Christchurch Earthquake discussion [2011-02-22]

Forums › Off topic › Christchurch Earthquake discussion [2011-02-22]

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Ultimate Geek

#442480 22-Feb-2011 17:40

vexxxboy: that's two earthquakes Snap has survived so im grateful for that, but what a mess, you have to wonder if Christchurch can keep going.

Snap are running on diesel generator atm with Commec working hard to keep the tanks full

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#442487 22-Feb-2011 18:16

Network updates will be provided on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Our EQNZ lines have been reactivated for Christchurch and Canterbury customers. Residential customers requiring special assistance, such as free landline to mobile call diversions, can call us on 0508 24 24 11 (CH CH 11).

Business customers can call 0508 24 24 12 (CH CH 12) should they need assistance with their services.

We have our a page for staff and families to support each other here: http://www.facebook.com/ChristchurchEarthquakeSupport

Please, staff in Christchurch can you call 0508 Office (633423) to check in if you have not done so.

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#442488 22-Feb-2011 18:21

John Key, PM just confirmed 65 dead in CHC quake so far, live on TV One News.

Not a good day for New Zealand.

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#442489 22-Feb-2011 18:21

jaymz: Any word from anyone in Lyttelton? Reports of the area is "unlivable"

Yeh thats what we've been told as well. Main street is demolished. We still have a cousin whos over there and we cant contact him because the phones are still out and the tunnel is blocked off.

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#442495 22-Feb-2011 18:58

Wow, wow, wow. No power in home so this is through Vodafone Cell. I hope all the Chch GZ members are alright. Our home is a mess, houses around us are either untouched or rubble. I haven't read through all the pages sorry (net dodgy) but how's the cell networks? Any word on which sites are offline?

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#442496 22-Feb-2011 18:59

There's a #eqnz IRC channel on http://webchat.freenode.net.

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#442497 22-Feb-2011 19:03

Received this from Science Media Centre:

Q1: Just how bad is an earthquake of magnitude 6.3?
Dr Gideon Rosenbaum is a Lecturer in the School of Earth Sciences, at The University of Queensland:

"A magnitude 6.3 earthquake can be devastating in one place and quite harmless in another. It depends on many factors. Most important is the distance of the epicentre from populated areas. As far as I understand, the earthquake today was shallower and closer to Christchurch in comparison to the September earthquake. The type of rocks in the affected areas are also very important. Hard rocks are stronger and more resistant, whereas soft rocks, particularly if wet, can amplify the seismic effect (a process called liquefaction). I think that Christchurch is built on silt that was affected by this process."

Dr Gary Gibsonis Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"A magnitude 6.3 earthquake will occur when an active fault area approximately 15 km square ruptures, and one side moves about one metre relative to the other. Its effect depends on how close it is, and ground shaking will be severe within 10 to 20 kilometres of the rupture."

Q2: Should we expect further large earthquakes in the area? Are aftershocks likely?
Dr Gideon Rosenbaum is a Lecturer in the School of Earth Sciences, at The University of Queensland:

"Aftershock are common after big earthquakes."

Dr Gary Gibson,is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne.

"The September earthquake and this earthquake will have relieved the majority of stress in the regions in which they occurred, so another larger earthquake is unlikely. However, aftershocks will certainly occur over the next few days and weeks which may cause further damage in weakened buildings, and will be very distressing for residents."

Q3: Is there a geological reason for multiple large earthquakes occurring within such a short time? (Both worldwide and also in that area of NZ)
Dr Gary Gibson,is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"Earthquakes always cluster in time and space with some large earthquakes having foreshocks and most large earthquakes have many aftershocks. Multiple large earthquakes are not uncommon, often when the main rupture of the earlier event is extended into an adjacent segment of the active fault."

Q4: Why is the New Zealand south island so geologically active?
Dr Gideon Rosenbaum is a Lecturer in the School of Earth Sciences, at The University of Queensland:

"The New Zealand South Island is dissected by a plate boundary zone. The Pacific and Australian plate are moving in respect to each other. The boundary itself is in the West coast (Alpine Fault), but some active faults are leaked to the East."

