Earthquake aftermath

The Cook Strait earthquake was actually more powerful than the Christchurch earthquake, but was not as shallow, and did not occur under a populated area.

Wellington earthquake: Port loses chunk of land

A huge chunk of land fell into Wellington harbour and disappeared during yesterday's magnitude 6.5 earthquake, and the city's harbourmaster fears more damage will occur if the quakes continue.

NZ Herald,

22 July, 2013

More than 100 aftershocks have been recorded since the biggest earthquake struck in the Cook Strait at 5.09pm yesterday, including a spate of tremors reaching between 4.5 and 4.9 in magnitude struck the middle of the country about 3.15am today.

Inspections are continuing around the capital after the long shake, which blew out windows, cracked concrete and caused buildings to sway.

GNS Science has said there was a chance of an aftershock measuring 6 in magnitude in the next week.

Four people were injured during the 20 second-long tremor.

In many areas the contents of shelves in homes and shops came crashing to the ground.

15 metre wide chunk of land disappears at wharf

Harbourmaster Mike Price was out this morning assessing the damage, with the south side of the Thorndon Container Terminal worst affected.

"The port's okay, the ferries are operating but the most visible manifestation seems to be up the side of the container terminal where there's a huge chunk of land about 15 metres wide that has just dropped off into the harbour and disappeared,'' he told Radio New Zealand.

"That's a chunk of seawall, half the road, those recreational fishing shelters that were there, all disappeared. Gone.''

The area had been cordoned off.

"The state of some of that road down there, if there's another one this big, that will be gone as well. It's not a good place to stand.''

A shipping container and a large amount of debris had also fallen into the water.

"There's a lot debris - masses of what looks like polystyrene and blocks of timber - floating in the harbour. We put an old oil boom around that last night to hold it all in so it's all still there this morning.''

The container had been tied to the shore.

New Zealand Herald photographer Mark Mitchell said the port was in "a bit of a mess''.

"A huge portion of the reclaimed land has actually collapsed into the sea,'' he said.

"It looks like what a riverbank would if it collapsed.''

Mayor: City came through quake "well"

Wellingtonians who worked in the central city were also being advised to stay home today while the extent of the damage is assessed.

The city's mayor Celia Wade-Brown has just held a media conference and says the CBD appeared to have escaped major damage but engineers were continuing to check buildings and infrastructure.

She warned people to watch out for damage and to expect disruption today as the city deals with the aftermath of last night's quake.

But, she said the city had come through the big quake "very well''.

"On the whole, most infrastructure and most buildings have been unaffected - but we will obviously have engineers and experts double-checking the condition of infrastructure after daybreak.''

Wellington City Council is open again for business, but residents should only call if their issue is "really urgent", Wade-Brown said.

600 extra calls to emergency services

Police said it had been a quiet night in the capital.

Acting District Commander Superintendent Sue Schwalger said police maintained a careful watch over the city and resumed normal policing activities shortly after the main cordons were removed.

"I'm pleased to say there have been no arrests for anything related to yesterday's earthquake. Traffic flows into the city are lighter than usual this morning so it is good to see commuters appear to be heeding advice to delay their travel to the city.''

The 111 communications centre at Wellington Central police station received around 600 extra calls between 5pm and 7pm yesterday following the 6.5 earthquake.

Ms Schwalger said extra police were posted in the city overnight and today they would continue to help engineers and council staff as a street-by-street check of the CBD was carried out.

One man was knocked out and received minor injuries after a television fell and another person attached to a medical machine was treated by ambulance staff after being shaken out of bed. Two people were treated in hospital for minor injuries.

The St John communications centre also received a number of calls from people with chest pains and anxiety, although nothing life-threatening.

At Hutt Hospital, a section of ceiling collapsed in the third floor of the community health building and four people were evacuated.

Power was cut during the quakes to 3500 homes but restored within an hour.

Wellington Airport was temporarily closed while a runway check was carried out. All suburban trains were cancelled until further notice and KiwiRail said there would be no bus replacements.

