Major earthquake in New Zealand

[Mark]

Looks pretty horrible for those in Christchurch. :(

[Dave B]

Indeed, the official figure is 32 dead but it's likely to be much higher, and many many more injured. The Cathedral has already become somewhat synonymous with this disaster:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/02/22/article-1359354-0D4E3E73000005DC-554_634x331.jpg

[Mark in Oshawa]

There has been some interesting footage. On the news last night, I saw news footage from near that Cathedral where it was still trembling and falling to the ground as people stood there.

It can all end in a hurry, civilized life. One Hurricane, or an earthquake, and we immediately are living in a world we are not comfortable with....

[driveace]

This is terrible ,AND is said to be only 6.3 on the Richter Scale,but I believe was more or less in the centre of Christchurch where we were 3 years ago.,and have friends there.When we were in Ti Anu ,(South Island,New Zealand) on our visit 3 years ago we also had an Earthquake,which really rocked the place in which we were staying,and that was 7.6 on the Richter,and we even had an other in Phaphos about 6 years ago that was 7.4 on the scale,but these were believed to be out at sea ,so there was very little damage.Once you have experienced one ,then you know what they are the next time,but with the first one ,everything is moving slightly ,and you think you are going slightly dizzy!

[gloomyDAY]

I saw the pictures, and they were very sad and grim.

Those Kiwis pull through and be stronger than ever.

[Sonic]

Just seen the images on the news. The loss of life is dreadful, but with the state of some of the (very modern) buildings it is remarkable the figure is not a hundred fold higher.

[turves]

Really saddened by this story, but I was also very surprised to read that NZ suffers from about 14,000 earthquakes a year, most of which aren't felt...

[Mark]

They are on the 'Ring of Fire' same as Japan and California, so yes, they do get a lot of earthquakes. However even in the UK we probably get a few hundred earthquakes a year too.

[Rollo]

This has already been on telly in Oz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcGUg4tNR2M
Give our bru's in Christchurch a hand.

http://www.salvationarmy.org.nz
http://www.redcross.org.nz/donations

Donate via Westpac:
Westpac account 03 0207 0617 331 00.
Donate via ANZ:
ANZ account 01 1839 0188939 00.

Use your B-Pay of whatever the electronic thing you use is... choice bro!

[NinjaMaster]

It's a shocking situation. It was only in September that they copped a 7.1 magnitude earthquake which was bad enough. Since then they have experienced something like 4,500 aftershocks, many between 4-5 on the Richter Scale. This quake was 'only' a 6.3 but the centre was only 10kms from Christchurch and very shallow at 5kms deep. I think I heard somewhere that the 7.1 was 33kms deep and further away, hence less damage.
Last I heard, the official death toll stands at 75 with 300 missing but they are expecting around 100 dead in one building alone. Terrible times.