Earthquake!

Map of Earthquakes and Aftershocks

I've been a bit slow to write about this, as I don't have any photos of it. I will attach a few that I have found to try to relate it.

The best part of it is that we didn't realize the severity of the quake until the next day. It happened at 12:02 AM on November 14. It woke us up, as our bed was like laying on a bed of jello. Our overhead light in the bedroom was swinging wildly. We heard some roaring and saw some flashing lights. Then it stopped.

Proper protocol is that we should have dove for cover under the table, or lay beside the bed on the floor (so that the falling ceiling would be held above you providing a small pocket of protection). But, being sleepy and having it stop so quickly, we just went back to sleep.  The next morning we watched the news, and began seeing the total devastation in many areas, especially the upper South Island.

The workers in Wellington use the train system and busses to get into the city, but they were all cancelled to check for damage. They didn't operate for 3 days. The other danger Monday morning was flooding, as there was a severe storm over Wellington and surrounding areas.  The storm ended Monday night, but there were several buildings in Wellington that were severely damaged, and a few are beyond repair and are being torn down. One of them is 1-1/2 blocks from the archives where we work. Another was in another suburb north of Wellington (Petone). One third of a shopping mall is being demolished. Part of it was a movie theatre complex-and we had gone to a movie there a week before.

One town on the south island, Kaikora, was totally isolated because of land slides (they call them slips) on the one highway through town, both north and south of the town. It is Route 1, the major highway on the island. The land there was raised up to 20 feet after the quake. The harbor can now only be used for 2 hours at high tide. The clean up will take months and billions. Not sure when the highway will reopen.

The earthquake was 7.8. It is the third worst one in a century.  We have been unable to return to the archives since the quake and will hopefully return after the holidays on January 9. There was no structural damage to the building, but there was damage to a wall at the elevator nearest our work area that has to be repaired before we can return.

By December 1, there had been about 5,000 aftershocks. We have felt 6 or 7.

Below is a listing of ONLY the SEVERE earthquakes in New Zealand in 2016. These are the highest ranked (most destructive) earthquakes. There have been 12 so far, and 9 of them have been since the Kaikora earthquake of November 14. If you want to see the data, log in to www.geonet.co.nz.

Welcome to GeoNet - the official source of geological hazard information for New Zealand.

Recent earthquakes that may have been felt in the New Zealand region over the past year:

1. Region intensity severe

NZDT Sun, Dec 4 2016, 4:15:47 pm

Depth 12 km         Magnitude 5.5

Location 10 km east of Seddon, a week ago

2. Region intensity severe

NZDT Tue, Nov 22 2016, 6:13:33 pm

Depth 10 km        Magnitude 5.7

Location 15 km south-east of Culverden, weeks ago

3.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Mon, Nov 14 2016, 1:34:22 pm

Depth 35 km      Magnitude 6.3

Location 30 km north of Cheviot, weeks ago

4.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Mon, Nov 14 2016, 1:33:51 pm

Depth 16 km      Magnitude 5.7

Location 20 km east of Seddon, weeks ago

5.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Mon, Nov 14 2016, 6:17:39 am

Depth 9 km        Magnitude 5.1

Location Within 5 km of Kaikoura, weeks ago

6.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Mon, Nov 14 2016, 2:31:26 am

Depth 25 km      Magnitude 6.0

Location 15 km north of Kaikoura, weeks ago

7.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Mon, Nov 14 2016, 12:52:44 am

Depth 15 km,      Magnitude 6.2

Location 35 km north-west of Kaikoura, weeks ago

8.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Mon, Nov 14 2016, 12:32:06 am

Depth 29 km       Magnitude 6.2

Location 15 km north of Kaikoura, weeks ago

9.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Mon, Nov 14 2016, 12:16:10 am

Depth 2 km     Magnitude 5.6

Location 5 km west of Culverden, weeks ago

10.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Mon, Nov 14 2016, 12:02:56 am

Depth 15 km       Magnitude 7.8

Location 15 km north-east of Culverden, weeks ago

11.  Region intensity severe

NZST Fri, Sep 2 2016, 4:37:55 am

Depth 22 km       Magnitude 7.1

Location 125 km north-east of Te Araroa, weeks ago

12.  Region intensity severe

NZDT Sun, Feb 14 2016, 1:13:43 pm

Depth 8 km     Magnitude 5.7

Location 10 km east of Christchurch, weeks ago

GeoNet is a collaboration between the Earthquake Commission and GNS Science.

Here are some photos and articles that I have borrowed from others.

Landslide (Slip) near Kaikora. This is the main N-S highway on the island

The railroad parallels the road and is closed too. Note that the rails got pushed off the trackbed.

The fault line shows up for miles (or kilometers)

Wellington 

Note the offset of the road, and that the shift went right through the home.

Same house as in photo above

Grocery store

This island with the cows on it was at the same elevation as its surroundings prior to the quake.
The farmer cut a sloped path up to the cows after he found them 3 days later, and they walked out.

