Strong quake strikes near Christchurch, New Zealand

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12533291

 

22 February 2011 Last updated at 11:56 GMT

 

New Zealand earthquake: 65 dead in Christchurch

 

New Zealand's prime minister says at least 65 people have died after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch.

 

John Key said the toll was expected to rise further, adding: "We may be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day."

 

The tremor caused widespread damage as it occurred at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) during lunchtime when Christchurch was at its busiest.

 

The mayor of New Zealand's second-biggest city says 120 people have been rescued from the ruins.

 

The country's deadliest natural disaster in 80 years struck at 1251 (2351 GMT on Monday), 10km (6.2 miles) south-east of the city.

 

Screams from rubble

 

The damage is said to be far worse than after the 7.1-magnitude quake on 4 September, which left two people seriously injured but no fatalities.

 

The epicentre of that quake, which occurred in the middle of the night, was further away from the city and deeper underground, but it still caused an estimated $3bn (£1.9bn) in damage.

 

TV pictures of the aftermath of Tuesday's disaster showed scores of collapsed buildings in the South Island city of nearly 400,000 people.

 

Shocked survivors could be seen wandering the rubble-strewn streets, which cracked open as the ground beneath was liquefied by the tremor.

 

Police said that the dead included people on two buses which were crushed by falling buildings.

 

Helicopters plucked survivors to safety from rooftops, and dumped water on fires.

 

Officials said up to 30 people were feared still trapped inside the razed Pyne Gould Guinness building, where screams have been heard from the ruins.

 

Trapped under her desk inside the building, Anne Voss told Australia's Channel Seven by mobile phone: "I am hoping they will get me out soon because I have been here so long. And it's dark. And it's horrible."

 

Asked whether she was injured, she said: "I know I am bleeding and I can feel the ground is quite wet. I think it's blood."

 

Glacier smashed

 

A dozen visiting Japanese students are among those reported missing.

 

Bystanders have been using bare hands to try to free survivors trapped under debris.

 

Many injured people were carried out on blood-soaked stretchers or in the arms of shocked workmates and strangers.

 

Some escaped on ropes lowered from office towers. Others managed to crawl out of the rubble.

 

The tremor sent the spire of Christchurch Cathedral, a landmark in the centre of the city, toppling into the square below.

 

John Gurr, a camera technician, told Reuters news agency the area outside the cathedral was "like a warzone".

 

Power and telephone lines have been knocked out, while burst pipes have deluged streets with water.

 

The suburbs of Lyttelton and New Brighton are reportedly "unliveable".

 

Queen Elizabeth II said in a statement she had been "utterly shocked" by the news.

 

"My thoughts are with all those who have been affected by this dreadful event," the statement said.

 

The quake caused some 30m tons of ice to shear away from New Zealand's biggest glacier.

 

Witnesses say massive icebergs formed when the Tasman Glacier in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park broke, tossing a nearby lake with huge waves.

 

Back in Christchurch, emergency shelters were set up in the city's Hagley Park, a race course and schools as night approached.

 

City Mayor Bob Parker told the BBC: "This is a terrible, terrible toll on our city."

 

"There is no power in most of the city; there is no water in most of the city," he added.

 

PM John Key said: "It is just a scene of utter devastation. We have to work as fast as we can to get people out of environments where they are trapped.

 

"This is a community that is absolutely in agony. We just need this community, as it has done before and as it will do again, to come together, to check and support one another," he added.

 

Aftershocks

 

The military has been deployed to help the rescue effort, and the government has accepted an offer of specialist help from Australia.

 

A series of aftershocks, some as big as magnitude 5, have already rattled the stricken city, and officials warned residents to brace for more.

 

One Christchurch resident, Jaydn Katene, told the New Zealand Herald: "We've had friends in town call us and say there are just bodies lying around; lots of dead bodies outside shops just lying there just covered in bricks."

 

A British backpacker said the city "looked like a bomb had hit it".

 

New Zealand experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude in excess of 5.0.

 

The last fatal earthquake was in 1968, when a 7.1-magnitude tremor killed three people on the South Island's western coast.

 

Tuesday's was the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in the North Island city of Napier killed 256 people.

