Wellington Earthquakes

[Chilli]

Just got told of the above, hope all is ok? Not seen any news yet so have no idea of the extent of the damage. We are due there in 3 weeks.

[driverrob]

Minor damage only reported so far. They're checking some rail lines.
My son & his family there shrugged it off, as usual.
The quakes have been centred on the fault line deep in the Cook Straight, between the two islands.

[driverrob]

More severe damage reports coming in: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8945358/Big-quake-...

[uncinqsix]

It was a decentish wee shake, but I'm surprised at the damage it's done. It didn't seem that big. We had a small photo frame fall off a shelf...

[RobDickinson]

From experience ...
Dont go in or near any vunrable buildings
Make sure you have water, food and a first aid pack.
also a torch radio and old non mains phone.

Hopefully that's the end of it but don't relax where buildings are concerned

[Fulvisti]

Good advice Rob. Also remember a pocket full of cash, a fully charged cell phone, and a full tank of petrol if the roads are ok. There are still a couple of buildings here in Christchurch I won't go near.

[RCK974X]

At 6.8, later revised to 6.5 and 17kms down, that's a pretty big earthquake. We live in the Wairarapa, around 100kms away, and the main jolt was STRONG. Stuff fell off the shelves, and it was pretty scary. Went on for well over 1 minute, which is a LONG time for that kind of thing. Strongest I've felt in my (almost) 20 years living here.

It was strong enough that I went round and checked the structures of the house and shed, water tanks, plumbing etc. to make sure all was OK. We've got some new cracks in the plaster, but that's all. Most of WLG damage reports are minor, probably all back to normal in a day or so.

You should always have an emergency pack handy (or know where it is) - water, money,phone,blanket, and so on, but people do often tend to panic a bit more than they need to. Most decent size firms have emergency packs/lockers around for their staff.

Wellington building standards are pretty high because that's where NZ expected the next big quake to be, not Christchurch, so major damage is less likely (but still possible). Just be aware that the land between Lambton Quay and the waterfront in CBD is reclaimed, so is at higher risk of liquefaction/slumping, but it's not a huge major worry or anything !

Edited by RCK974X on Monday 22 July 04:05

[RobDickinson]

Yes that's why there is a 19 page list of vulnerable buildings in Wellington (as at 11.7.13)

Wellington would be worse than. Christchurch if it got hit hard.

[RCK974X]

Yeah, well unfortunately that's a function of history - I'm not convinced WLG would be that much worse that CHC was, but you might be right.

Certainly getting in and out of city would be a challenge, as all main routes go through high risk zones....

[driverrob]

Today's Dominion Post:

[iain a]

No damage done... a picture frame propped against a wall fell over, and that was about it. It was a good wobble though, I was in a steel framed warehouse at the time (working on the rally car), I stepped outside as there is a lot of stuff on high shelves in there. None of it fell off though. The metal cladding fair rattled though!
So was it a wake up call, or is that it for the next decade or so??