Aftershocks
I went to bed last night about 9:30 and slept well until 10:21 when I woke to a rumbling, followed by shaking - an aftershock! Then another smaller one! Then one this morning at 6:30!
On September 4, 2010, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit east of Christchurch. The early morning time (4:35 am) and good building codes meant that the damage wasn’t as bad as one might expect. However, some buildings did come down. Most of central Christchurch suffered only minor damage, although we did see a shored up old brick church last night. Ian says that there was more damage along the river where the buildings are older and the ground is softer. The USAP operations weren’t damaged much, which is why we can still get to Antarctica.
Since September 4, there have been thousands of aftershocks. There is a nice visualization of them at http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/. The first two I felt were magnitudes 5 and 4, and the 6:29 am shaking was due to two almost simultaneous 4.3 and 4.4 magnitude quakes.
It’s a dynamic earth!
On September 4, 2010, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit east of Christchurch. The early morning time (4:35 am) and good building codes meant that the damage wasn’t as bad as one might expect. However, some buildings did come down. Most of central Christchurch suffered only minor damage, although we did see a shored up old brick church last night. Ian says that there was more damage along the river where the buildings are older and the ground is softer. The USAP operations weren’t damaged much, which is why we can still get to Antarctica.
Since September 4, there have been thousands of aftershocks. There is a nice visualization of them at http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/. The first two I felt were magnitudes 5 and 4, and the 6:29 am shaking was due to two almost simultaneous 4.3 and 4.4 magnitude quakes.
It’s a dynamic earth!
