Earthquake Rocks Christchurch NZ

[DeeVoted 583]

Just heard a 6.3 earthquake has hit Christchurch in NZ

There are injuries and major damage

Lets hope its not too serious for those injured

Update :

http://www.smh.com.au/world/huge-quake-hits-christchurch-20110222-1b356.html

Edited February 22, 2011 by Deevoted

[Kumamoto_Ken 1,531]

Just heard a 6.3 earthquake has hit Christchurch in NZ

The US Geological Survey has some great features for enabling quick estimates of groundshaking, exposure and loss (economic and social) to be made.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/usb0001igm/#maps

[Sir Why You Little 37,132]

That would make 3 major Earthquakes within New Zealand within 12 months???

This is not good at all, i love kiwi's But living on a volcano does present problems...Hope our Anzac Brothers stay strong.

[dee-luded 2,959]

That would make 3 major Earthquakes within New Zealand within 12 months???

This is not good at all, i love kiwi's But living on a volcano does present problems...Hope our Anzac Brothers stay strong.

The Pacific Rim.. I reckon their gonna cop a big one down the track. I think the prophets are right. The Pacific is gonna go up all over. 2012?

[Sir Why You Little 37,132]

The Pacific Rim.. I reckon their gonna cop a big one down the track. I think the prophets are right. The Pacific is gonna go up all over. 2012?

Yes when you realize all that damage can be caused by a 6.3 Earthquake, that said a 6.4 is 10 X more powerful.

There will be more activity over there. Maybe the Mayan Calendar is correct afterall....December 2012 "Good Evening, you're on your own..Goodnight" B)

We better win a flag....

[Kumamoto_Ken 1,531]

Yes when you realize all that damage can be caused by a 6.3 Earthquake

It was very close, and also shallow. The groundmotion experienced in ChCh this time was a lot more intense than from the greater magnitude event in September '10. Peak ground acceleration in this case on the order of 1.9g, which is significant.

In terms of NZ being overdue for earthquakes, Wellington is way overdue. It straddles a well known fault that has been locked for a long time.

Edit: typos

Edited February 25, 2011 by Kumamoto_Ken

[Kumamoto_Ken 1,531]

all that damage can be caused by a 6.3 Earthquake, that said a 6.4 is 10 X more powerful.

It depends how you define power.

A full step in magnitude scale equals 32 times the energy released.

An increment of 0.1 corresponds to a factor of 1.4 in terms of energy.

There are many other factors that impact on how this may affect a location (distance, depth, soil at site, depth of soil, type of buildings etc)

For what it's worth (not much in this case) earthquake magnitude scales are quite inconsistent. Richter is the classical scale but is location specific by definition, moment magnitude is a more modern measure (adopted by most seismologists).

Edit: typos

Edited February 25, 2011 by Kumamoto_Ken

[H_T 3,049]

It was very close, and also shallow. The groundmotion experienced in ChCh this time was a lot more intense than from the greater magnitude event in September '10. Peak ground acceleration in this case on the order of 1.9g, which is significant.

In terms of NZ being overdue for earthquakes, Wellington is way overdue. It straddles a well known fault that has been locked for a long time.

Edit: typos

Yes, this one was only 5km below the surface. Structurally in some areas of CHCH was still being assessed and looking to be rectified from the Sept 2010 quake. This one - 6.3 on the scale is being referred to as another (after) tremor from the original quake back in September. I can't recall the exact number, but Christchurch has had many, many tremors since September.

NZ is quite an active country for quakes, volcanoes, etc. For anyone who has been to Rotorua, that township is a reminder of what exists underneath (ie. thermal energy) by the visual active mud baths. The Indo-Australian and Pacific plates meet underneath NZ and apparently move an average 35mm per year. This is a great deal for quake experts (it may not mean much to any of us unfamiliar).

The last quake disaster to hit NZ was in the 1930's in Napier which killed approx ~ 230.

[Kumamoto_Ken 1,531]

This one - 6.3 on the scale is being referred to as another (after) tremor from the original quake back in September. I can't recall the exact number, but Christchurch has had many, many tremors since September.

Different mechanism (thrust fault in this case) and on a different fault (apparently), so I'm not sure whether it will strictly be classified as an aftershock.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Yes when you realize all that damage can be caused by a 6.3 Earthquake, that said a 6.4 is 10 X more powerful.

There will be more activity over there. Maybe the Mayan Calendar is correct afterall....December 2012 "Good Evening, you're on your own..Goodnight" B)

We better win a flag....

From what I've read, the Mayan calender, does Not say that the end of the world is in 2012.. What I read was it said, Old time,,, then No time,,, then New time!!! And the End of the Gregorian calender.

This could correlate with what Nostradeamus said, I believe, about going from the, "male aspect of God", Era,,, onto the, "female aspect of God", Era... I believe this to be the transition from the outgoing Era, (not sure what it's called) onto the 'Age of Aquarius', this apparently dawned, in the Sixties... we've been going through the overlap.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Bible call it the end of time! This could translate with the end of the gregorian calender, quote. (Christian,,, or Western? dominance)??????

Nostradeamus, I think says, there will be Peace for a Millenium,, after the "time of troubles".