Dr Gary Gibson,is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"New Zealand is on the tectonic plate boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Australia-India Plate. The plate boundary is east of the North Island and crosses to the west of South Island. Christchurch is not on the plate boundary, but is near to related secondary faults that result from the bend in the plate boundary to the north. On average large earthquakes will occur less frequently in Christchurch than along the plate boundary, as has been the case for the last 200 years. However all earthquakes in the Christchurch region will be shallow, so the effect of a given earthquake will be worse than from a deeper plate boundary earthquake of the same magnitude."

Q5: How does this rate historically against other earthquakes?
Dr Gary Gibson,is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"This is by far the largest earthquake to have occurred in the Christchurch region in historic time. Earthquakes larger than magnitude 6.0, usually deeper than this event, occur about annually in New Zealand, including one of magnitude 7.8 that occurred in the remote southwest of South Island in July 2009 with little damage."

Q6: Why is NZ seemingly more prone to earthquakes than Australia? Is a similar earthquake likely to occur in Australia?
Dr Gideon Rosenbaum is a Lecturer in the School of Earth Sciences, at The University of Queensland:

"The Australian continent is quite far from the boundaries of the Australian plate. There are quite a lot of so called intraplate earthquakes, but these are normally quite small."

Dr Gary Gibson,is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"New Zealand is more prone to earthquakes because it is on the plate boundary and has many plate boundary earthquakes. Large earthquakes occur infrequently in Australia. In all of Australia a magnitude 6.0 or larger event occurs on average every ten years. In the capital cities of Australia, a nearby magnitude 6.0 will occur on average every few thousand years. All earthquakes in Australia are at shallow depth, similar to those in about Christchurch."

Q7: Is it possible to predict earthquake activity? How much better are we at predicting them and how good can we hope to get?
Dr Gary Gibson,is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"It is not possible to predict earthquakes, giving location, time of occurrence and magnitude, with certainty. Aftershocks have continued at a decreasing rate since the September earthquake. Recent aftershocks have been east of the original rupture."

Q8: Are there engineering or town planning measures which could be improved to reduce the impact of earthquakes?
Dr Gary Gibson,is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"Building standards are already very high in New Zealand, but are upgraded as knowledge develops, and as higher standards become economically viable."

Q9: Any other comments or thoughts about the subject would also be extremely appreciated!
Dr Gary Gibson,is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"The critical issue with this earthquake was that the epicentre was at shallow depth under Christchurch, so many people were within 10 to 20 km of the fault rupture. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake on 4 September 2010 was 30 to 40 kilometres west of Christchurch and ruptured mainly to the west."

Q10: Is there a connection between Christchurch and Manilla (stories just starting to run on wires that Manilla has been shaken by a quake).
Dr Gary Gibson is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"The earthquake south-west of Manilla was not unusual for the Philippines. There is no connection to the Christchurch activity."

Adam Pascale is Head of Seismology at Environmental Systems & Services:

"Highly unlikely. Earthquake energy can only trigger faults in the immediate area in a short time frame - there is simply not enough energy from an event of this size to directly trigger an event in a very distant location."

Q11: Why was this quake more damaging than the last one - the Wires say it's because it was much shallower? Why does a shallower quake cause more damage than a deeper one?
Dr Gary Gibson is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"The earthquake fault rupture in September began about 40 km west of Christchurch and ruptured for another 40 km heading off to the west, away from Christchurch. The earthquake this morning was smaller with a rupture of about 15 x 15 km at shallow depth immediately under Christchurch, so the shaking was much stronger."

Adam Pascale is Head of Seismology at Environmental Systems & Services:

"This earthquake was only 10km from Christchurch and 5km deep. The Darfield event was 40km away from Christchurch and 10km deep. Although the Darfield earthquake was almost 10 times larger, the ground motion had significantly attenuated by the time it reached Christchurch."

Q12: Also, is this quake part of the classic scene were somewhere hit by a quake gets more in the months afterwards? If so why does this happen?
Dr Gary Gibson is Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences ,University of Melbourne:

"All shallow, large earthquakes are followed by many aftershocks that can last from days to months. Sometimes the rupture from the earlier earthquake is extended by another relatively large earthquake."

Adam Pascale is Head of Seismology at Environmental Systems & Services

"Earthquakes tend to cluster in time and space. The stress built up in a particular area will release over a geologically short period of time assuming the area is comprised of similar strengths of rock. It is likely that events will continue to occur in the area until the underlying structure has settled back into a formation where it can again start to absorb the stress from tectonic plate movements."

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#442500 22-Feb-2011 19:12

been watching it on the news, scary stuff.

