MrsFychan

GeoNet - Quakes

I personally didn't feel it up in Waikanae sitting in the lounge but MrF felt it in the study apparently. So glad he had a Skype meeting at home before heading into the CBD.

MOSO

It was centred west of Masterton, so Waikanae was much closer to it than Wellington!

MrsFychan

MrF was on a Skype meeting with someone in Wanganui, poor girl started screaming, Earthquake, and flapped around. MrF had to explain to the other participants what was going on.

UktoNZ2016

I'm in Masterton, I was just up when it hit. First experience I've had and it wasn't that bad to what I expected. It was very quick from start to finish. Similar to a feeling of laying on a waterbed!

MrsFychan

sometimes being nearer to the epicentre you don't feel the waves ebbing out and of course it depends if it hits other quake lines and what sort of building type and ground type you are in/on.

LauraNotts

Bleh, settle down all ye cracks and crevasses.

Stormer999

I would prefer the tension within the crust is released in a lot of small tremors rather than..........

Hazelnut

Good to read everyone is OK and definitely agree with lots of small releases being much better.

LauraNotts

Lots of small earthquakes do not prevent a large one occuring. That is not to say a large one is any more likely to occur because of small ones like this event. Foreshocks are only ever Foreshocks in hindsight.

Hazelnut

Interesting to read, thanks for typing. I have a lot to learn, not sure whether knowing more is reassurring or more scary.

LauraNotts

I am one of these people who likes to read about things that scare me, hence I know that.

As for earthquakes - they are what they are. All you can do is prepare, personally, locally and nationally. If you do that effectively you seriously limit the potential damage they can do.

Bob

Bit freaky, glad everyone is alright.

Just curious how the infrastructure is geared towards earthquakes compared to say, Japan or the west coast of the US like California?

Snap Shot

and hope

MrsFychan

Lets just say when the buildings fall down they will then be upgraded to earthquake proof

escapedtonz

We felt quite a few quakes when we lived in Wellington. Most of them when we lived up on the hill in Churton Park then again on the hill the other side of the valley in Tawa.
We were there when the big 7.3 one hit off the coast of New Plymouth (Taranaki region) in hmm mid to late 2013 I think ? Man that was an eye opener and the only one we felt where we actually dropped, covered and held on under the kitchen island!!!

The building where I worked which was situated mid way down The Terrace in the CBD was earthquake proof up to I think 7.5 on the scale as was the majority of the others in the area. That was the standard at the time so yes they all have a degree of earthquakeproofness (made that word up). After the 7.3 quake the landlord of the office block spent some serious money upgrading the whole building to increase the earthquakeproofness to 9.0 which was a comfort.
One major issue that will or may affect Wellington is that a large proportion of the land from the seafront and inland towards Courtenay Place etc is reclaimed land and is also at risk of a Tsunami.....that is reclaimed from the sea.
Is reclaimed land safe ? It may well turn to mush in a big quake then be washed away by a huge wave. There are maps that can be viewed online showing these areas in Wellington and may give some explanation.