7.0 magnitude earthquake hits Christchurch New Zealand

[jp80874]

Sean,

Hope you are okay.

John Powers

CNN news report
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapc...ex.html?hpt=T1

[Sean]

yup, I'm in the North Island but we do have some family in Christchurch and possibly a few Apugers down there so hope they are ok..

[Christopher Walrath]

Didn't get shaken around a bit, did you?

[zk-cessnaguy]

Have spoken to family down there, and all well. Shaken, not stirred.
No reports yet of major injuries or fatalities. Plenty of property damage.
Quake was 7.4 with a further aftershocks registering between 3.9 and 4.9. Located 30km west of Christcurch.

[Pete H]

http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/...146g-maps.html
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/drums/mqz-drum.html

and you can see the aftershocks too.
Hoping all are ok!

[Chris Nielsen]

Twitter has been going nuts this morning about the earthquake. Glad there has been no deaths in the quake. State of emergency about to be declared. Scary!

[lxdude]

Just saw some of the pictures. I was in Santa Cruz, Calif. in the 1989 quake and it reminds me a lot of that. Hoping that no one's been hurt. Time of day most likely helped-in Santa Cruz most damage was to commercial buildings, many of which were occupied because it was 5 PM.

[mwdake]

Found out about it while at work this afternoon.
So, got two of my nieces in Christchurch on Facebook.
All the family down there are OK but both said very very scary.

My thoughts go to my family and friends in NZ.

[ChrisC]

A lot of parallels with this and the Haiti quake. Magnitude, distance from epicenter to habitation, depth. Really goes to show just how much difference building codes make.
Thankfully no deaths so far, though the water situation sounds like a nightmare.

[P C Headland]

A lot of parallels with this and the Haiti quake. Magnitude, distance from epicenter to habitation, depth. Really goes to show just how much difference building codes make.
Thankfully no deaths so far, though the water situation sounds like a nightmare.

Seems like most of the damage is to the older buildings.

It woke me here in Wellington with a buzzing & rattling sound, but I was still half asleep, and wasn't sure whether it was a dream or an earthquake (we get plenty here in Wellington.

I hope our fellow mainlanders are all OK, and haven't suffered too much property damage.

Check out http://www.stuff.co.nz for more local info.