Earlier today were wrote about the massive quake that hit the Christchurch area of South Island New Zealand and of multitude of effects it had on the area. See Massive Earthquake in New Zealand, State of Civil Emergency Declared.
People have started to talk about the event on the web, here are some reactions from New Zealanders, it was felt from Invercargill all the way up to the southern region of North Island.
“Hi from Rangiora. It was horrendous, like being in a rocking cradle, I was sooooo scared. I hate these aftershocks, there was another one a few mins ago about 11.20. It is like thunder and then the house keeps shaking. Our house has stood up to the quake, we still have water and power although my daughter from Kaiapoi is with us as they have no water or power. Driving over there this morning, there were cracks in the roads and police everywhere. Stuff was falling over and getting broken. I wish I was back in the safety of the UK. Although we are one of the lucky ones it is not a nice place to be at the moment!”
“Hope everyone is ok… Sumner not been affected, although Lyttleton harbour has been badly damaged and it’s only 15mins away eek! actually thought we were being burgled by a large herd of horses”
“Hi from Christchurch!
I’m on the western edge of Chch and luckily my power hasn’t been out at all since the quake but have had texts from others saying theirs is. So far no damage to the house, bookshelves fallen over, ornaments on the floor and doors, drawers and blinds been opened during the quake. Only one ornament broken- my giraffe has been beheaded so nothing to worry about really.Very scary this morning though, woken up at 4.30ish by a extremely loud rumbling, sounded like a plane flying very low just above the house. Then the whole house shook and moved violently for about 10-15secs I think [not sure really,could have been longer, doors were slamming open and shut, the furniture was banging against the walls and the window blinds were flapping around. It’s amazing how much the house can move and still stay upright! We then had aftershocks every 5-10mins or so which gradually decreased in violence. Last one was very mild, about 30mins ago.
Hope everyone else in Chch is ok and that you’ve all been as lucky as we have been. Had a look at the news and can’t believe how much damage there has been. It felt bad but since we got off lightly then I assumed it maybe wasn’t as bad as it seemed. We do have a new[ish] house though”
Reactions on the Trademe forum
“Huge at Cust – 15 minutes out of Rangiora”
“Update from USGS … centred around Rangiora / Cust … and 7.2.”
“My folks in Rolleston hit pretty bad with stuff everywhere, no power etc – my brother (on cell phone) said that all sirens going off. Friends in Kaiapoi have road damage and broken pipes and a 1cm split through their house – stuff everywhere.”
“My partner is a shelf filler at paknsave at moorhouse ave said windows blew out at the store stuff all over the floors a huge mess. They cant fix it up due to aftershocks have finished”
“Huge here at Sefton, we ran outside to stay clear of stuf if it fell, massive light up coming from chch, guessing it was power lines going out or down”
“Thank f*ck I wasnt dreaming. Scared the sh*t outta me! I’m all alone in Kaikoura.”
“Massive in rangiora! Woke the whole family up! I even stood in a doorway”
Amongst screaming hubby and kids, we survived. it was scary alright. I wonder if my kids will get over the sight of their rotund mother in nothing but a t-shirt and their hairy father in his boxers dragging them into a doorway?! LOL Of course, our oldest, stayed in bed for the whole thing *rolls eyes* way to make us look like pussies!
“big enough in Welly to get me out of bed!”
“well that was an early wake up call, I,m in Ashburton, thats the biggest earthquake I ever felt, bit scary when it wakes you & I thought the bed was never gonna stop rocking!!”
“ashburton it twisted our house felt like it was in a vortex i lived through a few but that was one of the biggese and aftershocks we have had a few alewady this one is scary”
“shit that was massive! I live by ami still feeling afatershocks right now and the dog won’t stop bloody barking!!!! ,my tv fell off onto the floor even the radio is down and I can hear sirens. Hope everyone is ok.”
“In Rangiora. USGS in USA have it down as 7.4 in Lyttleton @4.34am. Wow that was impressive and you can hear the rumbles of the aftershocks. GNS drums have detected across the whole country.”
“LOL we live in a double brick house that seems to absorb a lot of it, I have only felt one. Well, at least i keep telling myself I am not feeling them and its just my swivel chair wobbling as i move about ;)”
“power out in parts of chch, from out here chch looked like a lightening strike going off because of all the power transformers exploding”
“Shit I just realised IM not prepared for any emergency. Im out today getting candles. Im glad I got power I got teenage 12-13yr old girls scared having a sleep over. One of the girls friends brick wall of the house has fallen into the elderly neighbour house. I think we were lucky in Bromley”
“Felt it here in Invercargill……….”
“Still getting sharp short aftershocks in Loburn. Family stirred but not alarmed. Milos and radios and internets and texts going ’round.”
“after shocks here in gore as well… hey big hugs to all those further up the country – we got off very lightly by the sounds of things so far!!!”
Very frigthened kids here in a 1976 2 storied house that swayed like a drunk women. Still feeling small aftershocks – there was another one. We seem to have power and lots of sirens.
“We’re near AMI (Ed. The AMI rugby stadium, host to the RWC 2011 matches) Just saw about it on BBC but nothing anywhere else. glad was not worse cause would not know what to do.”
“felt it in Raglan – coastal waikato – is that crazy or what!! – obviously just small movement but definite movement – house rocked – i only just got up now and went straight on community board to see if my ‘guess’ was right – woah i will have to go to news pages now – thoughts and prayers with you close to ‘core’…”
“Just talked to a few family member in Chch, heaps of damage about, Tv’s draws, pictures falling off walls etc, driveways house front of buildings fallen down, gonna cost a fair bit me thinks”
“it seems funny that bbc world news has reported stuff about the quake but nothing from our own tv crew lol….”
Migrants on move2nz.org
“Scary stuff when it is happening, but just one broken picture frame and maybe a few scratched CDs. It looks like the shaking/damage was a lot worse at rolleston with things falling over and crockery getting broken. I think that where I am at New Brighton being completely on sand the sand absorbs some of the shocks. Some cracks on the outside concrete, but no damage to the house at all. It does look like we may not be able to use the toilets in Christchurch for a while because of no water and the sewage pipes ‘may’ be broken. The power company did a great job and restored the electricity within 4 hours after a 7.4 earthquake.”
“We’re fine, but we’re out Oxford way. The house was shaking and everything was falling off shelves etc. My SIL’s workplace in Christchurch has collapsed completely! “
E2NZ.org 