Christchurch New Zealand

Tue Feb 22 03:46:44 UTC 2011

Folks on Twitter should search for hashtag #eqnz.

Major news sites in NZ:

www.stuff.co.nz
www.nzherald.co.nz
www.tvnz.co.nz
www.3news.co.nz

Plenty of Vids, Stills and some Streaming available.

Can confirm the reports of multiple casualties.  TV News is live 
broadcasting reports of many folks trapped within buildings, largely 
because of things like stairwells collapsing, etc. A few buildings have 
been hit pretty hard, with some notable collapses, damage to vehicles, 
etc.

The 111 network (911 equiv) is experiencing problems in the South Island, 
folks are being asked to stay the phones (etc) except for genuine 
emergencies.

Urban Search and Rescue teams in NZ are based in Christchurch, Palmerston 
North and Auckland. I gather all three teams are stood-to, and an offer 
from Australia for additional USAR resource has been accepted.  CD 
Emergency has been declared and the Military are already getting involved.

Christchurch experienced a major quake (magnitude 7.2) in September last 
year, which received a lot of press as its effects were widespread and 
severe - but there was little loss of life.  This quake, magnitute 6.3, 
hit much closer to the CBD and during a business day, so the casualty 
count is much higher.  Being a more shallow quake, much closer to town, 
but also lesser in magnitude, my uneducated view based on media coverage 
is that the effects are not as widespread, but where they're felt, are 
very significant.

Mark.
(in Auckland, some 1000 km away...)

On Tue, 22 Feb 2011, Daniel Richards wrote:

> There aren't any major international cables to the south island. The big one 
> is the southern Cross cable that lands on either side of Auckland, which is 
> the north of the North Island, which is operating normally.
>
> KAREN (The Kiwi Advanced Research Network) core in the south island is still 
> operating, but most of the member sites in Christchurch are down: 
> http://karen.net.nz/news-earthquake-network-update/
>
> News is reporting deaths now, sadly.
>
> On 22/02/11 16:04, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
>> There has been a bad Earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand with reports of
>> fatalities.
>> 
>> http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150099324847752&set=a.125583977751.103665.119452527751&theater
>> 
>> Telecom New Zealand reports "Heavy damage" to their Christchurch building, 
>> but no deaths there.
>> 
>> Is there any report of issues with the undersea cables to / from the South 
>> Island ?
>> 
>> Regards
>> Marshall
>> 
>> P.S. On a more personal note,
>> Google has a people finder up @
>> 
>> http://christchurch-2011.person-finder.appspot.com/
>> 
>> There is a DFAT # - 1300 555 135 - for people outside of NZ to call.
>> 
>> Telecom New Zealand has asked people to stay off of the wireless network 
>> except for true emergencies.
>> 
>> 
>
>
>