 

ANALYSIS - Jonathan Amos / Science correspondent, BBC News

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

By nature, earthquakes tend to cluster in space and time.

 

And Tuesday's tremor in Christchurch is almost certainly related to the much more energetic event that hit the region last September.

 

The critical difference on this occasion is the ground broke almost directly under the country's second city, and at shallow depth, 5km (3 miles) below the surface.

 

Contrast this with September's magnitude 7 quake:: its epicentre occurred some 40km west of the city and at a depth of 10km, and it continued to rupture mainly away from the major built-up areas.

 

New Zealand lies on the notorious Ring of Fire, the line of frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions that circles virtually the entire Pacific rim.

 

The country straddles the boundary between two tectonic plates: the Pacific and Indo-Australian plates.

 

On South Island, the location of the latest quake, the plates rub past each other horizontally.

[Cobalt]

People were milling around in the hotel lobby, trying to get warm during the chilly Southern Hemisphere winter.

 

NICE GOING NEWS ARTICLE

 

gah, look at this. the cathedral in the city centre :(

 

 

*sadfaces*

[ivet]

I have found photos on the Stuff.co.nz site, but I won't be posting them as there's a lot. But I will post the link.

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4095395/Earthquake-hits-the-South-Island

 

oh wow, that's insane

thanks for sharing that

 

I'm glad to hear there were no deaths

[djibou]

Honey, you missed like 3 posts up there. People did die.

[rudy_o]

Oh my, that was terrible. :(

[ivet]

:( :( :( :( :( :(

 

errg :bigcry:

[NumbersGirl]

A coworker of mine just stopped by and said his aunt and uncle were actually there when it happened. They live in England, but happened to be in New Zealand for vacation. What are the chances of that?!? :freak: His cousin sent him this message:

 

"Just to let you know that Mum and Dad are ok after the earthquake in New Zealand. I spoke to them this morning and they are in good spirits, if a little shaken (truthfully, no pun intended!).

 

They had been driving when the quake happened. Dad thought all of the tyres had blown on the car until he realised that everyone else had stopped too! They made their way to their hotel in Christchurch and then there were quite a few aftershocks. They’d been scheduled to fly the next day from Christchurch to Auckland (I think…this is all from memory) before flying out to Fiji on Wednesday. Mum just said ‘let’s get out of here’ and they jumped in the car and drove 100 miles away. They’ve found some accommodation and I think they’re either in or making their way to Wellington. They don’t care if their flights are buggered up, I think they’re just glad that they’re safe. They said it was a horrible experience and one they’d never want to go through again... "

[Cascading Waterfall]

Oh wow, that's insane.

Thanks for sharing that.

 

I'm glad to hear there were no deaths.

 

 

When the September earthquake hit Christchurch, there was one death. This was a woman who suffered a heart attack.

 

Yesterday's death toll has probably risen by now.

 

It really upset me to see the badly damaged Christchurch Cathedral. That cathedral is an icon and to see it as it is now, well it is heartbreaking.

[deaths_friend]

tragic stuff. truly tragic.

 

mother nature really has had her way so far this year in this part of the world.

[Grace.]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/23/3146299.htm

 

I read in the article above that the death toll has risen to 75 and there are still 300 people missing.

This is such awful news, I've driven through the streets of Chrischurch and it's heartwrenching seeing all the damage that has been done to such a beautiful city and its people. I hope the recovery process is as easy as it can be for the people of the city, my heart is really going out to everyone down there.

 

This really has been a crazy year, already. Let's hope the trend doesn't continue.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

What a truly devastating disaster. With it following on from that horrific mining catastrophe I really do feel dreadfully sorry for New Zealanders. They'll keep in there. They're a strong bunch down there.

 

Rest in peace to all those souls who perished in this awful earthquake.

[Josh42]

I LOVE YOU EDDIE. I'll be praying for you guys.

[nancyk58]

From Danish text-TV:

 

Danish seismologist Trine Dahl-Jensen from Denmark's and Greenland's Geological Surveys, GEUS, said that the earthquake last night in Christchurch was actually an aftershock after the earthquake in September 2010. Since then there have been 171 minor earthquakes = aftershocks over magnitude 4 on the Richter Scale within a radius of 100 km of Christchurch. This newest earthquake is the biggest aftershock.

