My blood ran cold. Less than an hour ago New Zealand started being shaken by a series of earthquakes from Hamner Springs in South Island through the capital, Wellington, at the southern tip of North Island and up through the North Island. The 'quakes are continuing unabated as I write.
There is now a tsunami warning:
I can only begin to imagine how everyone is feeling and I hope that everyone stays safe. My thoughts are with you all.
It's the middle of the night in New Zealand too which always makes things seem worse.
We have friends in New Zealand some on an island off North Island and others near Auckland. As you say it is midnight so too late to ring; I just hope that they like your friends stay safe.
ReplyDeleteI doubt, Heron, that there are many people between Christchurch and Rotorua who are asleep.
DeleteFirst thing that I saw when I woke up and checked into Facebook this morning! Glad you're safe. Hope the people are safe, as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm okay thanks Heather because I'm in Scotland at the moment. It's very uncomfortable in parts of New Zealand though and I suspect a lot of people have had a sleepless night....and worse.
DeleteShirley and I visited Hanmer Springs, Christchurch and The Banks Peninsula back in 2012. When natural disasters strike places you have been it really brings things home to you. Fingers crossed for all affected by this latest trembling.
ReplyDeleteYes YP when one has a personal connection to a place events there take on much greater significance.
DeleteI havent heard back from people in New Zealand and I'm concerned too. I'm assuming they have better things to do than check their emails and reply to queries from me. I was in Christchurch 2 years ago and I really think they have suffered enough. I will be checking the news.
ReplyDeleteIt's a confused situation in many ways Jenny. The quakes over magnitude 3 are continuing every few minutes and normal life is very much disrupted.
DeleteFiona Richardson3 hours ago - Shared publicly
ReplyDeleteThanks Graham - managed a little sleep - but everyone is exhausted. Hardoot find out what is happening and NCEA exams start today and people don't know what to do... poor students. We have cancelled classes - but will still have to work! yaaaaawn... i hope the earth settles
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Graham Edwards
14 minutes ago
Fiona I do hope that things settle down and life returns to some semblance of normality soon. Unfortunately that looks fairly uncertain given the continuing frequency of tremors over 3 magnitude throughout the whole area.
This comment appeared from Fiona - possibly as a Google+ comment as was my reply. The format has now reverted to Blogger but I'd copied this so have inserted it because Fiona is one person right at the heart of the events.
DeleteMany of us have friends or relatives there and we are concerned about them.
ReplyDeleteYes, Red, and the tremors are continuing unabated nearly 24 hours later.
DeleteAnd all so soon after the last quake. My sister lives right up in the north of the north island. Bloody Trump and Farage stole all the headlines, whilst people were dying in NZ.
ReplyDeleteCro I lived near Napier for 6 months of the year for 10 years and felt a few tremors but friends and family there tell me that this one down in South Island all those miles away was the longest and worst they have ever felt.
DeleteBit yucky in Rangiora! Just feel the occasional aftershock now.
ReplyDeleteHorrible, rolling one it was. Made me feel a little motion sick. I thought the house was sliding on water. The most unusual feeling!!
It's good to know that you are okay Jaz even if very shaken and stirred. I've been following it since the first Geonet alert. The alerts are still coming frequently so you must be heartily sick of them by now.
DeleteI am sorry to hear of it! I do hope that all of your friends and acquaintances are safe.
ReplyDeleteSo far Cynthia everyone is safe but very shaken.
DeleteHave you heard from friends yet, Graham? This must be a worrying time for you.
ReplyDeleteFrances everyone is safe and well but very shaken.
Delete♥ Sorry to hear/see on the news here that it has continued today as well. The film clips on TV showed a lot of damage to landscape, roads and buildings. :(
ReplyDeleteMonica the damage is considerable and will have a an economic and personal effect on the country and its inhabitants.
DeleteUpdate: our friends in Christchurch are making light of it but it sounds fairly horrific. We got an email entitled "Report from the shaky isles" in which was the info "Since the first September quake there has been 18,369 quakes within a 150km radius of Christchurch and 138 in the last 24 hours" Obviously most of those are very tiny, but it still sounds as if a stiff upper lip is required. I wonder what effect it will have on Christchurch, which is still trying to put itself together. Since the NZ quake we have also had to be concerned about the one in Japan.
ReplyDeleteJenny I think Christchurch has escaped the worst of the quakes (physically if not for the mental reminders) which occurred slightly to the north in the Kaikoura and Seddon areas. Wellington has been badly affected too and The Family's apartment there (which is in a newish fairly central block built to to full quake standards) has been damaged and parts of Wellington were evacuated. I think a very stiff upper lip is required!
DeleteJust back from Taranaki where everyone had a tale to tell of what happened in their household. Awfully glad I arrived the day after the quake. I feel so sorry for those who were closer to the shaking.
ReplyDeletePauline I think most people think that it's just the Christchurch area that's been affected even though it's actually to the north by some distance where the worst is happening. However I've also been following the quakes in North Island and it seems pretty disturbing altogether.
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