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Hi;

My family and I are fine. Divepak lives a good distance further south and should be OK.

The first quake was pretty awful but this one, while being smaller on the richter scale, was closer and shallower. It also appeared to be lateral shaking rather than vertical, which the first one appeared to be. Buildings that had survived the first shake and 4000 aftershocks were probably slowly being undermined (although very regularly checked). This time they came down, and not just heritage buildings (altough they've been seriously thumped this time too). The central city has been seriously damaged with liquifaction.

I went INTO town to pick up my son. A picture of the liquifaction covering cars as I tried to drive past

This heritage church had survived the first quake and was shored up.

Not enough to last this one though - it is totalled. But thankfully also will not have had people in it.

Another church. All of the side fascias blown out. They might be able to save this one..

And this is one of the older pubs on the old main road into/out of Christchurch - just across the intersection from the church in the previous shot. It also got through the first quake with damage - don't think it will make it this time.

Thanks for checking in, Al.  Great to hear you and your family are ok.  But our thoughts and prayers are with your countrymen..... again.  [:(]

Glad to hear that you are OK Wobs. It looks like pretty heavy damage.

NO, not the Pub, damn earthquake !

Good that you and your family are ok.

Good to hear you and yours are ok Al! [&o]
I always thought NZ was a peaceful spot down under...
Mother Nature has really been after both Oz and Nz this year!

Good to see that you all are ok, shame about the pub [;)]

This is a post from another forum I read:

Yes I live up in Auckland quite some distance from the quake zone, but yeah this one is going to affect the whole country one way or another.    New Zealand is only about the same size and Colorado and has a similar population of around 4 million.   Most people in NZ would know someone or have family living in the area.

Around 360,000 people live in the quake zone.   There are around 160,000 houses, and they estimate that around 100,000 of them have been damaged in some way.

The aftershocks have been rather ongoing, and the folks down south have had a number of sleepless nights.   Now that the initial shock of the quake has worn off, people are now facing the reality of the long term ongoing disruption, from those who have damaged houses, to those whose places of work...  especially the older pre-WW2 concrete buildings in the downtown area which collapsed, or need to be demolished because they are beyond repair.    For some people their workplace or office building simply no longer exists.

Today they announced that one of the supermarkets, in one of the badly hit areas will need to close for a year so that it can be re-built.   That supermarket employs over 80 people.    This will only be the beginning as other business are forced to close because of the quake.

Buck

Glad to hear you are OK Al! Thanks for the pictures. George was talking about "Taking the war to the Home Islands ..." I am not sure what this actually means ...

Walter

I have several friends who live in NZ but they are all around Hamilton way up on the North island so I'm guessing they're fine. My heart goes out to everyone in Christchurch and NZ.

My heart goes out to everyone in Christchurch and NZ.

+1

ORIGINAL: aprezto

Hi;

My family and I are fine. Divepak lives a good distance further south and should be OK.

The first quake was pretty awful but this one, while being smaller on the richter scale, was closer and shallower. It also appeared to be lateral shaking rather than vertical, which the first one appeared to be. Buildings that had survived the first shake and 4000 aftershocks were probably slowly being undermined (although very regularly checked). This time they came down, and not just heritage buildings (altough they've been seriously thumped this time too). The central city has been seriously damaged with liquifaction.

I went INTO town to pick up my son. A picture of the liquifaction covering cars as I tried to drive past

Wow..that is an amazing amount of liquifaction! Is the area an old riverbed or fill? Can you imagine all the foundations?

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

Heard it just now!

Hey I hope all of you guys in the Christchurch area are ok!!!

Good luck over there, I wish I could do something to help. [:(]

Same here (regarding LoBaron's post) Has me worried! This is so devastating! I hope everyone will be ok. I saw the coverage on TV tonight. It broke my heart. I hope we can provide any assistance we can!

TOMLABEL

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

ORIGINAL: aprezto

Hi;

My family and I are fine. Divepak lives a good distance further south and should be OK.

