New Zealand earthquake

November 13, 2016 9:26 AM

A major earthquake hit the South Island this morning and casualties have been confirmed. Are all the Kiwi Mefites okay?
posted by Johnny Wallflower to MetaFilter-Related at 9:26 AM (12 comments total)

Thanks for posting.

I'm fine, no personal or property damage. That was the longest quake I've ever experienced, with the most aftershocks, though. And it was a long way away from me.

i_am_joe's_spleen has been active on Twitter and sounds fine.

Two dead, but the official word is that we don't expect any more. The major risk now is a tsunami, people are being kept away from coastal areas. Based on previous quakes it's *probably* just a precaution. Some property damage around the country, including houses, shops and Wellington port. Just had a mild aftershock as I wrote this (it's 8 hours since the quake).
posted by Pink Frost at 11:01 AM on November 13, 2016 [8 favorites]

Hugs to you all.
posted by cooker girl at 11:12 AM on November 13, 2016

We actually have lots of NZ members, I think! I don't think we many right in the bullseye of this one, but I hear it was felt at a pretty far distance. I did ask about i_am_joe's_spleen, and I think he and his are okay. Much love to all our NZ mefites; I hope you are all safe and just as sassy as always. <3
posted by taz (staff) at 11:37 AM on November 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

Super glad my (brick two story) building recently had eq strengthening work completed on it. All good here (but didn't get much sleep). The worst affected areas are a bit cut off from a telecoms perspective so do expect delays hearing from people (also I think a lot of folks will be catching up on lost sleep right now).
posted by jzed at 11:59 AM on November 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

mods: is there any way you can use the 'location' thingie to send out some sort of mass "are you okay?" memails? Sort of like the notifications for events happening near you, that kind of thing.

And stay safe, kiwis!
posted by easily confused at 12:58 PM on November 13, 2016

👍🏻 All good here.
posted by aurynn at 2:05 PM on November 13, 2016 [6 favorites]

Oh hi. Yes, we're fine, just sleep-deprived from aftershock and adrenaline. I have co-workers who were up all night after tsunami evac. This evening I'm going to survey the house and garage for cracks, but at first blush the place is fine (Spreydon, Christchurch). Will put further updates on the main post.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:04 PM on November 13, 2016 [6 favorites]

Also, I should add, thanks for the inquiries: it was nice to get MeMail from taz this morning.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:16 PM on November 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

Yep, all good in welli, thanks for asking. Sparx should be fine too - we got a big shake but no real damage up here.
posted by Sebmojo at 12:11 AM on November 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

Another k1w1 reporting in - I did post in the thread on the blue. One 'advantage' of living in Auks is you have a better chance of being hit by a vehicle than a quake.

No damage to my southern family either who just rode it out.
posted by arzakh at 4:16 AM on November 18, 2016

So this has turned out to be a lot worse than I thought when I first posted. Not for me personally - the quake apparently was of a certain type that affected medium/tall buildings badly, but not one or two story buildings. So our 1940s-era government built house? Got through without a scratch.

Downtown Wellington? Not so much. Lots of damage to the port. A dozen or so buildings badly damaged (I'm slightly amused that they include the headquarters of our military and our spy services).

My partner hasn't been able to get to work because the building next to hers is in danger of collapsing. I can't get into my building at all. Our IT team has been doing runs up 12 flights of stairs, grabbing as much as they can in 15 minutes, and running down. So first run we got our laptops, second run some headsets and powerpacks. Luckily one offered to get my hearing aids which are in my desk drawer. Unluckily, he could only find one. We're in temporary accommodation for a while [and let's just say if you're following the news, what's being made public is more optimistic than the reality, in terms of when people will get back].

Geonet predicts a 30% chance of a reasonably strong quake within the next 30 days, and a less than 1% chance that this wasn't the big one, that we get an even bigger one in that time. Which given the way 2016 has gone in terms of long shots, doesn't fill me with optimism.
posted by Pink Frost at 2:18 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Wow, Pink Frost, I didn't realize! I've been avoiding the news pages over the last couple of days, and thought from early reports that Wellington was pretty much okay. Damn.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:24 AM on November 19, 2016