Wellington Earthquakes 2013

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#863395 22-Jul-2013 10:19

"Google Now" reported the earthquake on my phone. I thought that was pretty cool.

sampler

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#863476 22-Jul-2013 12:16

Hey Everyone,

Another "gee jetstar are odd" post. Just contacted them to see if its possible to change flight dates away from this week (not 100% sure when yet) from Auckland to Wellington for a day trip with the kids. Quick answer even including their insurance there is no way to change a ticket without a "change fee" due to them not knowing about the earthquake in Wellington. Seemed happy to wave the "change fee" if they confirm an earthquake has happened.

I have always found a current little local knowledge about the market your operating in helps in all sorts of ways ....

Cheers

Lee

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#863486 22-Jul-2013 12:25

profrink

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#863488 22-Jul-2013 12:28

BigMal: "Google Now" reported the earthquake on my phone. I thought that was pretty cool.

Ditto. Not that I needed a notification to alert me!

I was walking the upper end of Cuba St with a friend, when she commented on someone banging a door, which turned into every door. The noise was intense.

With the realisation that this was going to be big, combined with remembering "oh crap we're on Cuba" and visions of falling debris I quickly moved us into a recessed doorway.

I was honestly surprised bits of facades didn't come down.

mattwnz

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#863532 22-Jul-2013 13:07

profrink:
BigMal: "Google Now" reported the earthquake on my phone. I thought that was pretty cool.

Ditto. Not that I needed a notification to alert me!

I was walking the upper end of Cuba St with a friend, when she commented on someone banging a door, which turned into every door. The noise was intense.

With the realisation that this was going to be big, combined with remembering "oh crap we're on Cuba" and visions of falling debris I quickly moved us into a recessed doorway.

I was honestly surprised bits of facades didn't come down.

I notified me too...but about 5 hours later..

Many of wellingtons older buildings have been strengthened, which is why we haven't seen as many problems as in chch, which had a very old building stock with many unreinforced masonry facades . Some of the facades in wellington are just plastered polystyrene now.
I would be more worried about collapsing verandas

lchiu7

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#863575 22-Jul-2013 13:44

I was Karori when it happened so power went out also.

Luckily my cellphone still worked (2D) and I got the Google Now notification not long after the event. It said 6.9 which I guess was the best information available at the time.

By the way at the house the landline still worked so next time you think about cutting the POTS cord and going VoIP, remember that regular phones are powered separately and are a good backup for communications.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

timmmay

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#863578 22-Jul-2013 13:49

I have no home phone line. We have regular phones, not smart phones, and while I could put my SIM into a MiFi and probably get it going along with my tablet it would be a hassle, and may not work. So I'm probably going to accelerate my decision to buy a smartphone, and probably change to a larger carrier with more resources - Vodafone or Telecom rather than 2degrees.

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profrink

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#863583 22-Jul-2013 13:56

timmmay:...and probably change to a larger carrier with more resources - Vodafone or Telecom rather than 2degrees.

Would that really make much of a difference though?

I had no issues last night with 2 Degrees in the CBD, where as it took the person I was with 15-20mins to be able to send SMS with her handset connected to Telecom.

mattwnz

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#863586 22-Jul-2013 14:02

I wonder what this is going to cost NZ, presuming that there aren't more larger ones to come in the near future. EQC is already stretched. Wonder what it means for future insurance premiums in Wellington now. Looks like a fair amount of damage, and I would expect some buildings may either have substantial repair needed or have to come down if not economic to repair.
I think a decent look at insurance needs doing, as some apartment buildings in wellington are now very high to insure, that some aren't doing it. That was why we had EQC and state insurance, so everyone could get affordable insurance no matter where they lived. If it is too expensive people won't insure, and I would expect it to cause property prices to fall.

timmmay

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#863591 22-Jul-2013 14:08

profrink:
timmmay:...and probably change to a larger carrier with more resources - Vodafone or Telecom rather than 2degrees.

Would that really make much of a difference though?

I had no issues last night with 2 Degrees in the CBD, where as it took the person I was with 15-20mins to be able to send SMS with her handset connected to Telecom.

Where I work the signal strength for 2degrees is so bad I have to stand by a window to check my email. According to a cell tower map it's because 2degrees only has one tower in the area on the opposite side of the buildling, whereas Vodafone and Telecom both have multiple towers dotted around. Coverage is also generally better for the older carriers. I was always happy enough with Vodafone, I left partly because of price, though I think they annoyed me about something as well - long forgotten now.

avecha

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#863715 22-Jul-2013 16:25

SEDDON earthquakes.

Haven't had a full nights sleep since wednesday. Woken up every 5 minutes.

Fred99

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#863738 22-Jul-2013 17:08

mattwnz:
profrink:
BigMal: "Google Now" reported the earthquake on my phone. I thought that was pretty cool.

Ditto. Not that I needed a notification to alert me!

I was walking the upper end of Cuba St with a friend, when she commented on someone banging a door, which turned into every door. The noise was intense.

With the realisation that this was going to be big, combined with remembering "oh crap we're on Cuba" and visions of falling debris I quickly moved us into a recessed doorway.

I was honestly surprised bits of facades didn't come down.

I notified me too...but about 5 hours later..

Many of wellingtons older buildings have been strengthened, which is why we haven't seen as many problems as in chch, which had a very old building stock with many unreinforced masonry facades . Some of the facades in wellington are just plastered polystyrene now.
I would be more worried about collapsing verandas

I suggest that while there may have been some success due to strengthening facades, a main reason for less damage is simply that peak ground acceleration in the Feb 22 Chch quake was measured at between 80 and 120%g in the CBD area (about 200% where I live including 180% vertical - things literally jumped on the air - even very modern houses blew apart). I believe that pga measurement in Karori was around or less than 10% g and mainly horizontal - shaking in Chch was about 30 times as intense, probably shorter duration, also shorter period (higher frequency), and including a very high vertical component.
The Wellington quake shaking force is well within design limits of the building code - the Chch quake exceeded code by at least 5x.
Not trying to downplay the Wgtn event vs Chch, but complacency isn't wise. We thought we'd done well between Sept 2010 and Feb 2011.

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#864233 23-Jul-2013 13:15

Finch

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#864271 23-Jul-2013 13:57

Dam that sounds scary from 21 seconds onwards

allan

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#864273 23-Jul-2013 13:59

lchiu7: I was Karori when it happened so power went out also.

Luckily my cellphone still worked (2D) and I got the Google Now notification not long after the event. It said 6.9 which I guess was the best information available at the time.

By the way at the house the landline still worked so next time you think about cutting the POTS cord and going VoIP, remember that regular phones are powered separately and are a good backup for communications.

So was I. Telecom 3G. I had voice and data, but no internet. I assume the internet back-haul broke when the power went off. I left for the airport before the power came back on, so I'm not sure how long that was the case.

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