Another big aftershock for Christchurch

[kiwigeo]

MM5.0.... struck at around 11.30am Chch time. Centred 10km from city centre at a depth of 9km.

Nick....you must have felt that one. I'm getting reports of the roof of Riccarton Mall caving in.

Cheers Martin

[Lillian]

Crap! Isn't that about where the first one hit?

How's everyone doing?

[kiwigeo]

Lillian,

There have been around 1400 aftershocks since the big one on October 4th.

The latest one was felt more than the other aftershocks due to its shallow depth and distance from the CBD.

[Lillian]

Shallow tends to mean more damage doesn't it? 5 isn't a nasty one, but with things already in a state, it wouldn't take much of a shake to cause more damage.

[Nick]

No, I never felt that one Martin, well I say I never felt it...I did but not in the normal way! I was out in the work's van at the time & I could feel it (the van) wobbling sideways & just thought the road surface was churned up by previous quakes & was making the vehicle 'track' oddly. Wasn't until I got back to the Uni that somebody asked me if I'd felt it. Apparently a few filing cabinets up on level six went walkies, phones went down around Christchurch & a power outage in the central city but apart from that nobody reported any major damage.
The Riccarton mall thing was an exageration, my partner was shopping in there at the time, a few light fittings & tiles came down & they evacuated the mall as a precaution but the roof didn't fall in. It's funny but they dragged that story out after the 7.1 & it hadn't collapsed then either so somebody really wants the roof to collapse so takes every opportunity to spread the rumour .
There was some more liquefaction out at Halswell & somebody reported a 'lump' in their lounge that wasn't there before so it was abit 'stronger' than the aftershocks we've been having, but only by virtue, as you say, of it's proximity & shallow depth.
People are well and truly sick of aftershocks though & a number of people are loosing it (councillors are having a feild day!), I think there's been a total of just over 1800 in all & a number of them have been over 4.5 so can be felt & it's rattling nerves. Even my partner, who's usually a very strong person, is starting to get a bit frayed around the edges as she feels every single wobble, packing her off to the Gold coast shortly so she can have some decent sleep.

[kiwigeo]

Shallow tends to mean more damage doesn't it? 5 isn't a nasty one, but with things already in a state, it wouldn't take much of a shake to cause more damage.

Lillian that's a 5 on the Modified Mercalli Scale not the Richter scale. The MM scale measures intensity rather than magnitude. A 5 is classed as a strong quake with minor damage. The initial quake was a magnitude 7.1 but on the MM scale it was a 9.

# MM 1: Imperceptible
Barely sensed only by a very few people.
# MM 2: Scarcely felt
Felt only by a few people at rest in houses or on upper floors.
# MM 3: Weak
Felt indoors as a light vibration. Hanging objects may swing slightly.
# MM 4: Largely observed
Generally noticed indoors, but not outside, as a moderate vibration or jolt. Light sleepers may be awakened. Walls may creak, and glassware, crockery, doors or windows rattle.
# MM 5: Strong
Generally felt outside and by almost everyone indoors. Most sleepers are awakened and a few people alarmed. Small objects are shifted or overturned, and pictures knock against the wall. Some glassware and crockery may break, and loosely secured doors may swing open and shut.
# MM 6: Slightly damaging
Felt by all. People and animals are alarmed, and many run outside. Walking steadily is difficult. Furniture and appliances may move on smooth surfaces, and objects fall from walls and shelves. Glassware and crockery break. Slight non-structural damage to buildings may occur.
# MM 7: Damaging
General alarm. People experience difficulty standing. Furniture and appliances are shifted. Substantial damage to fragile or unsecured objects. A few weak buildings are damaged.
# MM 8: Heavily damaging
Alarm may approach panic. A few buildings are damaged and some weak buildings are destroyed.
# MM 9: Destructive
Some buildings are damaged and many weak buildings are destroyed.
# MM 10: Very destructive
Many buildings are damaged and most weak buildings are destroyed.
# MM 11: Devastating
Most buildings are damaged and many buildings are destroyed.
# MM 12: Completely devastating
All buildings are damaged and most buildings are destroyed.

[Lillian]

Learn something new every day. Thanks for the explanation Martin.

Nick, I'm glad your able to send your partner on holiday. All I can say to all that is Wow! Not sure I can articulate what's whirling around in my head.

[kiwigeo]

Heres a nice shot of New Zealands South Island.....can anyone pick out the Alpine Fault?

[Lillian]

Umm, the dragon's spine?

[Nick]

Learn something new every day. Thanks for the explanation Martin.

Nick, I'm glad your able to send your partner on holiday. All I can say to all that is Wow! Not sure I can articulate what's whirling around in my head.

She has a friend over there that she hasn't seen in ages Lillian so it should be a double bonus for her!

[kiwigeo]

Learn something new every day. Thanks for the explanation Martin.

Nick, I'm glad your able to send your partner on holiday. All I can say to all that is Wow! Not sure I can articulate what's whirling around in my head.

She has a friend over there that she hasn't seen in ages Lillian so it should be a double bonus for her!

And there are plenty of glitzy expensive clothing shops on the Gold Coast......perfect for some serious magnitude 10 retail therapy using Nick's credit Card!!

