Home is probably the best place to be while an earthquake is rattling everything around us. Homes in New Zealand are built to high standards to withstand earthquakes – although nothing is safe from an absolute monster quake. WE were dozing in bed just after midnight when the bed started shaking, we could hear the house creaking, and it just went on and on. A quick check on the internet told us that the epicenter was in the South Island. Quake over, Robin got up to make sure that our caravan hadn’t come off it’s legs and rolled away through the village. Then we tried to settle back to sleep, missing out on all the aftershocks which followed.
According to the GeoNet Website, a severe magnitude 7.5 quake struck near Culverden in North Canterbury at 12:02am at a depth of 15 kilometres. The Kaikoura coast has suffered widespread damage following the quake shortly after midnight, as has parts of Canterbury and Wellington. It is now confirmed that in fact a quake collision happened – which is two separate but related quakes going on.
Huge slip damages the main road on the Kaikoura coast.
We were glued to the TV this morning, watching as pictures came in of the damage. Helicopters flying Prime Minister John Key over the damaged roads and railways in the South Island sent back very sobering pictures indeed. So far the death toll has been very low, but with all this damage there are sure to be people and vehicles missing.
Photo: ANTHONY PHELPS/REUTERS Local residents look at damage along State Highway 1 near Ward.
Personally, we are both fine, and thanks to those sending messages to check on us. This event is very sobering, and reminds us that New Zealand really is “The Shaky Isles”. There will surely be a long recovery period to repair all the damage, and get people’s lives back on track again.
3 comments:
I’m glad you are safe. We’ve checked with family and friends and they are safe too. I confess, I’m not sure I could happily live in such a shaky place. Ah well. We each have our own natural phenomena to deal with. :-)
Thank you Katie for your concern. There is a lot of roading and railway lines which need fixing, so that will tale a long time, I imagine.
Yes, we get used to our own disasters, guess earthquakes aren't too bad. Don't think we could cope with the Australian wild fires every summer, like the Aussies go through.
Jenny
So glad that everything was OK at your place. Just as well there are stringent building codes. The photos show how dramatic the effects were.
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