On Feb 21, 2011, at 10:46 PM, Mark Foster wrote:
Folks on Twitter should search for hashtag #eqnz.
Major news sites in NZ:
www.stuff.co.nz www.nzherald.co.nz www.tvnz.co.nz www.3news.co.nz
Plenty of Vids, Stills and some Streaming available.
Can confirm the reports of multiple casualties. TV News is live broadcasting reports of many folks trapped within buildings, largely because of things like stairwells collapsing, etc. A few buildings have been hit pretty hard, with some notable collapses, damage to vehicles, etc.
The 111 network (911 equiv) is experiencing problems in the South Island, folks are being asked to stay the phones (etc) except for genuine emergencies.
Urban Search and Rescue teams in NZ are based in Christchurch, Palmerston North and Auckland. I gather all three teams are stood-to, and an offer from Australia for additional USAR resource has been accepted. CD Emergency has been declared and the Military are already getting involved.
Christchurch experienced a major quake (magnitude 7.2) in September last year, which received a lot of press as its effects were widespread and severe - but there was little loss of life. This quake, magnitute 6.3, hit much closer to the CBD and during a business day, so the casualty count is much higher. Being a more shallow quake, much closer to town, but also lesser in magnitude, my uneducated view based on media coverage is that the effects are not as widespread, but where they're felt, are very significant.
The 2010 quake was 10 km deep, which is not that deep. It was 40 km away from Christchurch, however. This quake's epicenter is at Lyttelton, which is apparently only 12 km away, and so it isn't too surprising the damage is heaver. (That depends a lot on the property of the bedrock and sediments, and whether there is any seismic wave reflection and focusing going on.) Regards Marshall
Mark. (in Auckland, some 1000 km away...)
On Tue, 22 Feb 2011, Daniel Richards wrote:
There aren't any major international cables to the south island. The big one is the southern Cross cable that lands on either side of Auckland, which is the north of the North Island, which is operating normally.
KAREN (The Kiwi Advanced Research Network) core in the south island is still operating, but most of the member sites in Christchurch are down: http://karen.net.nz/news-earthquake-network-update/
News is reporting deaths now, sadly.
On 22/02/11 16:04, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
There has been a bad Earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand with reports of fatalities. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150099324847752&set=a.125583977751.103665.119452527751&theater Telecom New Zealand reports "Heavy damage" to their Christchurch building, but no deaths there. Is there any report of issues with the undersea cables to / from the South Island ? Regards Marshall P.S. On a more personal note, Google has a people finder up @ http://christchurch-2011.person-finder.appspot.com/ There is a DFAT # - 1300 555 135 - for people outside of NZ to call. Telecom New Zealand has asked people to stay off of the wireless network except for true emergencies.