Big Earthquake Near Christchurch

[Sciencetech]

Big bada boom! As yet, no reports of anyone killed but lots of damage.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/03/new.zealand.quake/?hpt=T1

[skua77]

Amazing photos of damage are out there! But at least the Dux de Lux survived and will be open tonight with live music…

[thepooles98]

Pretty amazing. I wonder how the hotels faired?

[AGE Dave]

Looks like USAP facilities, CDC and Herc hangers are OK at the airport…got quick email from Allan Berggren a few hours ago…he was waiting for his ice flight shuttle in CHC when the quake happened….this is his third quake in Christchurch and by far the biggest…the fact that I got an email from him is a good sign that systems are going to be back to “normal” quickly.

I have feelers out for more accurate info.

I’ll post any new as it comes in……

David

[AGE Dave]

Airport is back up and running…flights are coming in and out again…no real damage to the airport area other than some broken glass..no word on Antarctic Centre yet.

[AGE Dave]

This is from my friends at the Windsor Hotel on Armagh Street that so many USAP folks stay at:

Thanks for your thoughts. We are all ok.

I have copied the reply we have been sending out, there are so many thoughtful people out there we cannot answer them all personally.
The photo is Donald’s car. (The photo shows Donald’s car crushed by a fallen chimney)

We look forward to seeing you again. We’ll even find you a mattress to go with the blanket!

Regards Gina

“Greetings from Windsor Hotel”

With Christchurch having experienced its biggest disaster yet we have been quite fortunate at the Windsor,there were no injuries and the hotel itself sustained relatively minor roof damage which was caused mainly by our 100 year old chimneys collapsing,however we are up and running (just a bit slower) services have been returned which leaves just the cleaning up now and we expect to be back to normal within a couple of weeks.

“Thank you for your kind wishes”

Regards,
Carol Healey

P.S. Donald lost his car in the earthquake (NO not the Erskine) see attached

At 02:40 a.m. 06/09/10, you wrote:
Don and Carol,

I hope all of you at the Windsor are well and the old hotel has only
sustained minimal damage. I know you Kiwis are of good mettle and
will persevere through this event.

I have requested through USAP to stay at the Windsor next month when I
deploy to McMurdo Station. Just kick some rubble aside and throw a
blanket on the floor….I don’t require much.

All joking aside, we are very concerned for all our good friends in
Christchurch and wish all of you the very best and a speedy recovery.

My wife Susan and son Andrew both sent their best to all of you at the
Windsor Hotel.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

David B Berry
AGE, McMurdo Station

[thepooles98]

A group letter from Marlene at the CDC. I would be totally in favor of volunteering to help these people losing their houses. Maybe tarp the homes to prevent water damage or manpower to move their belongs to someplace secure.

From: McLennan, Marlene (Contractor)
Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 1:24 PM
Subject: Earthquake update

Good Morning to you all out there – some of you have already made contact and some of you I have added to this update in anticipation, so please forgive the mass mail out – due to time constraints and our current workload, it is impossible to answer everyone individually at this point in time, so as promised, here is the update on the situation here in ChCh…………

Since the 7.4 quake on Saturday morning, we have been receiving numerous after shocks, so far we’ve exceeded over 100 of them, however, they are becoming more frequent and more severe! Yesterday we experienced a marked increase in activity and they are becoming longer and stronger, but also with short sharp jolts in-between. As you can imagine no-one is getting any sleep and everyone is on edge!!! We are getting a lot of the stronger quakes during the night time which is even more un-nerving, so everyone is pretty freaked out! Last night was no exception, at 0330 we experienced the strongest since the big one occurred, and sadly it has caused more damage in the city, the suburbs and the roads, as well as the domestic terminal at the airport. Fortunately, it is the old domestic terminal, so the airport is still operating by having the domestic flights process through the international terminal. Just heard on the radio that we have had a total of 13 quakes overnight, the 0330 one registered 5.4 on the Richter scale. The radio is warning us today of the possibility of one occurring in the near future of a magnitude of 6.0 or maybe even in access 6.0………..yikes, we didn’t need to hear that, and sadly more people have been driven from their homes overnight! It is raining lightly today, tomorrow it is predicted to get heavier….damn!! In saying that, the rain has just stopped and we have a little sunshine right now. There is also concern that this newly discovered fault may trigger the existing fault lines…we didn’t need to hear that either…………..yikes!! Many are trying very hard to simply carry on with the job of getting back to normal, just as we are here at work!

We are in the process of cleaning up the mess of wet ECW here at work, and trying to keep abreast of the bag packing process in order to be on course for the first flight on the 23rd of Sept. Thank goodness the sprinklers did not burst in the main warehouse area, and also that there has been no structural damage here at work!! We still do not have PTS/CTS as it all crashed on Saturday when the power went down, IT say it will hopefully be up and running on Wednesday – they are having to build a new server…….it could have been worse though! We all at least have power and water again at our houses, there is still about 30% of ChCh that don’t have it restored yet. We have three employees that did not escape the wrath of the earthquake, Hope from Admin, she is married to Ron Rogers over in AGE, then Laurie Watkins at Travel, and Dave Turner over at Facilities/Maintenance. Hope Ron and Laurie all live in Kaiapoi, which suffered badly, and Dave T is out at Brooklands, that whole area has completely sunk. The Kaiapoi houses will be bulldozed and I doubt they will be allowed to rebuild on the same property, and I’m not sure if Dave T can salvage his Brooklands property or not? We are absolutely devastated for them:-(

Anyway – I thought it best I get this away now, because if another big one does happen, then it is likely we will lose power again. Quite honestly folk, we are all very tired, on edge……and frankly we are just hanging out for a night without any quakes so we can sleep straight through. The reality is sinking in that it is going to be a very long and painful recovery from all this. My heart truly goes out to all those that have sustained so much damage to their homes and businesses – I’m sure you are seeing a lot of photos on the TV news broadcasts, but to be here and see it first hand is an extremely emotional time – as is living with the fear everyone is experiencing. We are all doing our best to stay positive…….and we definitely count our blessings, being that there was no loss of life. To give you some perspective on the damage – the count of damaged/ruined homes so far is well over 100.000, that does not include businesses….hard to believe this has happened here in ChCh….eh!! If you have ever seen “liquefaction”……then you’ll know exactly what much of Canterbury looks like! There is areas still you can drive around and never know anything has happened…..weird, but that is Mother nature!!!

I know you all wish us all well and we are very touched and grateful for your concern and support – to those of you within the program, you truly are an extended family – to my friends, ditto that, and you know I love you heaps!! *_~

PS – I started this this morning – but it has taken numerous attempts to get it finished, due to work commitments – and if you don’t already know, my home computer spat the dummy and will probably be a week or more before I am online again at home……boohoo:-)

Cheers
Marlene

[thepooles98]

What about whiskey galore?

[AGE Dave]

Here is a neat Google map of the working/operational businesses in Christchurch:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/canterbury-earthquake/4110985/Quake-map-Whats-working

Whiskey Galore at 797 Columbo St. is listed as fully operational as of 15 hours ago!

[AGE Dave]

Click on the “latest photos” for a look at Christchurch….so many places that we have all been….

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/canterbury-earthquake/4114666/Quake-Christchurch-cordon-lifted

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