Trumpy:
Was this quake near you?
http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3882-2605126,00.html

ThinkGood,
Yeah,
I felt that one!.(7.1 on the Richter Scale)
Even though it was centred out to sea, at the opposite side of the South Island to where I am (about a half-inch below the peninsula on the map).
I was awake doing paper-work at the time that it struck (00:15 our time) and it gave me me a darned good fright.
It was just a good thing that it was so far out to sea, because if it had have been under the land, it probably would have flattened a few towns over here!.

Glad to hear that you're okay over there!


Bill

Thanks, Bill!.
Just a few broken bit's of crockery, nothing too serious.
New Zealand as it is, has a huge Fault-line running down the centre of it, over the centuries, this has caused the Southern Alps!.
If this fault-line ever let's rip one day, I hope I'm not around to see it!
I hate earthquakes, because you never know when they are going to occur and because we have them so infrequently here, when one does strike, you've forgotten what the last one was like, so you are mentally un-prepared for the shaking and groaning of your house.

Trumpy,
Do you have any special building standards for seismic bracing or the like due to quakes?
Here in California we've got a myriad of them...S
(We'll be waiting for the tsunami generated by your quake...surf's up?)

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 08-22-2003).]

Those of us who live in the British Isles grumble about the frequently damp and gray weather, the unpredictable climate of these islands, and so on.

I guess we really do have quite a lot to be grateful for in this area, however. It's rare we get real extremes of either hot or cold (the recent heatwave being the exception!), and tornados, earthquakes, and other devestating events are things we watch on TV news programs rather than experience first hand.

We've had some flooding in recent years, but still nothing compared to that which other regions of the world get.

Glad to hear you're OK Trumpy; I've never experienced an earthquake, and I'm not sure I'd want to.

Electure,
Yeah, mate, all sorts of calcs have to be done by Architects and the Council Building Authorities when a house is being designed.
Houses here are usually built from timber as opposed to brick and by using timber, it gives the houses a bit of "flex" so that it will tend to roll with the movement of the Earth, in a quake.
But you don't see many new houses going up here, that don't have bracing all through it, to stop the studs and dwangs(noggings) from twisting, this is normally done with sheets of plywood and Brace-line Plasterboard.
Paul,
You've never experienced an Earthquake?.
Gotta try it, some time!.