 

From text-TV and live TV News in Denmark, Sweden and Germany:

 

The quake caused some 30m tons of ice to shear away from New Zealand's biggest glacier which is situated 20 miles from Christchurch.

 

Witnesses say massive icebergs formed when the Tasman Glacier in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park broke, tossing a nearby lake with huge waves - 3½m high.

 

 

 

Rescuers are digging in the rubble looking for 200 who may be trapped in collapsed buildings.

 

DEATH TOLL 75; between 100 and 300 are still trapped / missing. 32 victims have been identified.

 

CHRISTCHURCH - New Zealand's second city - is situated on the South Island and has 400,000 inhabitants.

 

After last night's earthquake there has been many aftershocks.

 

New Zealand is assisted by rescuers from Australia (and another country).

[Cascading Waterfall]

Air New Zealand are operating $50 flights for people from Christchurch to Auckland and Wellington.

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12547853

 

23 February 2011 Last updated at 01:06 GMT

 

New Zealand earthquake: Death toll rises to 75

 

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has declared a national state of emergency as the death toll from Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch rose to 75.

 

There are now 55 bodies in a morgue and another 20 being transported there following the 6.3-magnitude tremor.

 

Police have said there is "incredible carnage right throughout the city", with "bodies littering the streets".

 

More than 300 people are still missing. Forty-eight were pulled out from collapsed buildings alive overnight.

 

The earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) on Tuesday lunchtime, when the South Island city was at its busiest.

 

It was Christchurch's second major tremor in five months, and New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster in 80 years.

 

Amputations

 

More than 500 search and rescue personnel, police, fire service staff, soldiers and volunteers worked throughout the night to find survivors trapped under the rubble, many using only their bare hands.

 

"There is incredible carnage right throughout the city," Police Superintendent Russell Gibson said. "There are bodies littering the streets, they are trapped in cars and crushed under rubble."

 

"We are getting texts and tapping sounds from some of these buildings and that's where our focus is," he added.

 

"It's quite amazing, we have some people we've pulled out and they haven't got so much as a scratch on them, we've had other people where we've had to amputate limbs to get them out."

 

Asked how many may still be trapped, Supt Gibson said: "It could be another 100 - it could be more."

 

Later, officials said a total of 300 people were believed to be missing, but details are unclear and officials are currently trying to refine that list. Some people may simply not have been able to contact friends and relatives.

 

The ministry of civil defence said 22 people alone were missing in Christchurch Cathedral, which lost its spire and a section of roof.

 

Twenty-four others have meanwhile been rescued from the Pyne Gould Guinness building and dogs have detected another seven still alive. The earthquake flattened the four-storey structure where hundreds worked.

 

"I rang my kids to say goodbye," Ann Voss told TV3 from underneath her desk inside the building. "It was absolutely horrible. My daughter was crying and I was crying because I honestly thought that was it."

 

Ms Voss said she could hear other survivors and had called out to them.

 

"I'm not going to give up," she added. "I'm going to stay awake now. They better come and get me."

 

Later, the head of the fire service denied reports that 15 people trapped in an air pocket within the remains of a six-storey building housing local broadcaster CTV and an English-language school had been pulled out.

 

Amid scenes of devastation in the Cashel Street Mall, an injured baby was found in its dead mother's arms, witnesses said.

 

Tom Brittenden, who worked nearby, said the mother had run out of a shop during the earthquake and been hit by debris.

 

"We tried to pull these big bricks off her," he said. ''It was a big 1m by 1m cube which hadn't separated... She was gone. Some people who were helping took the baby away. They just put a blanket on her because she had already gone.''

 

Supt Gibbs said the death toll would be "significantly higher". The police are aware several locations, including a bus crushed by debris, where bodies have not yet been removed because their priority is to help those still alive.

 

Police Superintendent Dave Cliff told the BBC that there was a fleet of air ambulances and military aircraft standing by to take people to other hospitals around the country.

