7.1 Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand

[240znz]

7.1 magnitude, 10km deep, 30km from the city where we live, fault line is 100km long and shifted 5 metres.

Being woken by that was no fun. Watching your kids running down the hall screaming as they literally get thrown into the walls isn't much fun either, we all huddled in a doorway waiting for the horror to end. Very very scary.

All in shock really. Power came back on at 10:30am for us. We are being told to conserve and boil water. Our emergency cupboard worked well with torches, candles and radio. If you haven't got this then please do so as soon as you can.

This could have have been oh so worse. Lucky this happened at 4:35am Saturday morning. In a city of over 400,000 people, only one is in intensive care. City is closed down as brick facades down everywhere. High rises are OK. Pleny of sand volcano's everywhere as the ground liquafied. Just crazy.

Zed is happy under it's cover with only a bottle of Jenilite falling down off a cupboard and now trying to eat my beer fridge. Just a few broken glasses and knocked over bookcases.

Cheers

James

[Walter Moore]

Glad to hear that you are alright. Hang in there!

[JimmyZ]

Thank God only one person was hurt. That in itself is pretty amazing. Good to hear that your Z made it through. Natural disasters suck.

[auzziez]

Best of luck Mate! Prayers and thoughts to you and your family.

[JohnnyO]

Wishing all of you in NZ the best. Glad to hear that there were no casualties.

John

[geezer]

James, I'm glad to hear that a much greater tragedy was narrowly missed and also that you and your family escaped injury and didn't experience serious property damage. It seems that natural disasters are becoming more frequent in recent years around the globe.

[sblake01]

Good to hear that you're okay over there.

[Steve Parmley]

I'm glad to hear that most everyone is OK and I hope your kids are feeling better. Christchurch is such a beautiful city but it sounds like some of the buildings took a hit. Bricks down and liquefaction - like the San Francisco quake I was in.

[Gary in NJ]

Having never experienced an earthquake, I can't imagine the confusion and horror. Best of luck to you, your family, and your countrymen.

[olzed]

Yes, I second everyones kind remarks.The Z community is a great thing. We live in Auckland which is in the North Island, and thankfully hundreds of miles from this disaster. We were in Christchurch just over a week ago and were on a tourist train which goes through Darfield which is very close to the epicentre. Fortunately this area is not heavily populated. Thank God we were safe at home in our beds when this happened!!

[240znz]

Three zeds didn't fear so well around the city.

Gnose 260 2+2 hit by falling bricks.

280zx hit by falling bricks.

350z hit by items stored in garage rafters.

Same magnitude as the Haiti quake. We are blessed that no-one was killed. We have had 25 or so aftershocks so far as high as 5.2

First quake has been downgraded to 7.1 and a 3m shift in the surface and lasted just over a minute.

[Z Speed]

God bless you and yours 240znz....