Busytown by Jolisa Gracewood

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Busytown: The shakes

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  • Geoff Lealand,

    I'm such a contacts klutz

    Tosh! You are the most connected guy I know ;-)

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    "Yes, a few more cracks in our house, but we're okay. We now have electricity (yay); alas no water or sewerage yet. Rain today so taking a break from repairs to write a post for PA. Cheers, D."

    I'm not sure I'm impressed or concerned that both PA bloggers based in Christchurch have posted this week. I guess it's the strange nature of the situation - so much stuff to do, but probably lots of things are on hold waiting for building inspectors, school and work to restart, etc.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    "It's a comfort, really. We're going through a bit of a rough time with this earthquake, and it's almost like they care. They're showing an interest in people."

    Love that quote. "it's almost like they care."

    Never can tell with politicians.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Tosh! You are the most connected guy I know ;-)

    He's "a friend of ours". ;)

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Makes complaining about the continuous rain up north a trivial pursuit?

    Well, with this, my postings click over to the first 1000. Where do I get my Brown(ie) badge? Only another 9000, to catch up with our inspiring leader!

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I'm not sure I'm impressed or concerned that both PA bloggers based in Christchurch have posted this week. I guess it's the strange nature of the situation - so much stuff to do, but probably lots of things are on hold waiting for building inspectors, school and work to restart, etc.

    It's a more constructive way to fill in some empty time than curling up under the kitchen table, chanting "fuck fuck fuckity fuck".

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Mother Nature is a tiresome drama queen. I demand she stops this nonsense immediately.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Something not quite right in that arithmetic there Sofie.

    Yes my bad, a 5 should be 1000 times less. Thanks Steven.
    Richter scale

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Is it me, or neither of the Christchurch bloggers have in fact posted this week so far?

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Gio, I think you are correct re Up Front and Southerly.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    The Cantabrian diaspora has staked out a couple of threads, till our actual Cantabrians can bring you the front-line reports from the other side of the seismic curtain.
    </hopelesslyscrambledmetaphor>

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I've texted Karl (the reason I didn't have Emma's mobile is that she doesn't have one!). Will let you all know.

    Oh I do too. I'll get you that. But I wouldn't have answered because I was in bed.

    I was talking to David yesterday about why I haven't done a column, or even blogged, about the earthquake. I think it's because I have, quite simply, been typing flat-out since it happened. I've been dealing with it, constantly, in tiny little pieces. I can't really sit back and look at the whole thing yet because it just won't fucking STOP.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Well, with this, my postings click over to the first 1000. Where do I get my Brown(ie) badge? Only another 9000, to catch up with our inspiring leader!

    Christ -- I hadn't noticed. Closing in on 5000 tweets too. That's a lot of little pieces.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Is it me, or neither of the Christchurch bloggers have in fact posted this week so far?

    Umm, OK Emma hasn't. David indicated that he was currently writing one.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Yesterday I went to Palmerston North where they had just felt the edge of the Porangahau earthquake that morning. Then back in Wellington in time for two Cook Strait-based littlies at around 4 pm. Nothing like Christchurch of course but we are all connected and its a bit unsettling in a what's next sense.

    Re the politicians it seems some of the local ones are working quite hard under the media radar in their regions trying to help where they can while dealing with their own damage.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Looking forward at the reality of Politics. I thought this fairly apt. John Armstrong

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    For the Technophiles out there...
    These are the puppies responsible
    Hanmer strike-slip basin, Hope fault
    implications of late Pleistocene valley fill in the Hope Valley
    And this is how it works...
    Strike-slip tectonics

    This is really old stuff, goes back to Gondwanaland, I'm wondering if the current crop of quakes is the settling of deep alluvial deposits, due to water extraction, or the fault itself.
    If we have a "Resident" Geologist, any clues yet?

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Mother Nature is a tiresome drama queen. I demand she stops this nonsense immediately.

    Where would we be if we couldn't say "How 'bout that weather eh" :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    Why that aftershock at 7.49am felt so much worse than suggested by its magnitude of 5.1 -

    I've been off-line and only just heard of this one so missed the actual coordinates, but Geonet now puts its source as 6 km deep "10 km NW of Diamond Harbour" - an odd reference point, they might have said "2 km SE of the Square" (it won't really be that precisely located, but still).

    So - inverse square law again - the intensity of the shaking felt in central-eastern Christchurch say 7 km from the source (hypocentre) of the earthquake would be expected to match that of a magnitude 6.1 earthquake 40 km away.

    Earthquake Magnitude is always only part of the story, not very meaningful on its own.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Just the thing to shore up that saggy kitchen, provided he keeps his yap shut

    The hair alone would make a handy draught excluder for a school hall or other vital social infrastructure

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Something not quite right in that arithmetic there Sofie. Southerly might say it per units of atomic bombs, which I'm looking forward to.

    A rule of thumb equivalence from seismology used in the study of nuclear proliferation asserts that a one kiloton nuclear explosion creates a seismic signal with a magnitude of approximately 4.0. This in turn leads to the equation

    Mn = 2/3log10 mTNT/Mt +6

    where mTNT is the mass of the explosive TNT that is quoted for comparison (relative to megatons Mt).

    So, what's that in Elephants farts?.
    :-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    According to Wikipedia's handy table, 5.1 is an atomic bomb that didn't really work right. (500 tonnes TNT)

    Of course, the wielders of nukes don't typically bury them kilometers underground.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    SNAFU... status quo really - and I hate heavy metal!
    we are all fine, but the Lyttelton Rd tunnel is closed apparently - they are saying take the Evans pass road via Sumner
    - don't think I'd be game to do that route...
    as that last shock was centred near the port hills...

    and I have to say the Martyrdom of Bob Parker is beginning to wear thin - he's going on in the paper (and on his extended Campbell Live Ad last night) about doing 20 hour days - but is not being a team player - he is only one elected official and he is not delegating to anyone else or sharing the load - the very thing that got him so unpopular - he just doesn't learn - a stretched sleep deprived mayor is no good to anyone...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • David Hood,

    Since we've moved into the Earthquakes measured in atomic bombs, I thought I'd mention I found out last week about the banana equivalent dose for measuring radiation.
    wikipedia

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    Resident geologist here. The main earthquake was from abrupt movement on a fault analogous to the Hope Fault, more-or-less parallel to it and with the same sense of movement. So the surface fault trace is aligned west-east from Greendale to near Rolleston, and the fault-plane dips to the north towards Darfield. The north side of the fault moved eastward up to 4 m relative to the southern side, and also a little upward, up the fault-plane.

    This new fault is an outer part of the Australian/Pacific plate boundary system that links between the Alpine Fault in the SW and the Hikurangi Trench off the east coast of the North Island. The plate boundary in this form is only a few million years old, much younger than the Gondwana story. The new fault may really be 'new' but more likely just newly discovered in that it has previously undisturbed 16,000-year-old gravels overlying it, demonstrating there had been no movement on it for 16000 years (which does not mean "it last moved 16,000 years ago").

    The aftershocks are from secondary release of strain within crustal rocks (not surface gravels) caused by the main earthquake. This last intense one under Christchurch is right on a continuation of the observed faultline. I think this is a good sign, in that it's 20 km away from the eastern end of the new surface break, and makes it seem less likely that there will be a fundamentally bigger one from propagation of the original fault displacement further along the fault plane.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

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