This morning lying in bed in a semi-wake state I suddenly became aware of a very odd noise and thought that Martin must have come back from his morning walk (Wendy already having gone to the gym) and popped in to see me for some reason and the noise was him walking along the deck. I would, of course, usually have been up and about at that time but had been later than usual going to bed. The noise continued for a few seconds then the rumble developed into a good shake. It is quite weird lying in bed watching the house shake and rattle around you which is what it did for, I would estimate, about 5 or 10 seconds which seems a very very long time when it's actually happening.
My first thought was 'what am I supposed to do?'. The usual advice is drop into a crouch position but I seemed to recall that if you were in bed then you were supposed to stay there and cover your head with a pillow (assuming there wasn't something likely to fall on you). Given the construction of The Cottage and the fact that it rests on piles the worst that would be likely to happen is that it might move on the piles. There is no masonry and no heavy roofing tiles. Of course by the time all this has gone through my head the quake was over and the shaking had stopped.
The quake was centered 20 k SE of Tokoroa and 94 miles (151 km) NNW of Napier. It was 175 k deep and was magnitude 5.8.
Just before I returned to New Zealand there had been a few quakes felt in the area but in the times over the last eight years I've been in the country I've felt relatively few quakes (perhaps a couple of dozen at most) and only a couple as severe as today.
This has been a big enough event for me to make a post out of it but let me put it into perspective. The people of Christchurch have been having to go through this and a hell of a lot worse for several years now and are living with the aftermath of the earthquake and nearly 11,000 shakes since. (Yes, eleven thousand). To get an idea of what that means go to the Christchurch Quake Map for a real eye opener.
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Amazing number of quakes in Christchurch! How do the people manage to keep their sanity?
ReplyDeleteWith great difficulty, Jill, and some people don't and some people can't take it and leave. I wasn't worried by this one although if one like it happens when we are in the theatre watching the ballet this evening I might be very much more apprehensive.
DeleteI guess I'd have left Christchurch a long time ago. This sounds so scary! The two or three (very minor!) earthquakes that have happened in my part of the world during my lifetime were scary enough for me to remember them (and how frightened I was) very, very well.
ReplyDeleteGood to know nothing too heavy can fall on you, and you're alright!
A lot have left Meike. A lot would like to but have nowhere else to go. The rest soldier on in varying states of apprehension and mental and physical exhaustion.
DeleteI think someone posted about a vulcano eruption around the time you were going to Nz... Must have been Katherine I suppose. Was that the same area? ... Automatically I want to say "take care" even though I know that's silly... (Could just as well say "Go back to Scotland" but I know you won't...) Can only hope it will calm down! <3
ReplyDeleteYes, Monica, Katherine did post on the volcano eruption and it isn't that far from the site of the earthquake. That's an ongoing situation although the eruption itself was very short-lived. A few days ago 3 people were killed and some injured and 150 houses damaged or destroyed in a suburb of Auckland by a tornado. We are having an interesting time. But all that pales into insignificance when compared with what the people of the Philippines have been going through.
DeleteAn earthquake would be very scary to me. We have had minor ones here in Georgia, but
ReplyDeleteonce they told us on TV that we had had one during the night, and we remembered our picture frames rattling on the wall, but we thought it was something that the cat had done. It usually is!
Hope all your shaking is over with!
It'll never be all over with Kay but we can at least hope that there are no more big ones with lots of damage because another Christchurch would bankrupt the country apart from all the personal tragedy that would be caused. I still have memories of the pictures of California's San Fernando and Northridge quakes. They were pretty horrific but seemed so far away until the Christchurch quake brought the experience nearer home.
DeleteThe thing that surprises me most about living with the earthquakes is how normalized it seems and how life go on... But the impact on people has been massive in many ways and the most frustrating thing has been bureaucracy and insurance delays.
ReplyDeleteWe have had a few this week across the city but mainly small and less noticeable these days, but I well remember the adrenaline, and it surges again when we get a bigger one. I guess we accept the risk of another huge one but don't know when. Mainly I feel fear when in Wellington as I think it will still happen there and the high rises terrify me now.
I just can't imagine Fiona how you manage to remain so apparently composed. I know how I feel with the small ones I have experience. It is five or six years since I have been in Wellington and I can't see me going there again in a hurry if I don't have to.
DeleteGood to have an earthquake....a smallish one. Things like this make one appreciate the world as it is.
ReplyDeleteYou have a point there Adrian and I can cope....so long as it is a small one. PS I'm a third of the way through The Blackhouse which is pretty good going for me.
DeleteWe must be reading The Blackhouse at the same time, GB... It's about time we both did!
DeleteThere is still some anxiety here in Canterbury. That noise you speak of gets a variety of reactions still about here. A truck can roll past and that rumbling sound will make many stand very still waiting to see if the shaking is next.
ReplyDeleteTake care up there :-)
Apparently, Jaz, in town a lot of people did think it was a big truck. It would have been been an exceptional truck that had made my cottage move the way it did but I suppose its very construction make it more flexible.
DeleteThank goodness I have only experienced one earthquake in my lifetime, and it was very scary.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I would be able to live in such fearful anticipation if my home was located in an earthquake prone area. I do feel sorry for the folks who have nowhere else to go.
Glad you're okay.
I suppose, Virginia, it's a question of needs must in many cases. Having lived through a hurricane which destroyed part of my house I certainly wouldn't want to experience another one like that either.
DeleteIt must have been so frightening! I heard about it on the news here in Rome. Be careful. There was an earthquake in Italy recently in Emilia Romagna (and in Aquila a few years ago) but people have not yet been completely resettled, it's a disgrace, especially in this cold weather. Take care. All the best to you.
ReplyDeleteBenvenuti e grazie Caramella. I spent some time in Tuscany in September having driven down from Switzerland through the Italian Lakes and people were telling me about the earthquakes near Bologna.
DeleteI thought about you when I heard about that one. I can't imagine how I might react if the earth moved around here - or how the people of Christchurch cope.
ReplyDeleteI suppose, Pauline, we are at least used to the idea of an earthquake here because we have the annual reminder of Art Deco weekend when it is remembered ceremonially.
DeleteIt's a while since the earth moved for me in bed....
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