New Zealand is dubbed “the shaky isles” and having a look at the GNS Science website you really get a sense of just how shaky, as they archive 15,000 NZ earthquakes each year, although not all those quakes are felt by NZ’s inhabitants. Just as well!
Using the GNS website information, Paul Nicholls at University of Canterbury developed this Christchurch Quake Map. By the third day after the Saturday earthquake Cantabrians had experienced 300 quakes!
Aftershocks have left some rather nervous and on edge and disturbing sleep. I know a number of my Christchurch colleagues are a little worn out, understandably, as a result of the stress and delayed shock.
Unfortunately, a number of historic buildings have not coped well with the seismic activity and are in the process of being demolished. NZ doesn’t have that much (in comparison to Europe) in the way of historic buildings so it’s a real shame to see these character buildings being torn down… I do hope that they haven’t been removed in too much of a hurry!
