Another Christchurch Earthquake

We have had several nasty earthquakes today. The first struck just out to sea at 1.58pm and was magnitude 5.8 quake. A larger magnitude 6 quake struck at 3.18pm. It was centered on New Brighton just a few kilometers from here, so we were really rocked around. There have been smaller aftershocks throughout the afternoon and evening.

A large cupboard fell over in our garage. A scotch chest in our bed room fell over. Other stuff fell off the shelves, but nothing much seems to have broken.

This is our driveway. The earthquake forced water up through the asphalt. Fortunately, it did not bring silt with it.

There was quite bad liquefaction in the street. You can see where water burst up out from under the ground, bringing silt with it. The force of the water is so strong that it breaks the asphalt.

We only had a little bit of liquefaction in our back yard, but nothing serious.

I finished work yesterday, so was at home when the quake struck. We did not lose electricity or water, so we are quite comfortable.

No one was seriously injured in the city. The CBD is mostly closed to the public, while buildings damaged in previous earthquakes are demolished. I presume that the demolition crews would have stopped work for the Christmas break. Many other businesses had closed about lunch time, so people were heading home from work when the quake struck.

The suburban shopping malls were full of people, but the buildings stood up the shaking well.

People are feeling really stressed and fearful. Things had been quiet for the last two months and we had hoped that the aftershocks were over, but now the cycle will start over again. I expect we will have aftershocks for the next few months.