 

"They haven't needed to be used yet, because the hospital system here across Canterbury is coping with the numbers. But that's all ready to go as people who need that trauma care are pulled out of rubble," he told the BBC.

 

Emergency shelters have been set up at the city's Hagley Park, a race course, schools and community halls.

 

The Red Cross has been trying to find accommodation for people sheltering outside in tents or under plastic sheeting.

 

All the schools in Christchurch are closed until further notice, as expert teams are assessing any potential damage to the buildings.

 

Prime Minister John Key declared a national state of emergency after a cabinet meeting in the capital, Wellington. He said it would allow the greatest possible co-ordination of local, national, and international resources to work on rescue and recovery efforts.

 

He told residents of Christchurch that New Zealanders felt "your pain as only a small nation can".

 

"Things will get better. Christchurch will rise again," he added. "There is no reason that can make sense of this event, no words that can spare our pain."

 

Mr Key also ordered that the country's flag be flown at half-mast on all public buildings until further notice to honour the victims.

 

'Utterly shocked'

 

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who is also New Zealand's head of state, said she was "utterly shocked" by the disaster, while US President Barack Obama offered his "deepest condolences".

 

The damage is thought to be far worse than after the 7.1-magnitude quake on 4 September, which left two people seriously injured but no fatalities.

 

The epicentre of that quake, which occurred in the middle of the night, was further away from the city and deeper underground.

 

New Zealand experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude in excess of 5.0.

 

The last fatal earthquake was in 1968, when a 7.1-magnitude tremor killed three people on the South Island's western coast.

 

Tuesday's was the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in Hawke's Bay on the North Island killed 256 people.

[Cascading Waterfall]

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/02/earthquake-in-new-zealand/100013

 

Images of the aftermath of the Christchurch quake.

[katienz]

So sad to see such an Icon destroyed, I was down in Christchurch two weeks prior to the last big earthquake and had the privilage to climb up the tower of the cathedral, so sad to think of this devastation and loss of life, cried all day y'day while listening to the radio and tv, my 9 year old son was afraid to go to sleep in fear of an earthquake in our town.

gah, look at this. the cathedral in the city centre :(

 

[Chloe_Martin]

It's so scary :(

 

Natural disasters are happening more and more recent

[Cascading Waterfall]

What a truly devastating disaster. With it following on from that horrific mining catastrophe I really do feel dreadfully sorry for New Zealanders. They'll keep in there. They're a strong bunch down there.

 

Rest in peace to all those souls who perished in this awful earthquake.

 

And in mid April 2008 there was the Mangatepopo Valley disaster which took the lives of 6 students and their teacher. The river flooded while they were crossing it and they were swept to their deaths.

[ame=

]

[/ame]

 

I've read on another forum I'm on that it's said there could be more than 100 people lost in the CTV Building.

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12555890

 

23 February 2011 Last updated at 20:17 GMT

 

Hundreds missing after New Zealand quake

 

Hundreds of people remain missing as search efforts in New Zealand continue in the aftermath of Tuesday's powerful earthquake in Christchurch.

 

Officials say 71 bodies have been recovered so far but more are known to still be under the rubble.

 

Foreign rescue workers are arriving to join the search effort, amid warnings that time is running out for survivors. No-one was found alive overnight.

 

The 6.3 magnitude quake is the country's biggest disaster in 80 years.

 

The New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, has declared a national state of emergency and authorities have imposed a curfew.

 

Mr Key said the quake had "wreaked death and destruction on a dreadful scale" in the country's second biggest city, six months after a 7.0-magnitude quake hit Christchurch causing much less damage.

 

Civil Defence Minister John Carter told reporters that 71 bodies have been taken to morgues in the city so far. Officials had previously said 75 people were dead but Mr Carter said this had not yet been confirmed.

 

"We are aware there are other bodies but we haven't got a number on that," he said.

 

Mr Carter said earlier reports that up to 300 people were still missing was only "speculation" and that information was coming in from various sources.

 

Officials say some people reported as missing may simply have been unable to make contact with friends and relatives, he said.

 

"Police are now acting to ensure that the lists are accurate and that we will have a definitive list of who's missing," the New Zealand Herald quoted Mr Carter as saying.

