Posted on 02/21/2011 9:50:52 PM PST by Kartographer
A 6.3-magnitude earthquake ripped through Christchurch, New Zealand, on Tuesday afternoon, causing multiple fatalities as it toppled buildings onto buses, buckled streets and damaged cathedrals, authorities said.
The quake struck shortly before 1 p.m Tuesday (7 p.m. Monday ET). It was followed by a series of aftershocks including a 5.6-magnitude aftershock about 15 minutes later. The United States Geological Survey recorded a second 5.5-magnitude aftershock shortly before 3 p.m. local time.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Oh dear. This could get much worse than.
I didn’t think about the distance from the surface. That definitely can be an impact here and explain why it seems much worse than I imagined a 6.3.
Yep - “location, location, location”...plus the depth.
My cousin has just gotten his house repaired from the last quake in Christchurch. I pray that they are alright.I won’t hear from them for a while.
The live Internet TV feed last night (Australian Broadcasting Corporation feeding New Zealand TV3) was saying that the epicenter was about 10 km (6 mi) from Christchurch, and less than 5 km (3 mi) deep. That’s extremely shallow. They were also theorizing some of the buildings were weakened by the 7.0 quake back in September (which did much less damage because it was further away and down at 15 km deep). What’s worse, Christchurch is apparently built largely on marshy land, so soil liquefaction can be a problem. There were helicopter shots of roads with feet of muddy water on top of them, either from water main breaks or water being forced up from the soil by the quakes.
}:-)4
Definitely!
Even some of the “black” NZers have blue eyes and red hair
:)
BTW the NZ Rugby team is called the ALL BLACKS
so Michelle MarBelle can feel warm fuzzies sending help...
Christchurch Quake Map
5040 quakes; Shows every quake since Sept 4, one by one by one.
http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/
Is Christchurch headed for a volcanic eruption?
http://www.iceagenow.com/Is_Christchurch_headed_for_a_volcanic_eruption.htm
Engineer concurs - Christchurch could be
headed for volcanic eruption
Subduction-zone volcanoes never go extinct, only dormant
Includes cities of Timaru, Oamaru and Dunedin
http://www.iceagenow.com/Engineer_concurs-Christchurch_could_be_headed_for_volcanic_eruption.htm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.