I can't help but think that we haven't seen the last of the earthquakes.
Although I hate to say that, I think something is about to give, in the Alpine fault-line.
Mark, I have to agree with you on the way that damage has occured across the earthquakes area, damage to buildings was almost selective (if you can use a term like that in this situation).
Greg's friend Garry has it right though, had this quake happened at 4:35PM, the outcome in Christchurch would have unfortunately been a heck of a lot worse.
I think this is what scares a lot of people about earthquakes, in that you can't predict them with any great certainty, they just happen un-expectedly.
When I lived in Blenheim for a couple of years, earthquakes were almost a daily occurence, albeit small ones, but you just got used to them.
One thing has to be said about brick construction though, under the forces of an earthquake, typical brick and mortar joints can't handle the twisting and heaving caused by movements in the earth below, add to the fact that a lot of these buildings have been standing for many years and the structural integrity of the mortar seems to get worse as time goes by.
At least a timber-framed house has a bit of "give" in it's construction, this isn't the case with brick or concrete where the re-bar has since rusted away.
All in all, I'm just glad that there were very few casualties, one person died from a heart attack and two people are in Intensive care after being struck by the brick chimney falling into the house below.
It's going to be some time before things are really back to normal here.
The people I really feel for are those that have lost everything and their houses are little more than a pile of rubble.