 

The director of New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, John Hamilton, has said rescuers have only a window of two or three days to find people.

 

The authorities worked through the night to find survivors in an effort which has been hampered by aftershocks, but no-one was rescued from the ruins overnight on Wednesday.

 

'Limbs amputated'

 

Rescue teams have arrived from Australia, Asia, the US and Britain.

 

Military field hospital teams are meanwhile helping repair power, water and phone lines damaged across the city.

 

About 120 people have been pulled out of collapsed buildings, with rescuers having to perform amputations on some victims to get them out.

 

Christchurch's main hospital was inundated with people suffering head and chest injuries, a spokesperson said.

 

Among the worst hit buildings was the home of Canterbury Television (CTV) - at least 15 staff members are still missing but rescue work was called off as officials said there were no signs of life.

 

The building also housed the King's Education language school, attended mostly by students from Asia.

 

Kento Okuda, a 19-year-old from Japan, had his leg cut off to allow his rescue.

 

"As we were eating lunch, there was a major shaking, and suddenly the floor fell," he told Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

 

"Everyone around me was saying things like 'It hurts' as they fell downward," he said.

 

"And then I realised I was in total darkness, with my right leg pinned by something so I couldn't move."

 

Friends and relatives mourned for their loved ones after search efforts were stopped at the CTV building.

 

Officials said they did not think anyone else was alive beneath the rubble, and that they had to divert their resources elsewhere.

 

"We don't believe this site is now survivable," police inspector Dave Lawry told reporters.

 

The city's tallest hotel and surrounding area was cordoned off as rescue officials feared the hotel could fall on top of them.

 

"It's incredibly dangerous. If it hits the ground it will create a significant shock wave," Reuters quoted local mayor Bob Parker as saying.

 

At the Pyne Gould Guinness building, cheers were heard on Wednesday as office worker Ann Bodkin was pulled out alive after being trapped for more than 24 hours, and reunited with her waiting husband.

 

'Not survivable'

 

Emergency shelters have been set up and schools have been closed until buildings are assessed for risk.

 

Analysts have estimated the total cost of damage at about $12bn (£7.4bn), according to the Associated Press news agency.

 

About 80% of people in the city of about 350,000 are without water, reports the New Zealand Herald.

 

The earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) on Tuesday at 1251 local time (2351 GMT on Monday), when the South Island city was at its busiest.

 

It was Christchurch's second major tremor in five months, and New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster in 80 years.

 

New Zealand experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude greater than 5.0.

 

Tuesday's was the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in Hawke's Bay on the North Island killed 256 people.

 

 

AT THE SCENE

 

Phil Mercer / BBC News, Christchurch

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

For a second night rescue teams in Christchurch are continuing their painstaking search for those lost in the wreckage[/color].

 

There have been moments of exhilaration when survivors have been pulled from office blocks that have been utterly shattered.

 

Emergency workers concede, though, that it's likely their grim task will soon begin to reveal more bodies.

 

Relatives of the missing have been threatened with arrest if they breach a cordon set up to keep the public away from unstable buildings in the centre of Christchurch.

 

More than 36 hours after the earthquake struck, more details are emerging of what the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has called a "ruthless act of nature".

 

One woman died instantly with her baby in her arms when she was struck by falling debris. Somehow the child survived. It is a remarkable escape that has boosted the spirits of a beleaguered city.

[Italian Plastic]

92 confirmed dead. Fuck.

[Cascading Waterfall]

Now the death toll is 98.

 

There's grave fears for the 228 people still missing.

[*Sarah*]

it's such a tragedy, really sad...

[Cascading Waterfall]

New Zealand's national anthem was played during yesterday's news coverage.

[ame=

]

[/ame]

 

This Friday and Saturday will be Red and Black Day in support of Christchurch. Red and black are the Canterbury colours.

http://http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128474807224687&notif_t=event_invite

[deaths_friend]

this is the truth (and funnily enough most aussies agree with me) but NZ has the best anthem in the world. the fact that you guys not only recognise the indigenous people of your land but you include them in your anthem is really admirable. wish we could've treated our indigenous people that respectfully.