In case you were wondering...

[Ned]

... not that anybody asked but we are all safe down here in NZ after Saturday morning's big quake in the South Island. Magnitude 7.1 the same as Haiti.  There is major damage to Christchurch City and surrounding areas, a few injuries but no deaths. They are still getting magnitude 5+ aftershocks this morning and to cap it all off a major storm system has moved in with heavy rain and high winds - poor buggers.

Ned

[Ned]

A few pics http://nz.news.yahoo.com/news-gallery/a/-/article/7890569/image/1/wake-of-the-canterbury-earthquake/

[simi_ed]

Well thats good news, Ned.  Nothing like a 7.1 to make your day.  We had a 6.7 here in 1994, and it was pretty damn scary.  You folks must have pretty good building codes to have a a few injuries & no dead.  The Northridge quake in '94 had 60~ dead and a lot injured, in the hundreds.  Hopefully the worst has passed & the moving will dissipate.

[FJ Flyer]

Ned,
Glad to hear you're okay.  Let's hope you have filled you quota for a long time!

[Harvy]

Ahha........took a quake to stir you up eh Ned!......... I hope there isn't a continuation of the same fault letting go up thru your area mate.
Stay safe.

Harvy

[UJM]

Thanks for the update, glad all is as well as it can be.

Oklahoma had a rash of far smaller quakes, still strange.

Keep the faith!

[Ned]

800Km north in Hawkes Bay has just had a 5.2 shake. We've been told it looks like the start of a 30 year cycle with a few big ones expected. The last one in Auckland a few years ago was just one big thud that tipped a step ladder over in the garage on my bike denting the fuel tank. I'm hoping this isn't the start of a a series moving north. The building code here is very strict - no brick walls unless supported by timber framing. When I drew the plans for our house I had to get an engineer's report on the site and the internal bracing all has to be calculated to withstand a pretty big shake.

Ned in shaky NZ

[Arnie]

Ned,

I'm sorry to report that although I thoght about posting a note to you, I failed to get that round toit in gear. :-(  I figured that up in Auckland you'd be OK, but I wondered if we have any members from Christchurch.  I've been watching the news coverage over here and wondering if that cathedral in the main square of Christchurch is still standing.
Good to hear you're safe and well.

Arnie

[racerman_27410]

good to hear you are safe and well  Ned,

i experience a small shake when i visited California.....


i dont think i could sleep very easy if i lived near an active fault.

PS keep your ladder away from the FJ   

hang in there brother !

Frank