7.4 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand

" A massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake has hit Christchurch and the wider South Island, causing widespread damage, two serious injuries and power cuts to most of the city.

The quake was centred 30km west of Christchurch and 33km underground. It hit at 4.35am and there have been many reports of damage, including buildings being flattened and a road being ripped up".

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4094986/Massive-7-4-quake-hits-Christchurch

This is about an hours flight away from me, or about 300 kilometres. This is what Wellington is overdue for as well. Its occurred in the subduction zone where the Pacific plate goes underneath the Australian plate. Timing is completely unexpected, but like Wellington, is also well and truly overdue for the region. So close to the city, relatively shallow, its one of our worst earthquakes in history. Christchurch is on a river plain, so the earth isn't as competent as rock and shakes much more violently.

Many many damaged buildings, no power, liquefaction even has been reported by some of my friends in the city. This is the process of water being shaken out of the soil and simply bubbling out of the soil. Freaky to see happen if you haven't ever seen it. Cracks in the roads up to a metre deep, toppled chimneys too, the airport and the CBD have been closed. As of yet no reported deaths, though I feel as the day goes on there will unfortunately be a handful.

As this occurred just over 4 hours ago the story is still breaking. Its only got light in the last 2 hours so as the day goes on keep an eye on www.stuff.co.nz/ and www.nzherald.co.nz/ for the best reports. This link is direct to the christchurch daily newspaper so may have some additional detail also www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/ . Please note the pages will load eventually, everyone is trying to learn more in New Zealand currently so the pages are loading extremely slowly.

Details of the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks can be found here: https://www.geonet.org.nz/ The details of the main earthquake can be found here: https://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/3366146g.html

I also find it no coincidence that the moon and the earth are at their closest for the entire of 2010 in 4 days time. I don't find this a coincidence at all.

No reports yet on the displacement of the earthquake and how far Christchurch has moved, but i'm expecting quite a large distance. Apparently it has occurred on one of the closest faults to the city.

I think everyone in Christchurch would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

It's amazing how long this has taken to make the news. A guy I went to school with lives over there and he posted on Facebook over an hour ago that he was back home after driving inland in case of a tsunami.

Can't imagine how scary it must be to experience an earthquake, hope everyone over there stays as safe as they can.

There's a lot talked about in the OP, but yes, I do think that the proximity of the moon to the Earth is causing a lot of upset. The moon's gravity wreaks havoc on Earth. I'm actually surprised that volcanoes aren't erupting.

Of course Christchurch will be in my prayers, but I can't help but wonder what Pat Robertson will say about it.

I saw it was 7.0 thats what I saw on the news

Does it really matter?
The fact that there is an earthquake seems slightly more important than technicalities.

it has been revised to 7.1 now. Also has been revised to be quite a bit shallower, to 10 kilometres deep as opposed to 33 kilometres initially.

This earthquake did not occur on the main fault in the region, but instead on a smaller fault running off the main fault. There is now some concern as to whether this has unsettled the Alpine fault in some way, as that is the main fault in the region and if this ruptures that will trigger an earthquake in excess of 7.5 - more though in the region of 8.0. Good pictures of the faultline here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_fault

New Zealand will always hold a special place in my heart. I lived in Auckland (North Island) as a child. NZ will be in my prayers.

It is amazing that according to our news you there are no fatalities. I am just going to check the news now.

is that bigger than the earthquake that was in Haiti?
BTW America is getting hit with a Tsunami

It's odd how these things seem to happen within a fairly short amount of time of each other, ie the earthquake, hurricane, etc.

I know that is why I wrote this thread about 2012.

Another place really struggling is Pakistan. This is quite a large scale disaster but for some reason relief efforts pale when compared with Haiti.

I don't think earthquakes are a common occurrence in New Zealand. ???

another earthquake?

first haiti, then chili, and now New Zealand!

Umm...what? Where? Hawaii was hit in February, but that's it.



Kinda makes sense though, the plates are touching more than one side, so if one moves, it affects two or more other plates...which in turn each affect two or more plates, etc, etc, etc.

Yeah I guess it does in that way, a bit like a domino effect kind of thing.

And there was also a quake in Northern China this year. I believe Geologists say it is normal after a big quake like in the one in Haiti to have more quakes.