Saturday, September 4, 2010

Earth quake hits Christchurch NZ today

Graphic of the earth quake which hit Christchurch area this morning at approximatly 4:30am NZ time.

Emergency details and updates at: NZ Civil Defense
News and pictures are coming in. Check out Stuff.co.nz

Everyone is fine in Auckland: I'm more worried one of the 50+ dormant volcanoes erupt some day! Rangitoto is the most recent only forming 600 years ago. You can see in below pic how close it is to Auckland downtown:


Description of Auckland volcanic area from GNS:

"How old are they?

It is thought that Auckland’s volcanoes first began to appear between 60 000 and 140 000 years ago, starting with the eruptions of Albert Park and the Domain. The largest and most recent eruption was Rangitoto, about 600 years ago, which would have been witnessed by local Maori. The field is expected to have a total life of approximately a million years, so geologically speaking, it is still very young.

Could any of Auckland’s volcanoes erupt again?

Even though the larger volcanoes like One Tree Hill and Rangitoto may have been created by successive eruptions over a period of centuries, it is unlikely that any of Auckland’s existing volcanoes will become active again. However, bubbles could pinch off from the hot spot beneath Auckland and create new volcanoes at any time."

4 comments:

  1. Glad to know you and the rest of NZ made it through the excitement. Hopefully there wasn't any damage by you?

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  2. thanks Bubba... people are calling in and telling their stories on the news radio today. A few people had to be rescued out of holes/cracks in the earth. The Christchurch hospital is busy as I presume all the emergency services are.

    We're all A-OK up in Auckland :)

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  3. I thought about you and Trevor from New Zeal when I heard about the quake. Trevor said his family was not hurt. I'm glad you're fine as well. Hope the people of Christchurch get back on their feet soon. -- SCOTT

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  4. It will be a financial strain on NZ for sure, but they will rebuild the area. There was quite a bit of damage... Luckily Auckland is far enough away from the major NZ fault lines.

    cheers for the well wishes Scott

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