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#442502 22-Feb-2011 19:15

Support has been massive, just had some of our customers drop off our diesel to us at Unleash since we are on Generator Power + we have another customer en-route bringing us cooked food.

It's been a devastating day, but for those that have pulled through, make sure your family is alright then focus on yourself.

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#442514 22-Feb-2011 19:32

Another update from Civil Defence:

1850hrs
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake has occurred 10km south-east of Christchurch at 12:51, February 22, 2011. Depth (focal depth): 5km.

This has been followed by a number of aftershocks, the largest a magnitude 5.7 which was 6km deep and centred 10km east of Canterbury. There are areas of liquefaction in the central city, as well as telecommunications and power outages and reports of water in the streets.

See also: http://canterburyearthquake.org.nz/Damage

Damage assessment:
The Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management (MCDEM) is assessing information with the assistance of scientific advisors and Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Groups.

The National Crisis Management Centre has been activated.

To minimise loading on the telecommunications network, people should use txt messaging to check if friends and family are safe

There are reports of fatalities and injuries and widespread building collapse (especially in the central city).
17 deaths have been confirmed.

The earthquake was felt widely across the South Island.

Christchurch City declared a state of emergency at 1445 hrs.

National agencies have been activated and are being coordinated via the National Crisis Management Centre.

The National Crisis Management Centre is anticipating a need for temporary accommodation due to the extensive building damage.

Urban Search and Rescue
Task Force 2 (Christchurch) is understood to be inoperable. Task Force 1 (Palmerston North) is being mobilised. Task Force 3 (Auckland) is in Christchurch. USAR support from Australia is being mobilised, while support from the United States in on standby.

Hospitals and Medical Centres
Christchurch hospital is operational (contrary to some media reports) and one ward has been evacuated. Only attend A and E at the hospital if absolutely essential. For other injuries, contact your nearest after hours medical centre.

The District Health Boards are communicating to coordinate support requirements.

Hospitals in other areas are prepared to receive patients if required.

Emergency centres
Emergency centres are located at Addington Raceway and Burnside School.

Airport status
Christchurch International Airport is open for emergency flights only. The runway is being assessed. Other South Island airports are open. Air New Zealand will not be flying until at least 1900 hours today.

Port status
Damage reported but extent unconfirmed.

Electricity
The Transpower main transmission grid reports no major issues. Orion is reporting significant local distribution network outages.

Telecomms
Vodafone and Telecom are advising customers to limit their calls or to use text only.

Water
There are reports of broken water pipes and associated flooding.

Waste water (sewerage)
There are reports of broken water pipes and associated flooding.

People in the affected area should:
Expect aftershocks. Each time one is felt, drop, cover, and hold on.
Check yourself first for injuries and get first aid if necessary before helping injured or trapped persons.
Assess your home or workplace for damage. If the building appears unsafe get everyone out. Use the stairs, not an elevator and when outside, watch out for fallen power lines or broken gas lines. Stay out of damaged areas.
Look for and extinguish small fires if it is safe to do so. Fire is a significant hazard following earthquakes.
Listen to the radio for updated emergency information and instructions.
Do not overload phone lines with non-emergency calls.
Help people who require special assistance - infants, elderly people, those without transportation, families who may need additional help, people with disabilities, and the people who care for them.
Detailed safety advice will come from local authorities and emergency services in the area. People should act on it promptly. MCDEM, local civil defence authorities and scientific advisors are closely monitoring the situation.

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#442517 22-Feb-2011 19:41

http://christchurch.crowdmap.com is a crowdsourced map with information/events around Christchurch

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#442518 22-Feb-2011 19:42

Website with up to date information about the earthquake, safety information, civil defence updates http://canterburyearthquake.org.nz

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#442560 22-Feb-2011 21:02

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4688789/Messages-for-the-missing

Look at all those people who are missing loved ones. Its horrific. Dark dark day for NZ

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#442563 22-Feb-2011 21:04

Terrible :(

Do whatever you want to do man.

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#442577 22-Feb-2011 21:39

Wellington Airport (https://www.facebook.com/WellingtonAirport) would like to know if anyone in Wellington and surrounding areas have spare beds/accommodation to please contact them (confcent@wellingtonairport.co.nz) with the number of beds available and whether you can pick people up from the airport.

We can expect some temporary refugees :C

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