# Christchurch hit by another quake



## G-Mo (Aug 17, 2011)

Christchurch struck by 4.9 quake - National - NZ Herald News

On the footsteps of last weeks magnitude 4, a 4.9 hits today.


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## Kiakaha_Chch (Jul 2, 2012)

Oh puhleese, It was a wee woobly!

I was at the mall when it happened and I remained upright the whole time without even holding on to anything, and nothing fell off shelves, and I would know I was in a crowded homewares store..

Yes we still get quakes but theyre peetering out in my opinion.


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## MrsRose (May 23, 2012)

So I am super curious. What's it really like living in Chch...as far as the frequent earthquakes are concerned? 

Obviously the big ones in the last 2 years caused some pretty devastating damage for some people, and some areas of the city. But prior to that, the city of Chch stood beautifully through hundreds of years of quakes. So obviously every quake is not devastating. 

How often are the quakes strong enough to even feel them? I mean, are all Chch residents having to constantly put pictures back on walls and books back on shelves in their homes?


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## Kiakaha_Chch (Jul 2, 2012)

MrsRose said:


> So I am super curious. What's it really like living in Chch...as far as the frequent earthquakes are concerned?
> 
> Obviously the big ones in the last 2 years caused some pretty devastating damage for some people, and some areas of the city. But prior to that, the city of Chch stood beautifully through hundreds of years of quakes. So obviously every quake is not devastating.
> 
> How often are the quakes strong enough to even feel them? I mean, are all Chch residents having to constantly put pictures back on walls and books back on shelves in their homes?


No, Chch residents now know how important earthquake protection is. I am yet to meet someone who has not blu tac'd their ornaments to their shelves, non slip mats in their bath/showers and kitchen cupboards, earthquake proof cupboard locks etc, so if you come invest in those sorts of things. 

Not long after the February quake a lot of people in the community were storing things like crazy. At least 3/4 of the city was without electricity and clean water for 1 week or more, so we all got used to waking up in the middle of the night needing a toilet and having to walk down the street to the nearest porta potty, or using a chemical toilet which when is full you have to carry down the street and pour the contents down a tube in a septic tank. I preferred, the portapotty. In the summer you had to hold your breath esp if the collectors hadn't been in a while (one entire street would use one potapotty!) Or for those who were really desperate, they did it in the backyard. I know that sounds incrediably gross, but the fact of the matter is, EVERYONE was going through and doing what you were doing, so no one really cared about being embarressed. A lot of us built proper outdoor toilets, since the stink of the portapottys were so bad. There was even a group of us who lived near the beach and we started a sea water bathing club, which was a hellava lot more effective in cleaning us than 5minute trailer showers. And if you didn't own a bbq, log burner or lpg tank you were screwed and you had to drive to a Bunnings (Home depot) quick smart and buy one asap.


Historically, we have had plenty of quakes we just never felt them. Apparently there was a big quake in 1911 which made the spire of our Cathedral topple off but thats all Ive heard. 
The thing that made the recent quakes sodevastating was that the quakes were felt very shallow. Most little quakes are 100+ kilometers under ground, so even if its big on the richter scale its not too bad. Our quakes are usually 2-5 kilometres underground, so if I could describe Id youhear the noise first THEN feel the shaking. Have you ever heard a train at full speed up close? Its like that. Before you feel the quakes you hear them and they sound like groaning and rattling that that gets bigger and bigger, and then about 5 seconds later you get the quake. The noise is usually more worse than the quake these days. Not nice if your an animal or child. As an adult you get used to them and you count the seconds and if the quake goes beyond 5-10 seconds thats when you run for a door frame or under a table, but Ive not needed to do thatsince last Christmas Eve.

The September '10, February '11 and June '11 quakes lasted more than 30 seconds which is really bad, since quakes build in momentum.


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## carosapien (Oct 16, 2011)

I imagine that every time you get a tremor the uncertainty of not knowing how bad it's going to be can be very stressful.

At what point do you decide to drop, hold and cover or get the hell out? that must be hard at night when you're woken from a deep sleep. 

How are the kids coping with all the shakes?


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