New Zealand's islands moved two metres closer together by tremor

[rooster59]

New Zealand's islands moved two metres closer together by tremor

Catherine Hardy

 

 

Hundreds of survivors stranded by a huge earthquake which struck New Zealand have been brought to Christchurch by naval vessel.

 

Around 450 tourists and locals from the small seaside town of Kaikoura were taken by HMNZS Canterbury to Christchurch, the South Island’s largest city.

 

Most tourists continued their journeys.

 

However, around 130 are being housed temporarily in Canterbury University’s student halls, according to local media.

 

Kaikoura

 

 

The fishing community and popular whale-watching base, ringed by steep mountains, had been completely cut off by large landslides that covered road and rail links.

 

Air Force helicopters joined a fleet of private helicopters that have ferried hundreds more people from the town to Christchurch over the last few days.

 

Workers cleared an emergency inland road into Kaikoura, allowing water and other supplies to be trucked in for the first time.

 

Waiau

Residents in the town of Waiau continue to clean up.

 

Many are having to deal with the stress of aftershocks.

Storms lashed the region on Thursday.

 

Seismologists are still recording hundreds of aftershocks. An estimated 2,000 have rattled the region since the initial tremor shook shortly after midnight on Sunday.

 

The earthquake

Two people were killed and dozens injured by the magnitude 7.8 quake.

 

Two almost-simultaneous tremors ruptured faultlines across the top of New Zealand’s South Island.

 

The timing of the quake – shortly after midnight on Sunday – combined with the epicentre being in a sparsely-populated region prevented a higher death toll, the authorities have said.

 

A tsunami alert that followed sent many rushing for higher ground before the threat was lowered.

 

The cost

 

 

The quake’s cost could add up to almost eight billion euros.

 

The concern is that this could push the government’s budget back into deficit after two years of surpluses.

 

Prime Minister John Key said earlier in the week the damage bill would be around 1.3 billion euros. However, he cautioned this was an early estimate.

 

Finance Minister Bill English told parliament the damage was “relatively localised”.

 

In 2011, an earthquake in Christchurch, South Island’s largest city, killed almost 200 people.

 

Rebuilding cost more than 26 billion euros.

 

New Zealanders now closer than ever

 

The earthquake shifted the land at Cape Campbell (the northeast tip of the South Island) to the north-northeast by more than two metres.

It also moved vertically by almost one metre.

 

This means Cape Campbell is now more than two metres closer to the North Island than it was before the earthquake.

 

Similarly, Kaikoura has moved to the northeast by nearly one metre and has been lifted upwards by 70 cms.

 

All of this movement happened during the earthquake in a matter of seconds.

 

Find out more here

 

What they are saying

 

“They made us feel like, its ok, ‘we’re going to get you out now, we’re going to help you’ and now they’re doing first class service here. They put us in a bed,” – unidentified tourist

 

“Day four today and I’ve got two kids at home and they are struggling to go to sleep and stuff like that at night, it is pretty stressful,” – Waiau resident David Green

 

“This week’s disaster struck in more lightly-populated areas, but damage to infrastructure has been severe,” – economists for Citibank.

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-11-19

[TPI]

Well, the "shaky isles" have certainly lived up to the nickname!!

[Thechook]

Save on transport costs

[Scott]

Two meters is a lot of movement.  

[mfd101]

My partner & I were in Rotorua when it happened, and we slept thru it. The next morning we got up & noticed an SMS from a friend in HK saying: Hope you're all OK etc etc. So we turned on the TV ... haven't felt any of the hundreds of aftershocks either.

 

After spending most of my adult life in Australia, I had forgotten how green it is here and the astonishing beauty of the countryside and the farms.

[12lem1]

As of today more than 3,600 aftershocks have been recorded by "GeoNet on Twitter"

 

Whale Watch Kaikoura posted a video on their Facebook page with the news of the first whale sighting at about 10:45 this morning, this is good news and good for the community.  

 

[Kiwiken]

The biggest laugh is the rebuilding of Christchurch cost 26 billion euros like it is actually rebuilt? 20 more years and a lot of good luck it may be. The city still looks like a bomb site

[thaibeachlovers]

8 billion Euros to rebuild that!!!!!!! Didn't they learn anything after Christchurch?

IMO just move everyone to other settlements and rebuild the roads. NZ can't afford to be rebuilding everything that falls down at taxpayer expense. What happens the next time an earthquake happens, and this isn't the last one for sure?

 

 

[nausea]

18 hours ago, Scott said:

Two meters is a lot of movement.  

Sounds like a lot to me too, I'm surprised you can get that much movement in a few seconds.

[halloween]

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

8 billion Euros to rebuild that!!!!!!! Didn't they learn anything after Christchurch?

IMO just move everyone to other settlements and rebuild the roads. NZ can't afford to be rebuilding everything that falls down at taxpayer expense. What happens the next time an earthquake happens, and this isn't the last one for sure?

 

 

Where should they move to - Australia?

[Thechook]

10 minutes ago, halloween said:

Where should they move to - Australia?

