Was this an anthropomorphic or a theomorphic adjectival usage? Seems to me if you build a city over two converging plates then christen it Christchurch, you're really asking for an occasional good shaking.
The rude awakening (literally) was likened by a friend in the Cashmere foothills to "being in severe turbulence in an aircraft".
Fearing the house was about to collapse and after losing his balance, he fell down stairs in darkness in the rush to get out. His father, my former primary school headmaster, just pulled up the bedclothes.
Power has been restored but people are advised to boil water. The $2 billion dollar property damage is unevenly spread. It'll be a much-needed boost for the local building industry.
Aftershocks (of the power of medium-sized earthquakes) were continuing even this morning (GMT). Should be the last big shake-up that Christchurch gets for a while (plate pressure having been relieved); meanwhile, Wellington is over-due for The Big One.
Apologies to all my Aotearoan readers, Pákehá or Máori, for my flippant comment above. Blame John for inviting a riposte.
The Christchurch casualties were light (especially for those who stayed in bed like your wise headmaster, Clive) in contrast with the effects of strength 7.0 quakes with similar features elsewhere. NZ's biggest aftershock may be an influx of dole-weary building-bubble-bust Irish builders without the IT skills to keep them at home.
OAE, most of NZ is in line for a good shaking, it being on one end of the Pacific Ring of Fire. (Japan and the Aleutian Islands in the middle and Chile at the other end of the "Ring"). The capital Wellington is on top of a major fault line that can be traced north through three volcanoes, Rotorua and to White Island. And now we can safely say, also traced south to Christchurch.
The NZ building code is strict but it has to be acknowledged that if you really have to have an earthquake, 4:30 AM is probably about the best time of day or night to get it going (in terms of minimising casualties). If it'd been midday, there would have been a high likelihood of fatalities from falling walls and masonry from older buildings in the city centre. The bloke still in hospital is thought to have suffered a heart attack.
Permalink Reply by matt on September 5, 2010 at 23:10
If you look at the Rimu St link above you will find this re Days Bay;
The Days built their house in the bay and operated a schooner that ferried early settlers between the Hutt Valley and Wellington. After their house was severely damaged by an earthquake, the Day family left the bay in November 1849 aboard the schooner Flirt, which was captained by their eldest son George Fredrick Day, and sailed to Lyttelton in Canterbury, where the settlement of Christchurch took place.