[Nick]

She's one out of the box Martin & doesn't like shopping, or at least spending large sums of cash! Unlike me...... who's been hemorrhaging Tonewood cash recently.

[kiwigeo]

She's one out of the box Martin & doesn't like shopping, or at least spending large sums of cash!

Can she be cloned?

My boss is away in Japan for a month so have been doing a bit of shopping in her absence. Yesterday it was a nice new Stihl chainsaw with an 18" bar.....got a free Stihl stubbie holder which made it all worth while. Ill just tell the boss I paid $900 for the stubbie cooler and they threw in the chainsaw for free.

[kiwigeo]

Nick and anyone else interested. The EQC Geotechnical report has been released, downloadable from this link:


http://static.stuff.co.nz/files/quakereport.pdf

Good...now Ive got something interesting to read on the flight from Adelaide to Auckland tomorrow.

[Nick]

Nick and anyone else interested. The EQC Geotechnical report has been released, downloadable from this link:


http://static.stuff.co.nz/files/quakereport.pdf

Good...now Ive got something interesting to read on the flight from Adelaide to Auckland tomorrow.

Thanks Martin, just printed that off so I will have a gander through it in the next few days.

[Kim]

I reckon it could be all in the name. I am not a religious man by any stretch but if the other side 'are' right, then anyone living in a place called Christchurch is in deep shit.















Sorry Nicko, just could not help meself m8. Not as good as the wide spread luting in leotards post we lost but not bad.

Luv ya

Kim

[Nick]

I reckon it could be all in the name. I am not a religious man by any stretch but if the other side 'are' right, then anyone living in a place called Christchurch is in deep shit.


Sorry Nicko, just could not help meself m8. Not as good as the wide spread luting in leotards post we lost but not bad.

Luv ya

Kim

Oh & Luv ya too Kim

[kiwigeo]

Hey Nick, yesterdays concert in Hagley Park was a stunning success, they managed to raise $17.5m. A pretty impressive effort. Even the Mayor got in on the act playing guitar with The Bats.

It's nice here in Queenstown....earthquake free but that doesn't mean its not earthquake country.....the Alpine Fault isnt too far away from here.

Today's agenda includes catching Doug Calder and then going for a ride on The Earnslaugh up the lake.

[Nick]

Geez old Doug Calder down there? They'd just about have to wheel him up to the Joanna but he can still tickle them ivories!
Just had another jolt.....4.8 this time but only 10ks offshore from Waimairi Beach (close to where we are) & 9k deep. Knocked out the power for about half an hour. Didn't go to the concert as I've set aside this weekend to spray one of the Elsie's, the customer's itching to see it so I'll make an effort on his one.

[kiwigeo]

Yeah Nick someone Im with here just got a text from someone in Chch about the aftershock. Very shallow and close to the city. Geonet have given it an MM 5 to 6 rating so its up there with the big ones.

Make sure you save a few big ones for when I'm in town.....

Cheers Martin

[kiwigeo]

Just off the plane from Queenstown to Christchurch....what a magnificent day in Chch! Sat next to an aircraft engineer with a house in Bexley and got grilled the whole way about earthquakes and liquefaction. As we parted his wife made the comment that she was more concerned about the damage caused by their 17 year old over the weekend than yesterdays aftershock.

Came into town via Brougham Street and Ferry Road so havent seen much of the damage from the big shake. One place down Ferry Road had half of its brick facade down and there was a abit of work going on with The Ferrymead Bridge.

[Nick]

Came into town via Brougham Street and Ferry Road so havent seen much of the damage from the big shake. One place down Ferry Road had half of its brick facade down and there was a abit of work going on with The Ferrymead Bridge.

Yeah one good thing to come out of the whole quake thing is that the Ferrymead bridge took a bit of a hit so rather than patch it up, they are going to replace it with a new, much wider bridge (Which they've been wanting to do for years but never had the $ to do) so that traffic coming into town in the mornings doesn't get banked up all the way to Redcliffs by the merging traffic coming off the hill.

If you want to see ground damage then around the Avonside loop is a good place I believe & town/Manchester street is still closed in places where buildings have collapsed. Westende Jewellers (cnr Manchester & Worcester)is just a patch of shingle now.

[kiwigeo]

Have just come back from my dads nursing home at Brighton.....road the waves in the road past the sewerage ponds and also checked out Wainoni and Pages Road....theyre doing some serious dewatering in a trench down the middle of Pages road....probably to reduce chances of future liquefaction around the services during future quakes.

Tomorrow is the venture into the CBD...not looking forward to it really.....its the grand old buildings that make Christchurch what it is.

[Nick]

The well pointing down Pages is probably repairing the sewer pipes, many of the manholes are nice air filled containers so when the liquefaction occured most of the manholes 'popped' out the road by 150-200mm so the sewers leading in to them would have been displaced as well.

And you are right about the old buildings, fortunately the old courthouse down Durham came through alright but my heart sank when I saw them taking down (carefully I noticed, so it may just be removing the broken bits for a rebuild) the old "Grimsby's resturant" in Cranmer square. One of my favourite bits of architecture along with the old court buildings & arts centre).