They have

[daveAustin]

Sounds like a lot to me too, I'm surprised you can get that much movement in a few seconds.

Read somewhere the Japan quake shifted the entire country 20m.

[Kiwiken]

6 hours ago, Thechook said:

They have

More are flowing back than leaving now. The great exodus is over. Australia offers little any more

[Kiwiken]

When the Alpine Fault erupts (and it is primed) All the other quakes will seem like babies. But we will rebuild. 

We always have. This is not new. Earthquakes have come and gone as long as people have been here and a lot longer before.

Adapt and survive. 

[Thechook]

26 minutes ago, Kiwiken said:

More are flowing back than leaving now. The great exodus is over. Australia offers little any more

What, can't sponge of the aussie tax payer anymore?

[Kiwiken]

3 hours ago, Thechook said:

What, can't sponge of the aussie tax payer anymore?

We never have, i always found we out worked you Aussies. Kiwis turn up for their 5 shifts unlike Aussies who just want to work 4 days. As to bludging on your tax system what benefits have kiwis had since 2001. At least NZ not such small minded people we do not discriminate against the 68000 Australians who now call NZ home. We will just laugh if "Tomorrow when the war began" came to Pass. Why would we help you?

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, halloween said:

Where should they move to - Australia?

There's hardly anyone there

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaikoura

The town has an estimated permanent resident population of 2,080.

They could buy them all new houses in other cities for a lot less than 8 billion $.

Edited November 21, 2016 by thaibeachlovers

[Kiwiken]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

There's hardly anyone there

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaikoura

The town has an estimated permanent resident population of 2,080.

They could buy them all new houses in other cities for a lot less than 8 billion $.

Kaikoura itself is still quite livable albeit no sewage or water atm. Yes they are Isolated. The Town however sit on the main route from North to South. Not fixing the roads is not an option. And the Rail network also will need repair and a rethink. Most of the 8 billion is infrastructure. The cost for the town miniscule. Kaikoura is also an important fishing town plus has many Tourist attractions which earn a considerable amount of money for the Country. Some other smaller settlements possibly will be abandoned but as to Kaikoura itself it is kind of pivotal

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, Kiwiken said:

Kaikoura itself is still quite livable albeit no sewage or water atm. Yes they are Isolated. The Town however sit on the main route from North to South. Not fixing the roads is not an option. And the Rail network also will need repair and a rethink. Most of the 8 billion is infrastructure. The cost for the town miniscule. Kaikoura is also an important fishing town plus has many Tourist attractions which earn a considerable amount of money for the Country. Some other smaller settlements possibly will be abandoned but as to Kaikoura itself it is kind of pivotal

If it costs 8 billion to repair the electricity, water, road and the railway it would only confirm my suspicions that NZ bureaucracy has indeed gone insane with OTT regulations that drastically increase costs.

Just wait for the horror stories about old people with leaking roofs because they can't afford to pay for the mandatory scaffolding required by roofers.

I became concerned as to the stupidity going on when steel safety barriers were installed on the INSIDE curves of SH 33. Also there are bridges close to Te Puke and Waitangi that have no footpaths for the pedestrians that use those bridges while they are wasting hundreds of thousands on un needed safety rails.

In a documentary about building the power lines from Benmore to The north Island it was pointed out that under today's regulatory environment they could not have been built.

N Z is changing, and not for the better.

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, Kiwiken said:

Kaikoura itself is still quite livable albeit no sewage or water atm. Yes they are Isolated. The Town however sit on the main route from North to South. Not fixing the roads is not an option. And the Rail network also will need repair and a rethink. Most of the 8 billion is infrastructure. The cost for the town miniscule. Kaikoura is also an important fishing town plus has many Tourist attractions which earn a considerable amount of money for the Country. Some other smaller settlements possibly will be abandoned but as to Kaikoura itself it is kind of pivotal

I had assumed the cost was for rebuilding the town. Never would I have considered the infrastructure to cost that much for a few miles. At that rate, NZ could never have been developed.

Fishing boats can depart from any port, as can the whale watching boats.

I googled tourist attractions in Kaikoura, and most are outdoor activities that could be pursued from any nearby settlement. Unless, as you say, the buildings in Kaikoura are undamaged or can be repaired at minimal cost, I see no need for a massive payout to re build it.

[Kiwiken]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I had assumed the cost was for rebuilding the town. Never would I have considered the infrastructure to cost that much for a few miles. At that rate, NZ could never have been developed.

Fishing boats can depart from any port, as can the whale watching boats.

I googled tourist attractions in Kaikoura, and most are outdoor activities that could be pursued from any nearby settlement. Unless, as you say, the buildings in Kaikoura are undamaged or can be repaired at minimal cost, I see no need for a massive payout to re build it.

It is the cost of repairing roads, and rail and associated bridges and tunnels. To not fix is to cut the South Island in half. It would be like Australia closing the Pacific Highway from Sydney to Brisbane or the UK closing all but the smallest road London to Birmingham.

Edited November 22, 2016 by Kiwiken