Thanks to all our friends and family who've asked about us this weekend. We are fine, as we're a couple hundred miles away from the earthquake hit.
As usual when we have earthquakes or tsunami warnings, we find out about it from someone in the States who's read the news. This time it was my brother calling on Saturday morning from New Mexico... apparently we'd had an earthquake at 4:30 am NZ time. And a pretty big one. Initial reports called it 7.4 but it was later confirmed as a 7.1 magnitude quake near Christchurch, our second largest city.
That's on the South Island, and we're about an hour's flight away from it on the North Island. Jake and I didn't feel anything (he suggests this was due to the 'wine comas' we were sleeping off from the night before) but we've heard other folks here in town woke up from the shaking.
Sounds like there has been some damage to lots of buildings (see photos on stuff.co.nz) and some injuries in Christchurch but thankfully no reported fatalities. I've heard they're dealing with utility outages, possible flooding, traffic jams and folks having to stay in shelters, all while experiencing scary aftershocks up to 5.0 magnitude. We're hoping things get sorted out quickly and life can return to normal for the people of Christchurch.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
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3 comments:
A salutary reminder that we Kiwis, like Japanese, Indonesians and Californians, live in a very earthquake prone part of the world. Like you, I did not feel the big one last Saturday, but would you believe, have felt two gentle shakes in the time it's taken me to type this. They're all around us! Just hope and pray they stay small and gentle.
Thanks Phil! I could have sworn I felt those too, and I found a website to confirm them: http://tinyurl.com/25jgqe
Looks like we had a 4.0 and 3.8 near Wellington today, plus a 5.2 near Hawke's Bay. I'm with you -- I hope they remain the small and gentle type.
Yep. We're rockin' and rollin' alright. Don't like it. Think I'll emigrate to Kansas City with you and Jake, where nothing bad ever happens!
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