Christchurch NZ Earthquake

[Libby]

I'm glad everyone's okay. I hope everything's repaired and back to normal soon.

Yes, the west coast of Washington state is at risk for earthquakes, too. And with that comes concern that volcanoes will erupt, too. I would be devastated if Mt. Rainier ever erupted; it would be just awful to not be able to see it anymore. Not to mention all the destruction and ash it would cause.

So I hope the tremors don't travel this way. The last major earthquake we had was in Feb. 2001, a 6.8. The capitol building had some damage, and a few classrooms in my high school had holes in the ceiling, but nothing too bad.

[spiderman]

hi all;

acording to a recent articule on yahoo 500+ buildings are damaged and the bill may run to 2billion NzD to fix it all.. power is on to 90 percent of the city, and water about 80... 20 aftershocks since 1am though they seem to be smaller.
kirwee is still there, though the epicentre has been moved to a location near greendale/ mclaughlans rd in darfield

does anyone think its odd most of the building damage we see is on the top floor of the structure???

[Ross]

Well it was back to work today for me as we had power back at work. My flatmates are bus drivers so they had the day off. Latest news is that the CBD is still closed to the public as they check each building for structural problems. All schools are closed for 2 days for the same reason. Still getting aftershocks but luckily no big ones. The only problem could be from the weather as it is meant to get windy today and then rain in a couple of days time.

Some of Christchurch's heritage buildings have suffered significant damage. Luckily the Christchurch Cathedral only suffered minor damage. The Art Centre had some damage mainly from falling chimneys. But unfortunately Godley House (the venue for Fiona Pears wedding) in Diamond Harbour has suffered major damage.A lot of the old commercial buildings in the CBD will probably be condemned.

[Dori]

Do you anything about the Chch Art Gallery, Ross? I was supposed to go there this summer...

Dori

[roger]

The family are fine! I have just received an email from Gerald…

Only he and Isaac were home at the time; Jill and Sophie are currently in North Island but all are safe and well. Thankfully, they only suffered very minor superficial damage to their home – just a few fine cracks to the plaster inside and out. Gerald doesn’t yet know how his office has fared as it is in the restricted zone in the business area. They are still experiencing aftershocks of anything up to 5.2 including one while he was writing to me!

Roger

[Mark]

Hi Roger

Thanks for passing on that reassuring news from Gerald. I am sure we are all relieved that everyone over there is alright, as the whole incident could potentially have been much much worse.

Best wishes

Mark

[Sing]

Whoa...This sounds pretty bad...thankfully everyone's ok...it could have been so much worse...I hope everything returns to normal soon
best wishes
Sing

[Libby]

Can anyone tell me what CBD stands for? I'm guessing the C stands for Christchurch, and the D for District? But what's the B?

[Ross]

Libby CBD stands for Central Business District which is usually the heart of a city with shops and commercial business plus hotels etc.

Dori the Art Gallery should be fine being a new building. It is also the site of the Civil Defence so I think it would be well designed for earthquakes. Unfortunately any old masonry buildings which haven't been strengthened for earthquakes have suffered major damage.

[John]

Hi Libby

CBD is Central Business District which for Christchurch I think of it being Armagh Street (North) to St Asaph St (south) and Montreal St (west) to Barbadoes St (east) about 8 blocks north to south and 7 blocks east west.
However the cordon went out to Kilmore St (another 3 blocks north) to encompass the Town Hall complex where most Hayley concerts are staged.

Cheers from John who is stuck in Auckland and flying home today to see how much equipment is damaged (one line of shelves has collapsed in my warehouse)

[martindn]

Hi John,

Yes, I understood you were out of the way. I tried to connect to your server and it seems to be dead, so there might be some damage. Glad to know you are OK.

Martin D

[Dave]

Hi everyone especially all Kiwis!

I'm glad to see that everyone down in Christchurch seems to be OK, that's a big relief. Sorry to read about the damage reports, it's obviously going to take quite a long time to fix everything, unfortunately.

John, I hope all your hi-tech gear hasn't suffered too much damage, and if it is, that your insurance (and anyone else affected) includes cover against earthquake damage.

Cheers, Dave

[Ross]

Since it was a nice day today 22deg Cel I went for a drive around Christchurch. Most of the Malls opened at some stage during the day.
Hagley Park seems to be mainly undamaged although the buildings were not open.A lot of sand had come to the surface due to liquefaction
And a new pond appeared from the excess water


The Art Centre is mainly undamaged with some damage from falling chimneys and masonry. The Clock on the Clock Tower stopped at the time of the earthquake



The main damage I can see is from falling chimneys


Suburbs by the Avon River were badly affected by flooding from burst water mains and also by liquefaction. The river is still very high and dirty


A big clean up is going on

[John]

Hi Dave.
Thank you for your kind thoughts.
Several portable hard drives have fallen off a shelf, my desk looks more like a bomb site than normally and there is a lot of gear on the floor in the workshop.
I'll start checking everything tomorrow.

Cheers

John

[John]

Hi Martin

My server was down because I asked someone to unplug everything in my room while the power was off. Often more damage is caused by brownouts when the voltage doesn't get up to 230V immediately so I figured it was better to disconnect everything. I think the power supply is probably secure now so I'll get everything back on line

Cheers

John