[Metal278]

Some of the news reports are saying that it was actually two separate earthquakes that occurred simultaneously. I haven't heard of that before.

[pjv]

Hoping all our Kiwi members, family and friends are all safe and well. Our thoughts in Oz are with you all.

[MarkJerling]

Thanks Peter.

[pjv]

Thanks Peter.

Most welcome mate. Glad to see that you are OK. Christchurch has taken a real hammering the last few years. Good luck to you all.

[MarkJerling]

Thanks! Even though we're more than 300km away from the epicentre, this was the most violent shake I've felt to date.

[NZ_Ross]

Some of the news reports are saying that it was actually two separate earthquakes that occurred simultaneously. I haven't heard of that before.

Yes, that is now confirmed. They were about 30 seconds apart, with the first one triggering the second.

[Arpe]

All good here, but 4 of us up and bracing at midnight, then a little chat and back to bed. Cut up one of the students living with us as she went through the Chch quakes too.

[MarkJerling]

Some seriously bad reporting going on at the moment. See, for instance: Little Pigeon Bay cottage smashed by tsunami waves | Stuff.co.nz
Note that the wave was, supposedly 5m tall, yet windows are intact, there's no evidence of sea debris on the lawn and vases etc are still on their spots in the house.

[Class A]

Note that the wave was, supposedly 5m tall, yet windows are intact, there's no evidence of sea debris on the lawn and vases etc are still on their spots in the house.

A commenter states the wave hit at high tide, not at low tide, and was hence about 2m "only".

Another commenter states their house was totalled in another quake but had a vase still standing on the table.

[NZ_Ross]

I guess the lesson is believe very little that you hear or see on the news.

As we all know well, any image depends on where you choose the point the lens, how close or far your field of view is, and what post possessing you choose to undertake.

[Class A]

Yeah, just to clarify my earlier message: I also think the media are exaggerating quite a bit at times. The situation is bad enough as it is; no need to add sensationalism on top of it.

[zkarj]

Thanks to those weighing in with concern, particularly from offshore.

Had a right old sway in Welly and unfortunately all those 5.0+ aftershocks, while no danger, keep reminding us of the situation. Must be bloody nerve wracking in the top of the south, poor buggers. We had a few large loose items topple, but in hindsight not that surprising – all tallish things placed on the floor and propped up against a wall. Everything else seems to be in tip-top shape, apart from perhaps our nerves. Interesting that while all three cats freaked out at the time, only one of them holed up under a table (clever kitty!) until 9am.

The worst part for me, I think, is watching the coverage of those less fortunate than me. Both in feeling terrible for them and also in thinking that could be me next time. I don't deal well with earthquakes, and that was the biggest and scariest in my life. Seriously considering moving out of Wellington at this point. I know I'll just swap one thing for another, but a change is as good as. Haven't voiced this to my wife yet, but then we have a whole lot of other **** going on at the moment.

[Kiwizinho]

We are good, thanks for all the kind wishes

Hamner, Kaikoura, Blenheim, Nelson, Wellington have felt the worst of it I think.

It has been pretty shaky here in Blenheim. No harm done here other than a few ceramic souvenirs that broke, and one of my computer monitors suffered some sort of internal failure from the shaking. It didn't fall, but if I turn it on, I get a picture for a couple of seconds then it goes black, and if I turn it off and back on again, the same thing happens again. It was working fine the night before.

I had a CD rack that fell over and broke narrowly missing my K-50 that was on the floor, but the camera is all good.

My office is upstairs so it shakes a lot more than the rest of the house. Even a heavy truck passing 100m away can cause a bit of vibration, so earthquakes feel quite strong.

I've resisted going out much because I'm a bit concerned about fuel supplies in town. Today flooding cut off the road to Nelson, so the only connection to the outside world was via St. Arnaud.

We lost power for about an hour immediately after the big quake, but since then all has been fine, although we have a friend a bit over a km away who still has the power off and lost a chimney. We have other friends who have found some power points in their house have stopped working while others are OK.

Our garage flooded today with the rain, although the sun came out for the first time in three days this afternoon, and a stiff breeze has been drying things out fairly quickly.

The aftershocks are coming in fairly regularly, and make it a bit hard to focus on anything, although the frequency has reduced a bit. I think we're about 25km from Seddon, so I feel sorry for people there, as they're just about on top of a lot of the tremors.

Since the power came back on fairly quickly for us I stocked up on baking goods since I knew there would be supply shortages of stuff like bread. We make our own most of the time anyway, so it's not really a change in routine apart from having a few more supplies in the pantry, and making sure I make it without fail.

We have a friend who's a building inspector with the council and he's been proving regular updates via that ZuckerFace thing.

---------- Post added 11-15-16 at 09:01 PM ----------

I could do with a house with a Pentax body - 5 axis shake reduction would be quite handy around here at the moment.

[MarkJerling]

I could do with a house with a Pentax body - 5 axis shake reduction would be quite handy around here at the moment.

Good to hear you're all OK. I was up working when the big shake started. The cows and sheep went on for hours afterwards. It was bizarre.

[MarkJerling]

The situation is bad enough as it is; no need to add sensationalism on top of it.

Absolutely agree.

Tonight, on the news they were talking about the sea floor lifting. Now, we know, if we look around especially the East coast of New Zealand, that most major quakes seem to lift the land. That's why the Basin Reserve is no longer a basin and why we can now drive from Wellington to Petone. So, tonight, one of the talking heads on the news says: "We don't know if it's permanent". Ahhh. Yes.