Standing on shaky ground
New Zealand is currently experiencing a swarm of large earthquakes happening all over the country. If you know of anyone out this way, please check in with them to make sure they are ok.
Tsunami alert issued for people in the South Island!
sending good vibes, been there during the 2011 earthquake and I know it's not cool.
Thanks for that.
These are very odd. There is no single epicenter. We are having quakes all along the plate boundary as well as in the volcanic zone.
Never seen anything like this before.
Worried! My sister lives in Auckland NZ
She should be fine. Most of the action is in the South Island. there are also earthquakes happening on the east cost. but as far as I know, nothing close to Auckland.
Thank you! Much appreciated. Keep us updated.
No worries. It seems to have calmed down a bit now.
We were getting big quakes about every 15 minutes for a bit.
But now nothing big since 30 minutes ago.
Glad to hear it!
Thanks for reporting.
As the epicenter seems to be inland/coastal, can there be a tsunami?
As far as I remember, a tsunami only occurs when the bottom of the sea moves vertically. This would seem unlikely with an inland epicenter or even with an epicenter in a shallow water region.
Offshore, Tsunami waves move very fast (800km/h), yet they soon grind themselves up in shallow water.
So, unless there is a quake in the neighboring deep sea region, I would expect the quake to cause some choppy sea nearby, perhaps a couple of big waves minutes after - but no Tsunami?
A tsunami was triggered and a warning issued. We have had a lot of quake activity tonight. I dont think it aas a big tsunami. Most of the quakes seem to be on the mainland, but there may have also been movement of the sea floor as well.
Sorry, too tired to investgate further just now. Trying to get to sleep, but we are still getting regular quakes.
All the best wishes, hope its going to calm down soon.
Hello @ben.karlin sorry for the delay in replying. I was deployed into the city with the response team early this morning.
There were quite a few quakes that happened off the coast in deep water, and the did trigger a tsunami. My sister and her family evacuated, the other coastal suburbs also evacuated for a while.
I have no reports of damage and it looks like the wave was not large.
I'm not sure about a small tourist town called Kaikoura. They were monstered - 2 dead and it looks like they could be cut off for up to a month or more.
uh. sorry to hear about Kaikoura. A bit further away and some subsea quakes. Deep water, so the wave could run right up close.
:-(
Response team? Ok. You ARE busy. Thanks for your work and all the best wishes!
At least 6 rated severe over the last 7 hours, and over 50 smaller aftershocks.
So far only 2 casualties reported, but a lot of damage.
All ok at the household of @kiwideb and @sift666. Not even a book fallen off a shelf. Though I haven't looked around outside yet. Most of us Wellingtonians are accustomed to earthquakes and don't freak out too badly, but that was the worst I've ever felt. I was still shaking half an hour later, though I did manage to get back to sleep for about 3 hours.
@trevor.george, good to know all is well over the hill in Newtown, or at least well enough for you to take time to post. We are on the hill side of the shops end of Queens Drive, so would have been ok even if there'd been a tsunami and we'd slept through it.
Some of our fellow Kiwis are actually living in Australia, but hope to hear from the rest soon.
Ooh there goes another jolt!