The tall glass building is about 1-1/2 blocks from where we work. The street and all the adjacent businesses have been closed because of the danger of collapse. They have already torn it down to 5 stories and put a row of shipping containers
along the street, so that the road can reopen and some of the businesses too. The front right building is the NZ Red Cross. It remains closed because of the danger from the adjacent building 5 weeks later.

One bright spot is that the news interviewed an immigrant that had sought refuge in New Zealand. He put it in perspective. "No snakes, no tigers. Only earthquakes"

Taupo, Part 2

We returned to Taupo for a meeting with the 4 couples that are located throughout New Zealand. Two couples, the Eccles and Byrnes, are located in Auckland. We are in Wellington. The fourth couple are the Edwards. Turns out that Sister Edward's sister lived in Page for several years, and her son, David Miller, is friends with Cody.

The volcanic mountains across the lake. First time we had seen them in 2 trips. We drove right beside them. Mount Raupehu and Mount Ngauruhoe. (Rah-oo-peh-hu & Na-oo-hoe-eh)

Finally!!! Lake Taupo on a calm day.

With the other couples a Huku Falls.

The Edward's and Mike Higgins (our awesome boss)

Rotorua

We had 2 free days after we visited Cody, JoEllen and family in Taupo, so we drove up to Rotorua. It is a major tourist spot. The earth's crust is thin here, and they have lots of steam vents and hot pools. Kind of like a Yellowstone experience. Only not in a national park, but with a city built around and through it. Sometimes a new steam vent will show up in someone's front yard, or a hot sinkhole appears. Then they have to abandon the property.  Very beautiful place.  We first toured their "Redwood Forest". Many trees were imported when the Europeans began settling New  Zealand. Everyone seemed to bring their favorite tree, plant, dog, weed. Now many things have become pests, and they are trying to eradicate them or control them. The redwoods came from the US, because they would grow fast in this climate.

We rented a small Airbnb (vacation rental) about 20 minutes north of town, across the lake. It was quite rural, with the assorted chicken, dogs, llamas and cat. This was our view of Rotorua the next day.

One thing the tourists like to see here is the Maori culture. We found a village in town that gives tours of their village, and talks about their way of life. You can buy a lunch there too. Twice a day they put on a show for the visitors. It is only open 9-5, so that they can have a normal life the rest of the time.
Here are a few photos.

This is the village. The Whakarewarewa (Fahka-roo-a-roo-a) Village. Now try the name on the red sign.

There are steam vents all around. It rained off and on most of the morning. Most of the pools are just below boiling. The people here heat their homes with the built in steam heat. They cook using both the hot water, and steam. (see below)

They have gardens for raising vegetables.

This lady is cooking flax for making mats and capes and skirts.
This pool is just below boiling. They also cook fish and vegetables
in this pool, rather than a stove.

This cage is used to cook meats using the natural steam.
They separate the meat from the other foods, so that
the oil and grease doesn't contaminate the hot pools.
They also divert the hot water into their community
baths (used after tourists are gone). Almost no utility bills.

Village Cemetery. 

Houses and shops mingle together along the main street.

The meal includes two meats, vegetables, stuffing, gravy and sweet-corn on the cob.
The dessert is the world famous Whakarewarewa steam pudding (cooked in the steam boxes)
 and served with fruit salad, custard & cream. 

 After lunch, we went to the Maori performance. Pretty fun.

this shows some of the songs and dances that they do.

This is the Marae (Mah-ri). This is the social hub of the community. In days past, this would be the church, school, social place, where wedding would be held, and funerals. There are intricate carvings inside and out.

A couple of impressive buildings in Rotorua.

Not quite the grand canyon, but these folks went totally under at the bottom
of that rapid. The guy in the kayak was counting heads when they resurfaced.

All accounted for!!

The walk to the falls.

And, in typical Mike fashion, on the way out of town, I made a stop for a couple of hours.

Trip to Taupo, Part 1

Although we normally remain in the Wellington area, we have had a few opportunities to travel. This past week was a great one. The four couples doing Records Preservation in New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin) all traveled to Lake Taupo to a conference with our boss, and an expert Records guy from Salt Lake. So we took advantage of the weekend to go up early and meet with Cody, JoEllen and the kids.  We rented a house through Airbnb that fit all of us. It was great. We both traveled Friday afternoon and evening to get there. As you can see below, it was quite a visual experience getting there.

Saturday everyone awoke with great expectations for kayaking, hiking, hot pools and whatever other adventure we could find. We also awoke to cloudy skies, wind, and a high threat of rain. With that in mind, we opted for kayaks first, just in case weather worsened.  Luckily it didn't. But we have all learned that "warm" is a relative term, and "nice" is relative. Kayaking was done in about 60 degree weather, with long sleeve shirts and windbreakers plus life jackets. It was a blast. We flipped to see which two would have to remain on shore and go to the craft fair. Somehow that worked out to everyone's advantage and desire. 

 The next 2 shots were hiking down to some hot pools to soak and warm up.  

After a quick lunch, we headed to Huka Falls. Beautiful water. Lake Taupo, where we kayaked, feeds the Waikato River. These falls are just a few km (miles) downstream. 

This is one of the locations that use jet boats to see rivers and falls. It would have cost us all about $600 to ride together.

Next up: Rotorua