The first quake was pretty awful but this one, while being smaller on the richter scale, was closer and shallower. It also appeared to be lateral shaking rather than vertical, which the first one appeared to be. Buildings that had survived the first shake and 4000 aftershocks were probably slowly being undermined (although very regularly checked). This time they came down, and not just heritage buildings (altough they've been seriously thumped this time too). The central city has been seriously damaged with liquifaction.

I went INTO town to pick up my son. A picture of the liquifaction covering cars as I tried to drive past

Wow..that is an amazing amount of liquifaction! Is the area an old riverbed or fill? Can you imagine all the foundations?

Hi Cap;

Yes Canterbury is on a large alluvial plain. A lot of the city was built on drained swamp land too. In hindsight not such a clever step. Liquifaction has hit in spades. Out my gate there are very regular mounds of silt 2 metres high (pushed there by residents or road workers). Silt Silt everywhere.
My house is standing. I have power. I have Internet. I have running water - although of dubious quality and pressure. Just no waste water. Managed to restock the food this morning. All in all - we are in very good shape. So much better off than others.
My immediate boss is camping in his back lawn - his house has cracked in two. His boss' house has filled with half a meter of silt and slumped to one side - will also have to be bowled. I work for a general practitioner support company, one of our surgeries was in one of the towers that fell - of the 11 (at the latest estimate) there at the time one survived.
Certainly it is unreal

Azprezto

Good to see that you have come through.

I've been watching a lot of coverage on Sky, as many reporters had been affected in some way its been good. Sadly the lot that arrived from OZ have been a bit tmore dramatic.
After comparing their coverage of the Cyclone with the comments from my sister who lives in Cardwell (about 30km from the eye) I prefer to watch the pictures and turn down the sound.
Sad because its such a terrible occaision. i also live in a town that was burnt out many years back so my wife's family have memories of similar devastation & loss of life.

Someone wrote of OZ being a land of "Droughts & Flooding Rains", what did they write about the shaky islands??

I booked a trip to CChurch on 1 Sept last year, for travel starting 3 March. (Maybe its all my fault, we went to Ayers Rock last year and got flooded out of Kings Canyon & the Todd flowed twice during our stay!)

So after checking with the Motels & car company I'll fly in at midnight, stay a night and head to Dunnydin and the Southland for a fortnight.

ORIGINAL: aprezto

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

ORIGINAL: aprezto

Hi;

My family and I are fine. Divepak lives a good distance further south and should be OK.

The first quake was pretty awful but this one, while being smaller on the richter scale, was closer and shallower. It also appeared to be lateral shaking rather than vertical, which the first one appeared to be. Buildings that had survived the first shake and 4000 aftershocks were probably slowly being undermined (although very regularly checked). This time they came down, and not just heritage buildings (altough they've been seriously thumped this time too). The central city has been seriously damaged with liquifaction.

I went INTO town to pick up my son. A picture of the liquifaction covering cars as I tried to drive past

Wow..that is an amazing amount of liquifaction! Is the area an old riverbed or fill? Can you imagine all the foundations?

Hi Cap;

Yes Canterbury is on a large alluvial plain. A lot of the city was built on drained swamp land too. In hindsight not such a clever step. Liquifaction has hit in spades. Out my gate there are very regular mounds of silt 2 metres high (pushed there by residents or road workers). Silt Silt everywhere.
My house is standing. I have power. I have Internet. I have running water - although of dubious quality and pressure. Just no waste water. Managed to restock the food this morning. All in all - we are in very good shape. So much better off than others.
My immediate boss is camping in his back lawn - his house has cracked in two. His boss' house has filled with half a meter of silt and slumped to one side - will also have to be bowled. I work for a general practitioner support company, one of our surgeries was in one of the towers that fell - of the 11 (at the latest estimate) there at the time one survived.
Certainly it is unreal

I am glad to hear you are ok. Terrible news about the loss of life.

I'll be heading to a fundraiser put on by the local Kiwi Chamber of Commerce, of which I am a member, and NZ Embassy this evening. I've got quite a few NZ friends and clients and this is a shocker. Although I lost an Aussie friend in the Queensland floods, I think everyone I know survived this one. Of course, that's no comfort for those with family and friends buried under rubble.

All the best to you Kiwis on this forum. I'm sure you'll pull through this and be better than ever.

Cheers,
CC