NEW ZEALAND EARTHQUAKE

New Zealand earthquake on Friday night was larger than Haiti earthquake that killed 200,000 people this year. The recorded magnitude of New Zealand earthquake was 7.1 and this not only demolished buildings, cracked roads and twisted rail lines, but it also opened a new fault line in the earth’s crust.

Minimum 500 buildings were destroyed when this quake hit the South Island city at 4:35am. Luckily, only two serious injuries were reported among 400,000 people. Fortunately, this earthquake occurred before sunrise. If it had occurred just a few hours earlier or later, when a lot of people would be in the city, then there could have been a chance of increase in injuries and losses.

New Zealand faces a huge loss of $1.4 Billion after this earthquake. There are 300 to 400 farms that have been influenced, 150 “harshly” with most smash up done to buildings. There are more than 100,000 homes damaged as a result of this earthquake. The power, gas and water supplies have been stopped in the region, roads blocked due to debris. By Sunday, electricity has been restored to 90 percent of the city, and water supply is open for 15 to 20 percent of the city.
Mark Quigley, a geology professor at Canterbury University, said that:

“One side of the earth has lurched to the right … up to 11 feet (3.5 meters) and in some places been thrust up. The long linear fracture on the earth’s surface does things like break apart houses, break apart roads. We went and saw two houses that were completely snapped in half by the earthquake.”

On July 16, 2009, a major earthquake having a magnitude of 7.8 also hit South Island, but in the Fiordland area. This earthquake moved the southern tip of the country 12 inches near to Australia.

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