Can someone please edit the title? And wow, this looks heavy. I hope everyone is well.
There's that word again. "Heavy." Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?
New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
61–70 of 163 posts
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#62Anyone know of a group or website which is tracking the incidence and intensity of earthquakes over time?
http://www.globalcmt.org/
Scroll to the bottom and look at the chart of cumulative energy (moment) release over time. This is probably the easiest visualization what you're looking for without going to scientific papers. It only goes back to the 1970s though. The big steps are the Sumatran earthquakes and Tohoku (Japan). There were some equally big steps in the 1950s.
As far as I know (and I do this professionally) there is no evidence for any real variation in the global, time-averaged rate of earthquake occurrence or energy release. However the time window to average over has to be several decades to centuries depending on how comfortable one is with noise. Any individual segment of a fault will have an earthquake repeat time (for a significant earthquake) of hundreds (San Andreas fault) to tens of thousands of years, and is lots of evidence for clusters of earthquakes on individual faults or sets of faults, but this is mostly a local effect--the stress changes in the crust caused by an earthquake can basically load nearby faults and affect when they will have the next earthquake. But again, this is for the most part local (However, earthquakes in the news aren't a good reflection of global seismic statistics. Earthquakes like the Italian events (M6-6.6) over the past few months (and years) occur every day, but mostly in the ocean basins and don't affect people other than shaking some palm thatch roofs in Vanuatu. The most deadly event (minus tsunami) in my lifetime was the Haiti earthquake in 2010, killing ~200,000 people, and it was a pretty routine, moderate-magnitude event. It just hit an incredibly vulnerable population.
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#63Magnitude 7.5 earthquake. For reference, I felt this in Hamilton, a bit under 1,000 KM away. First earthquake I have ever felt. Hamilton never, ever gets earthquakes. Nevertheless, NZ infrastructure is built to withstand this sort of stuff. Only $100m-1b economic damage is expected, no casualties expected.
USGS is indicating 7.8.
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#64Does anyone know if there is any special effort to construct buildings that can withstand reasonable earthquakes in New Zealand? Christchurch seems particularly prone to quakes in New Zealand. I hope the people of New Zealand are safe.
Nearly 2/3rds of the casualties from the 2011 earthquake were a single building that contained an ESL school, a nursing school, and a clinic - and the construction supervisor of that building wasn't actually an engineer, but had stolen a retired engineer's identity.
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#65Magnitude 7.5 earthquake. For reference, I felt this in Hamilton, a bit under 1,000 KM away. First earthquake I have ever felt. Hamilton never, ever gets earthquakes. Nevertheless, NZ infrastructure is built to withstand this sort of stuff. Only $100m-1b economic damage is expected, no casualties expected.
USGS is indicating 7.8.
NZ's Geonet and USGS use different versions of the Richter scale, so both are likely correct.
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm pretty sure Civil Defence announced it's been contaminated. I would get bottled water, and get away from the coast if you're anywhere near there, or get to high ground. If you have no other option, go to a building with reinforced concrete that's high such as a parking lot. The Tsunami warning is issued to as far as wellington, and all of the cook straight.
If you are getting bottled water after an earthquake, you are already f*cked. Have water on hand beforehand! It's not like bottles of water aren't for sale everywhere.
Or, if you live near massive amounts of fresh water, stock up on high grade water filters, and have buckets or many bottles.
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#67Description on Twitter: "The shaking went on for ages, longest quake I've felt. It was like waiting for a Verge article to finish loading." https://twitter.com/thefoehesought/status/797814348672421888
Brilliant, too bad he didn't say Forbes. That would be more accurate.
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#68Currently in Wellington. Was fucking shaky, seriously thought the building was about to collapse. This was ~500 km from the epicenter. We were evacuated and let back in. All the planning in the world doesn't prepare you for the real thing, the first thing you're meant to do is keep calm, and I sure as hell didn't. I sprinted right the fuck out of my apartment building, I have 4 levels above me, hiding under a table w…
> I have 4 levels above me, hiding under a table > wasn't going to do shit to save me [...] food > has fallen off all the shelves, The advice to hide under tables isn't meant to save you from the entire building collapsing, but from injuries sustained from stuff falling off shelves & the non-structural parts of your roof collapsing.
Also, some tables, particularly heavy wooden and metal tables, can withstand lots and lots of weight. Hiding under them can help you avoid getting your skull bashed in by a falling slab of concrete.
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#69Currently in Wellington. Was fucking shaky, seriously thought the building was about to collapse. This was ~500 km from the epicenter. We were evacuated and let back in. All the planning in the world doesn't prepare you for the real thing, the first thing you're meant to do is keep calm, and I sure as hell didn't. I sprinted right the fuck out of my apartment building, I have 4 levels above me, hiding under a table w…
Given what ChCh went through, I really hope Wellington takes quake-proofing its more risk-prone buildings seriously. I say that every time an earthquake causes damage there, but still the building owners ask for more time and the council gives it.
Yeah Wellington has always taken it seriously, I remember the building where I worked in 2002 had a sticker on it by the council saying the building wasn't earthquake safe. The buildings here are much more earthquake safe than Christchurch but also the damage potential is much higher.
Re: New Zealand earthquake: Tsunami follows powerful tremor
#70Magnitude 7.5 earthquake. For reference, I felt this in Hamilton, a bit under 1,000 KM away. First earthquake I have ever felt. Hamilton never, ever gets earthquakes. Nevertheless, NZ infrastructure is built to withstand this sort of stuff. Only $100m-1b economic damage is expected, no casualties expected.
The problem with earthquakes is that damage accumulates. So while a building might stay intact or with minor damages during the main one, the aftershocks could wreck havoc. And with an 7.8 aftershocks could last for months and be quite severe.
Nevertheless I hope everyone is OK and wish you the best. I've experienced quite a few earthquakes in my life, although nothing over 7, and the shock stays for long. It's one of those times in your life when you feel completely helpless.