h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Fb, it is fairly near the top of the news agenda here and the pictures and videos are quite graphic though I am sure they show nowwhere near the devastation it has caused.

I must be putting a strain on the medical profession in lots of ways, and many people are not as strong in mind as you are my friend.

Hang in there. I am sure you will be mucking in and helping out if you are not able to get to work and that will help.

Take care, thinking of you all,

Websailor

Glad to know you and our other NZ friends are ok.

There was a conference of 400 doctors in the central city at the time, and I think they got organised pretty quick to help. The other cities in the South Island have cleared out patients to make way for Chch ones, but I'm not sure how many badly injured people there are.

Medics are flying in from UK and elsewhere (Taiwan has been mentioned ) Plane-loads of medicines are arriving thanks to the NZAF. Rescue personnel from across the planet too.

Our emergency services are overwhelmed and the first ever NZ National Emergency has been declared. This means that national funds and resources can be used to help - as well as opening up diplomatic and military channels to other countries We're going to need every bit of help.

I'm hearing from friends in the services that the tv pictures are NOT doing it justice. So, rather the opposite of most situations when the media hype stuff up. This time they can't capture the devastation. And we're not seeing the half of it yet - the suburbs are much more badly affected than in September. More liquefaction over massive areas and a lot of huge rockfalls onto suburbs on the Port Hills. And still no news from most of Banks Peninsula.

I won't be at work for months. Apart from anything else, no water and no sewerage - all the pipes burst quite dramatically as we left our building - so the CBD will be unusable until that is fixed at least. Months.

We had a pretty quiet night out here, with only one bump which disturbed me. But recently a flurry of 4s which have got me a bit jumpy again.

Good news is that my level of staff (unimportant plebs) has been told we're effectively signed off on pay for the time being, which means that we can leave I've had offers from Palmerston North and from the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Hmmm... I wonder which sounds the most attractive

to check flight prices and availability.

Fb

no words will ever describe the events trulybut as I tell many friends, being a mere mortalI don't have the power of the proverbial Q off Start Trek, otherwise the world would one hell of a great place to live in

I can only give my thoughts and wishes of well-being to all

>>I'm hearing from friends in the services that the tv pictures are NOT doing it justice.

I've been thinking that too Fb . I still don't have a good sense of the damage except for individual buildings.

One thing that's struck me is when they said yesterday that the rescue teams were moving out into the suburbs. This suggests that in NZ we don't have enough rescue crews for this kind of situation. They focussed on the CBD in the first 24 hours (naturally enough), but I'm surprised that we didn't have enough teams to do more outlying areas on the first day. This is bad because this quake is not the Big One. It's done alot of damage, and lot of people have been killed in the centre of all that, much bigger numbers than we're used to. But NZ has the potential and likelihood of a much bigger quake disaster.


I think leaving town is a good idea for many people.

Yes, you're right Kea. We don't have enough people on the ground here to deal with the size of this disaster. I wonder if it is in part because Chchch wasn't considered a high-risk earthquake city, so the services haven't been established? I suspect it might be far more organised and widespread in Wellington for example?

I think it's more a NZ-wide problem. Teams could get to Chch in half a day to a day from most places in NZ, certainly from Welly and Nelson. I think there are plenty of people here to do that, but I suspect we don't have enough people trained in going into collapsed buildings safely. I'm not totally sure about this, but it seems like there were teams there but not enough, and they were stopping untrained people from helping.

I don't mean this as a criticism of CD and USARS. You may be right about Chch not being considered high risk (although not since Sept, it's been obvious that another big quake was possible). Still, I'm surprised. I wonder if it's just because up until now it's been largely academic for most of us. We haven't had a big disaster like this within our lifetimes.

Christchurch liquefaction apparently is bad, because of the tectonic plates etc

http://science.jrank.org/pages/2226/Earthquake-Liquefaction-soil.html
similar to Mexico City I think ?

Surprised to hear that NZ seems to be poorly prepared for earthquakes.

I thought that all contries with boundaries on the 'Ring of Fire' would be geared up, 'Just in case'!



GT

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that. We're actually well prepared in terms of most of it, and I definitely see a level of competency that reassures me. I'm just not sure why there weren't enough rescue teams on the ground yesterday and have been speculating about that (probably not wise). Later when things have settled I'll be interested to see what the planning is around that eg how many teams they have and think they would need for the Big One. We're pretty much used to the fact that in the Big One we'll be on our own for some time because so much infrastructure will be wiped out. In Chch things like cell phones are still working, and the power will be back on pretty quick. In a massive quake that won't happen so straightforward.

I also don't want to downplay the hugeness of this event. It's a geologically very significant quake because the force was large relative to the richter scale measurement. And it's obviously huge for NZers in Chch and outside.

Kea, I saw on our news yesterday that a lady was trapped under a office deskas the building collapsed around her, it said she was talking on her mobile and she knew hers legs were bleedingbut couldn't do anything - do you have any info if they have been able to reach her ?

Very well said, Kea. Your comments make perfect sense to me, but for people not caught up in this it's hard for them to understand the general state of preparedness that we have here. A lot of residents will be assuming that Urban Search and Rescue will NOT get to them for two or three days, because we are taught that's the case. So communities in the suburbs which have been cut off - and people on Banks Peninsula - will not necessarily be expecting rescue/relief immediately. Mind you, they'll be bloody glad to see the first hivis vests arrive...

Prof - on liquefaction. It occurs when the earth shakes where the subsoil is full of water... So the Mexico example is the same as that which is happening here...

For a small scale example of liquefaction, watch concrete being poured and the effect that that the application of the vibrator has. It is exactly the same. All the heavy objects (the stones) fall through the lighter sediment and the water comes to the surface carrying light sediment with it.

I actually watched liquefaction for real on Tuesday lunchtime in Cranmer Square. A ridge about 10m long and 20cm high slowly seeped up from the grass, and had water gently bubbling out of the top along its length. It grew as the silt in the water was deposited on the sides. Quite amazing for a geographer like me to witness something that seemed rather theoretical until recently

Fb, I hope you're watching.

One of Ms Stress's friends has 'phoned a warning:

Make sure your doors, car, shed, gates are locked or at least wired.
There have been a couple of incidents apparently, by opportunistic sneak thieves who see Rangiora as quiet, posh & easy.

Haven't had confirmation from elsewhere...

again

thank you FB

I've seen programs on tv about liquefaction, but to grasp it happening to a large city is, like you say - amazing, but also very scary

So glad you are still ok FB! Don't forget if all else fails and you are looking for somewhere to go, there are no earthquakes on the banks and braes!

Fb, the TV pictures in ahe Uk are definitely not giving a true picture. While it is still near the top of the news bulletins, anyone with no contacts in NZ is getting a very vague view, as though just small areas in the centre are devastated. There is no indication of the real scale of the thing.

I heard that rescue teams were leaving the UK today from my area, and another plane load was due to arrive in NZ at about the same time.

I imagine if as many people as possible left the area it would make it easier on all services if they are not involved in rescue or other essential work.

There was a lady on our local radio yesterday from Rangoria (originally from the West Midlands here) who gave a pretty graphic account of what is happening.



Websailor