Boopy

So far they've had 20 after shocks since the biggie. The earth didn't move for me in the early hours (500kms north of epicentre), although my son lives in Wellington central & his house shook hard for over a minute! They've just said on One News, that there are warnings that another biggie is very likely..... scarey eh!

bevissa65

Bit behind with the news as always, but hoping everyone in the area ok. Tend to forget about the risk of earthquakes until it happens Keep safe. xx Bevissa

Joshlin

Hi All
we're in halswell in christchurch and have just had power restored after 7 hours without.
was very very scary event - first quake we've experienced and not in a rush to do it again - the after shocks are still coming through although frequency and intensity seem to be lessening.
we have 2 kids - 8&6 who were so brave - no tears till after the initial shock and did exactly as they were told - although not sure how long son would've lasted without power for his playstation
We were very lucky - no structural damage, lost a TV and some glass ornaments - but all safe with no injury.
Had water initially but none at the moment - have some water stored and some food but not nearly as much as I would've liked.
Great community spirit - everyone locally out and about checking on one another - really nice to see.
Local area has some damage - roads split, driveways split, sand volcanoes all over the place (didn't know such a thing happened until today) but impact has been very inconsistent - some houses flooded with only minor damage to neighbours and that kind of thing.
Fortunately the weather has been very kind today which has helped - storm forecast for tomorrow though so could be a battering of a different kind.

Anyway - whilst it isn't something I want to do again in a hurry it hasn't put me off living here - although we did get off lightly.

thinking of everyone else here who is struggling today - if anyone is local and needs somewhere warm for the night pm us

Cheers
Vicki & Lee

kiwinow

We certainly felt it in Timaru - about 200km south - but nothing like Chirstchurch. The dog heard it coming and started barking moments before the violent shaking. Like an idiot, I tried to shut him up in case he woke someone! You'd have to be comatose to sleep through that. The kids were excited rather than scared and we had no need to get under doorways, although it went on for a while and I was heading down the hall to take action when it stopped. We had no damage at all, but felt the aftershocks until about 8am.
Our neighbours lost china plates off a dresser, and one who lives in a brick house has a new crack down the length of his ceiling (who says brick is better than weatherboard?). One guy also had the pipes ripped out of his hot water cylinder, so Bevs you better tie that thing down.
The damage to buildings in the Christchurch CBD is extensive and many homes have been destroyed. I hope everyone is OK. It is scary, but it is not something that happens very often in the south island. This is the second earthquake my 19 year old has experienced. There are a lot more in the Wellington area, but rarely resulting in real damage like this one.

Pollyana

Thinking of all you guys over there.

This link to some pics was sent to us at work

http://www.crashbang.co.nz/quake040910/index.html

Jan n Neil

We are 28Km from ChCH. The house is 15 yrs old and shook soooooo much it was terrible.

BUT - not a single picture fell off the wall or ornament broke. Good Kiwi engineering

I work at the Uni and we have had to close it for a week. Supposed to be open in a week - need assessment of structures first. I was in a tall building looking at damage, 3rd floor, when an aftershock happened. Nasty.

We have 40,000 litres water at home in a concrete container but I am not convinced it is being replenished as we are fed from a Kaiapoi trickle feed. Kaiapoi is in a really bad way, as it is built on sand - we are built on ariver bed and faired much better than them.


I am impressed with the way some essential services were restored, but tomorrow is going to be very sobering.

Jan

dannigirl

Thinking of everyone in Chch! Bloody scary.

Keep us updated Chch folks.

adamlt1972

Was woken up at 4.35 due to the violence of the quake, and have to say its the most frightened I've ever been in my life. The house was rocking incredibly, so much so that I'm still amazed its still standing, yet I had little damage apart from smashed crockery and ornaments and the living room looking like we'd been burgled.
The rest of the city hasnt been so lucky, with considerable damage elsewhere. The chinese take away across from me has lost a wall, as has a restaurant further down the road.
Some of the roads in the area have been badly damaged, and wont be passable for days or weeks, and from what I understand the river rose over its banks in some areas to.
The CBD is no-go area, with a curfew and state of emergency in force, and just to kick us when we're down its forecast 130kmh winds and torrential rain, which I'd imagine could compromise some of the precarious buildings around the city.
We're getting constant tremors, and have just had one while I've been typing, and the experts seem to think one of them is likely to hit a magnitude of 6 before we're done.
On a slightly more light hearted note I think I need to brush up my emergency management skills. In my (wine hangover affected) early morning panic I remembered the need to get out of the house and to take something to keep warm and some food, only to come to my senses sat in my car with a pillow case and a jar of gherkins.

j19fmm

Just looked at the photos in the Herald, looks nasty. Hope you are all OK

Persephone

Hmm the tremors seem to be getting more frequent but are mercifully very short, lasting only a few seconds. They are very mild and feel more like a slight tremble- like a boat on the sea. Just had two in the last 3 mins whilst typing. These were more rattley and intense so hope this increase in magnitude is not going to continue

By the way did anyone time the big one at 4.35? I have no idea how long it lasted, it seemed to go on forever but think it could only have been about 15secs?
Me too! My response was to stay in bed and hide under the covers- like that's going to save meI wasn't really awake at that point...To my credit though, I did get up and check the gas bottles and water tank, also fill all our pans with water.

Lothianlad

BBC Radio Five Live's "Drive" program of news and general features announced reports of a major earthquake in NZ's South Island part way through the program on Friday afternoon, not long after the first major earthquake shock, and it is now the first item in all of this early Saturday morning's TV and radio news bulletins. Obviously it is receiving wide coverage here in the UK because of the large number of Brits living in NZ, and with familiar original British place names like Christchurch and Canterbury, and the kind of buildings in the centre of Christchurch looking very much like those here in the UK as seen in all the pictures on TV here. Many people in the UK almost feel as if this very scary event had occurred here in Britain. So good to hear that there have been no fatalities! Property is replaceable, people are not.

Charismatic

One guy had a heart attack but if it wasn't this it would have been the inevitable all blacks loss in the next world cup .

Pollyana

Reports we got at work (I do disaster management in Brisbane) reckoned about 18-20 seconds.

Joshlin

quick update from us - we made it through the day, originally had water and no power now have power and no water - toilet arrangements are becoming interesting

kids completely unsettled - neither happy to sleep in their rooms tonight so having a camp night in the lounge instead.

dog is completely freaked and keeps trying to hide.

aftershocks had settled down but picked up again as soon as it got dark they seemed to have settled again - lets hope it stays that way although we have been told this could go on for at least a week, maybe a month. they are now forecasting high winds and rain - great - supposed to be fathers day tomorrow - it will be one to remember.

may well turn in soon, even though it's only 8.30 here - been up since it hit at 4.30 and feeling emotionally drained.

moneypenny20

Hope everyone is ok down there. Our thoughts are with all the affected. Got friends in Blenheim but believe it was all fairly localised to Chch.