Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I wouldn't blame people for leaving. How could you trust that it wouldn't happen again? Those that were lucky enough not to lose a loved one this time would worry about next time not being as fortunate.
It would be bad for Christchurch, of course, but there's nothing any government can do to safeguard people against earthquakes as you oftentimes can against other disasters that give you some advance notice.
In that case, the people shouldn't live anywhere in NZ, except the far north. Nasty faultlines cover most of the rest of the country. Particularly vulnerable area = Wellington.
^^ Muir33, that's a fascinating site, but in kind of a horrible way. It helps me at least partly understand in a visceral manner what you are all experiencing. I've been rather glued to the nzherald.com site and must say it has excellent reportage of this sad event.
I know what you mean, but its gotta be one of the most well visited sites by Christchurch people over the last 6 months. It even has its own Facebook page!
The kids are quite fascinated with it and, I guess to help with the stress of it all, the kids and us try to guess what size aftershock we have just experienced and where it was, then look on the site to see. Its always interesting to see how close to our own home they are.
I'm in Wellington at the mo.....earthquake tonight. Sharp jolt, thankfully won't be any damage as it was 40km deep.
Ive heard that there is a real air of apprehension in Wgtn after the ChCh earthquake. If Wgtn ever got a major one it would be a nightmare, logistics wise, to get around. At least ChCh is flat.
Had to drive around town yesterday for work - traffic here is chaos at the moment with the CBD cordoned off and streets closed around the suburbs. The roads are an absolute mess with liquifaction, holes, subsidence and gravel everywhere. Almost feels like we are in a third world country in some suburbs.
In that case, the people shouldn't live anywhere in NZ, except the far north. Nasty faultlines cover most of the rest of the country. Particularly vulnerable area = Wellington.
According to this map, all of NZ is in 'earthquake country' Ring of Fire, as also am I, over there in California in the northwest region.
I was nearby the Loma Prieta quake in '89 and am still at least somewhat traumatized by it, these 21+ years later, so I feel great concern and respect for how folks are suffering in Christchurch and all of NZ now.
My sincere prayers for "all" of you in New Zealand. It is such a absolutely beautiful country. I traveled the north and south island and I can't say what I liked most. It was gorgeous! If you were born and raised there, I can see how you wouldn't want to leave such a beautiful country. I would also always be fearful of what could happen because of the volcanos and fault lines, but I would probably want to stay. Again, my sincere prayers are with you all on a daily basis!
Well last Tuesday was a lot of fun on the 8th floor of a building in the CBD but it stood up well.
Driving around CHCH this is my take. The West half of the City is largely unscathed except minor damage from the first quake. You can drive from the Airport to the CBD and think "what are people on about". Eartern suburbs a mess with maybe 10% homes to rebuild.
The Northern suburbs are a mixed bag my immediate suburb is fine, no liquefaction, however other parts of the suburb and others do have a lot of liquefaction.
The CBD is trashed probably 50% of the buildings in doubt.
As for rebuilding somthing like 80% of the cost is re-insured and EQC so there is something like US$15bn for rebuilding. San Fran Cisco, Kobi Japan, all have come back from worse and similar. It will be a drag on the economy initially but as rebuilding gains traction, history shows it has a very positive effect on the economy.
Just to add nearly 2 billion people live in Earthquake zones, its a matter of learning from events and building better. Aus has forest fires, droughts mammoth floods and cyclones, the US has Earthquakes cyclones & Tornadoes etc. You cant live in fear its a matter of planning and building better. A lot of progress has been made in the last 20 years with building designs for Earthquakes.
.
Last edited by Battleneter; 03-03-2011 at 06:58 PM..
Reason: added
A local Atlanta woman was interviewed on our local news, who had been in Christchurch on the day of the earthquake. She was traveling alone on her "once in a lifetime" vacation, and had just left one of the churches only two minutes before the quake hit - that church had significant damage and several people inside were killed.
She along with so many others, walked down the main street for a few miles to get out of the building zone, and eventually she wound up meeting some locals who took her in and allowed her to stay in their home for a couple of days until the airport was up and running again and she could leave. She said the compassion that was shown to each other and to the foreign tourists was exceptional and if she could do it over again, she would still be in New Zealand that day, even having to go through the quake, simply because of the people.
I know even with modern technology it's going to be hard to rebuild the city considering the foundation it has under it, but I'm sure there's a lot they'll be able to due to at least help prevent this level of destruction in the future. It's too beautiful of a place to at least not try. It's a lesson for all of us though because as someone pointed out, there are fault lines in places people don't even know about. There's even one in-between Atlanta and Chattanooga, just two hours North of here. A similar quake there, and poof - MAJOR problems in Atlanta. It'll be a long road for those in Christchurch, but the world is thinking of them.
Last edited by atlantagreg30127; 03-03-2011 at 10:09 PM..
Yes, most Americans don't know that the biggest quake in the continental US took place not in California or Alaska but in Missouri in 1812. It was actually a series of several large earthquakes and they supposedly rang church bells on the East Coast.
I might have mentioned this earlier in the thread but in the museum near Hagley Park there was a section about earthquakes and there was made mention that someday a major earthquake could hit ChCh. I doubt many people took that very seriously. I certainly never gave any thought to an earthquake happening. I certainly thought about it in Napier and in Wellington, but not ChCh.
One problem with Canterbury is that it's an alluvial plain of gravel from mountain runoff and isn't stable. I wonder if it would make sense to move the CBD north, west or southwest if there is more solid ground. Essentially moving the city elsewhere while retaining western suburbs. Turn much of the current CBD into a park.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
