7.4 earthquake in New Zealand! Gneeters ok?
 

Hope and pray our Gnetters down under are ok!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapc....quake/?hpt=T1
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(CNN) -- A powerful earthquake that struck New Zealand on Saturday caused "a lot of damage," though there are no reports of serious injuries or major damage, an emergency official said.

"It was like a freight train running through the house," said Chris Monroe, operations manager for the New Zealand Fire Service.

The quake had a magnitude of 7.0, down from an initial assessment of 7.4, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck about 35 miles from Christchurch, a city of about 386,000 people.

An aftershock with a magnitude of 5.7 struck not far from the epicenter about 20 minutes later, the survey said.

Power was out to much of Christchurch "because of extensive damage there," Radio New Zealand reported.
Video: 7.2 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand
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* New Zealand
* U.S. National Earthquake Information Center

One person said the quake "turned his house upside down, with crockery breaking," the station reported, citing Orion, a power company. Sewer lines and water pipes have ruptured, a company spokesman told the station.

"Structural damage to houses and broken glass have been reported throughout Christchurch," the station said.

A man who was at the international airport in Christchurch described the scene.

"The entire terminal started shaking," he said. "I knew it was an earthquake.There was not much you could do at that point."

Authorities evacuated the airport, he said, adding that he saw minor damage.

"We've just had a terrible earthquake," said Paula May, a Christchurch resident. "We have no power. Lots of stuff in the house is all over the floor. All the power is down, so I can't see anything. There's no power in the town."

She said that in her house, "we've got everything down in the rooms," and that although it appears there are buildings down in the region, such as old stone masonry-type structures, "everyone I know seems to be OK."

Tim Dower, a New Zealand journalist, said it's fortunate the earthquake struck in darkness and not daytime, when people would have been out and about.

"When one of this magnitude comes along, people certainly feel it, particularly when it's shallow," he said.

There have been reports, he said, of facades and buildings collapsing, cars damaged and flooding in homes.

"We don't have any reports of significant injuries at this stage."

A person who answered the phone at the George hotel in Christchurch said that "we are cleaning up at the present moment" but wouldn't disclose any more detail.

Reinier Eulink, general manager of the Holiday Inn in Christchurch, said there's damage around the hotel corridors and "big cracks in the walls."

"It was a big big long jolt, and the building moved a lot," he said. The 13-floor building, with about 150 rooms, was about 40 percent occupied, and he estimated that 80 or more people were staying at the hotel at the time.

Power was knocked out, but emergency power came on. People were milling around in the hotel lobby, trying to get warm during the chilly Southern Hemisphere winter.

"My room is totally upside down," Eulink said.

A Christchurch Hospital shift manager said there are injuries and damage from the quake.

"We are in emergency planning at the moment," he said.

The quake was 7.5 miles deep. It struck at 4:35 a.m. Saturday (12:35 p.m. ET Friday), the survey reported.

The quake is not likely to generate a tsunami, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Gneeter = New Zealand branch of Gnetters. "Aye, you swattin' gneeters? Hate the bloody lot of them every bloomin' summer!"

Yeah, I saw this on the news and my first thought was if anyone we see here was affected. I hope not.

I was just talking to Corpsey on msn, he's okay.

thoughts are with our friends across the tasman.

I do believe that the New Zealand slang for mosquito is "mossie."

Anyway, my regards and condolences to everyone affected.

That IS very good to hear.

I'm good, but my mates down in Christchurch are getting very nerve-wracked. Basically they have been getting an earth quake every 2-3 hours for the past week and every now and again a sizable one strikes to keep everyone on their toes. They're all ridiculously shallow too. Also there have been a lot more Earth Quakes around the country as of late, including one just 20 km away from my city. So everyone's feeling a tidbit paranoid towards Mother Nature.

Cheers for your concern, Saya Humane and Ben.

Corpsey, when there are that many earthquakes over a week or so, how do people react?

I'm from PA, so there aren't really ever any natural disasters and the world shuts down if there's even 8 inches of snow, let alone earthquake after earthquake.

Do people still go out? Do they send their children to school?
What's the deal?

How do people react? It brings out the best and the worst. I've heard cases of people doing the best for their kids and neighbors and others running around like lunatics. There are some cases of elderly people having heart attacks from the continued strain, and they seem to be the only fatalities caused by the event. Some people left right away in fear of a Tsunami, others are staying put out of stubbornness or determination.

Worst thing that happened to people as a whole, other than the complete destruction to any building that wasnt build to survive an EarthQuake, is that sewage and water is out to people who were living on unstable ground. From what I understand, some parts of Christchurch used to be a swamp that has been drained, and the piping or anything built underground has just snapped. Portaloos are in the street and some people are being told they will be without water or proper sanitary functions for the next year or so and that they need to boil their water for 3 minutes to avoid "cross-poop-contamination".

Some people are living in schools, some were lucky to be able to stay in their homes for the whole time. People still go out but the buses have only just been set out again, as there was some major road damage. A heap of bridges are unusable because they are suspected of having structural damage. Everything was shut down unless you working in an emergency service or had anything to do with the construction of homes / roads / pipes / electronics etc etc. So some are having a crazy busy week, others are chilling in their homes pulling their hair out from this constant aftershock nonsense and listening for news as to what to do.

There are more things, but those are the most important. The coolest thing that I've heard that came from this was that a Dairy owner went to his store early last Saturday and when the people in his neighborhood came for emergency supplies he gave almost everything away for free instead of putting the prices of everything up.