Are our kiwi buddies OK?

Doug S.

The protoplasm may be 72, but the spirit is 32!
Lifetime Supporter
Just heard on the news about the earthquakes in the Christchurch area....hope all our members from New Zealand are OK.

Looked like some rather severe damages to me!

Cheers from Doug!!
 

Brian Stewart
Supporter
Thanks for thinking of us. No fatalities at this stage, but some major structural damage.
 

Russ Noble

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Thanks for the thoughts guys. Both Lim and I, and our property, have come through relatively unscathed.

There is a lot of infrastructural damage, water, power, sewage, which will affect everyone here in Chch. Boiling and conservation of drinking water is a priority. Much of the power has now been restored during the day. Many older brick multistorey buildings mainly in the CBD have lost walls or parts of walls, some have been completely destroyed. No tsunami but major groundwater flooding from the river and broken water mains in some of the eastern suburbs.

We are pretty lucky though only a couple of major injuries and no fatalities. So we'll clean up and get on with life but the big problem I fear is the time it will take to repair all the underground services. That may cause some lifestyle changes and require extra precautions for some time.
 
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I phoned my cousin Mark and family in Christchurch, and they were OK but their whole house had been shaken and bent, the water head tank in the ceiling had shaken enough to pour water through the first floor ceiling and the pipe to the ballcock had been snapped off. They were lucky and their power and water has been restored. But they were still suffering aftershocks, of a scale about 4, when I talked to them some hours ago. I'm glad that people are generally OK, though getting back to normal takes time, as Russ said. I've felt a few mild earthquakes while a youngster in NZ, and the forces involved are really frightening.
 
Hi Guys,thanks for the concern.I have spoken to Russ and Lim and we all seamed to miss the major structual damage that the city centre got.We just had a few things fall off the wall and off the shevles in the pantry(Lim lost a bottle or 2 of whiskey).Still getting a lot of after shocks(hourly at times).Once again many thanks for the concern.Cheers Leon
 
I'm not home at the moment, but my wife has been in contact with the news and I have sent emails to my friends in CHCH, Russ and Leon have replyed all OK still haven't heard from another Mate but he lives a little out of town and I'm sure he will be fine. NZ gets a lot of shakes, part of living on the Pacific Ring, good to hear no fatalities. Leonmac
 
Most of my immediate family live in Christchurch. My sister had a hole open up on her lawn, and a mountain of sand got pushed up followed by a large amount of water which flooded the backyard, then it all got sucked back again and the yard now looks relatively normal again. Weird.

My heavy 6 1/2ft grandfather clock that resides at my mothers and has been in the family for five generations tipped over and smashed which I was a bit upset over. But everyone is safe and at the end of the day that is all that matters.

The neighbour at my father's address cannot open or close any of the doors inside his house as they are all jammed in the position they were when the quake hit.

Lots of chimneys down, lots of cracks in the roads, and infrastructure damage that will take some time to fix.

I have been getting phone calls this evening saying the aftershocks are still pretty strong, so I hope everyone there is A-okay.

Plus while there is no power and sewerage to many, there is a storm coming, with damaging winds forecast and -2 degrees C overnight. Fingers crossed that it won't be too bad and that power is restored asap.


Cam
Auckland, NZ
 
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Ron Earp

Admin
I hope all you folks are alright down there. Don't sink yet, I still want to come down and visit! Keep us posted.

Ron
 

flatchat(Chris)

Supporter
Jac, Jac, Jac Mac you dere ?

Sure rattled a few buildings this time --pleased to hear of no major casualties

--anyone seen the movie " 2012 " hmmmm
 
Hi guys, thanks you for thinking of us. Luckily no one got killed. My side of town have no power and water for about 8 hrs. Lost a few things in the pantry and a bit messy in the garage. Peoples rushed to fill up their car with petrol, just in case there is a Tsunami on the way. Thank you again for all your concern.
LIM
 

Pete McCluskey.

Lifetime Supporter
I'm really glad that no one was badly injured. Looking at some of the damage done it seems like a miracle that no one was hurt.
All the best Bro.
 

Russ Noble

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Thanks Pete.

Two people are in Intensive Care one from falling masonary the other from flying glass. One death, the victim of a quake induced heart attack. Thats really a remarkably light list of serious casualties.

I've just been out this morning for a bit of a look around some of the suburban residential areas where by far the majority of Christchurch inhabitants live. The traditional "1/4 acre pavlova paradise". It hasn't been that for some time though, with new sections getting smaller and the original 1/4 acre ones subdivided with infill housing.

Nevertheless, still low density housing, mainly single storey with some two storey dwellings. Generally the majority of homes appear intact, although quite a few chimneys are down, but thats hardly major. Obviously there are some unlucky ones whio have sustained major damage, but it appears that by far the greatest percentage of residences are reasonably unscathed. This mainly thanks to our building codes which have been developed over the years to a standard that are more resistant to a certain amount of earthquake activity.

Very few people (relatively) live in the hard hit CBD, which has been pretty seriously decimated. A lot of older double brick construction mainly two or three storey buildings in this area. Approx one square kilometer surrounding Cathedral Square, the hub of the CBD, has been cordonned off to all but the official emergency clean up services working under the direction of of structural and civil engineers and the Urban Search And Rescue teams. Apparently all rubble is being checked by dogs for possibly buried victims before the heavy machinery is allowed to touch it. So far noone has been found there.

Water reticulation and power is back on for many of the suburbs, with the recommendation to boil drinking water for 3 minutes. There is very little new information on the state of sewerage system but it has obviously taken a big hit in some areas and probably but less obviously in others. It would be nice to know which areas can use it and which can't....

Just had another sharp aftershock as I type this. These are still coming through fairly frequently. Big worry now is gale force winds forecast for later today which may well topple damaged walls and other structurally compromised fixtures.
 
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Pat

Supporter
+1 on the updates.
We're glad you're safe and hope things get back to normal as quickly as possible.
 
A little update:

There were two aftershocks during the night last night, 5.2 and 5.4. Some buildings that were previously given the okay are now being reassessed due to the continued quakes. Seismologists have stated that traditionally the biggest aftershock is normally around 1 pt less than the original shake so an aftershock up to 6.2 is still possible.

Everyone is nervous and as the worst shakes have happened during the night, most people are struggling to sleep.

My sister was walking along a road today and passed by an old lady who was watching her house being demolished by a digger. The house had been deemed unsafe and the lady was inconsolable and crying watching the demolition. There are thousands of houses that will need demolishing.

It seems money is not an issue as an earthquake commission in NZ has been financially prepared should such a disaster strike.

The problem is re-establishing water, sewerage, power, and phone services in a timely manner, and housing the large amount of people in temporary accommodation.

My 9yr old and 10 yr old nieces are not handling the aftershocks at all well, and there are countless people who have lost everything.

The upside is that the city's people are gathering around each other to support those that need help, and the kiwi spirit of friendliness and good deeds is very much alive and well.

I am very thankful that my parents and siblings and friends who all live in the affected area are well and coping under the circumstances.

Cam
Auck, NZ
 
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