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| Map of Earthquakes and Aftershocks |
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.
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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.
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| The fault line shows up for miles (or kilometers) |
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| Wellington |
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| Note the offset of the road, and that the shift went right through the home. |
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| Same house as in photo above |
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| Grocery store |
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| 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. |
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| 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"