Witness: It was terrifying

April Ferrino was in a fifth-floor apartment on Lambton Quay when the big quake hit.

"I'm from Austin, Texas, so we're used to other natural disasters - tornadoes, hurricanes. Earthquakes are extremely terrifying because you can't predict them.

"Things started falling off the shelves. It was terrifying. I felt the first tremor this morning, which was a slow rumbling ... but this one was a jolt. It was extremely terrifying."

Around the city, several buildings were evacuated after reports of structural damage. At the Mercure Hotel, 76 people were led to safety after the sixth floor partially collapsed.

A police officer at the scene said the building had dropped up to 50mm in the stairwell on the southern side. Police had also moved 140 people from a building behind the hotel and 50 from nearby student accommodation because of fears for the Mercure's "potential collapse".

Leaks force evacuations

About 100 people, including Ahmed Bhari, his wife Azreen and young son Eadayat, were evacuated from The Aitken on Mulgrave apartment block due to extensive flooding.

"It was very scary," Mr Bhari said, "and now my family have moved to a motel for two nights. It really shook, so it was very scary."

Nelson Fernandes, 44, returned to his flat to find it already evacuated.

"There was a major water leak and the whole apartment, seven levels, got cleared out," he said. "It's terrible.

"There was one cafe down below that was totally damaged. It was soaking, all the floors; we had tiles falling off the roof. There is so much damage it is absolutely terrible. I have never felt anything like that."

A burst pipe flooded the Central on Willis apartment of Sunny Gupta, aged 26. "It burst on my level, level eight, and the whole apartment was full of water and we actually had to take our pants off and run through the leaking stuff."

The water spread right down to the ground floor and residents were asked to find other accommodation.

The software engineer spoke of cracks on the walls and fallen roof tiles. Crockery and electronics had smashed. "It was very, very scary."

Sarah Bennett, who lives in a hilltop house, said it was the worst quake she had felt. "You usually only get a bit of a jiggle, but this was a hula dance," she said.

The CBD was temporarily locked down after streets were littered with glass from broken windows. Workers kept people away in case another quake struck and loosened the glass that was left.

The city's library was thrown into disarray as hundreds of books hurtled from the shelves onto the floor, and at the port, a large crack appeared in the concrete.

Quake swarms likely to stick around - expert

The faultline causing the quakes has a history of producing "swarms" and Victoria University professor of geophysics Euan Smith said it was likely the current swarm would continue for some time.

He said yesterday's seismic activity was similar to a swarm of 30 smaller earthquakes which struck Wellington in January 1950.

"They could go on, as the 1950 swarm did for a month. Or they could be all over, though I think that's very unlikely," he said.

Seddon residents inspect damage

Many residents report the inside of their homes are trashed, their chimneys are damaged, and one man says the piles of his house are damaged.

Newstalk ZB reporter Adam Walker is there this morning, and says the most obvious damage has been the rock fall around State Highway 1.

"I've seen about 20 slips from about 40 kilometres outside of Seddon.

"In terms of damage to the township, there's been a number of fallen chimneys, and there's been reports of at least one house that has been severely damaged.''

The aftershocks - which are expected to continue for some days - are something Marlborough Emergency Services Manager Gary Spence says they can not do much about.

"That's just the way it is.

An evacuation centre was set up at the Awatere Rugby Club in Seddon and some people gathered there last night.

A police spokesman there had been some damage and landslips in Seddon township.

"It's kind of strange, because some places are getting quite a major after-shake (sic) and not too far away they're getting nothing.''

Gary Spence expects people will be up early to inspect the damage.

''(They'll) double check their properties and that sort of stuff, and more importantly make sure that they go and look at their emergency kit or a getaway bag.''

Main quake widely felt around country

Chrissie Small, from Blenheim, said she suffered motion sickness during the big tremor.

"Seems there's a quake every four minutes at the moment but they're small ones ... Poor Seddon is bearing the brunt ... I hope it's nearing its end."

People in Napier reported the earthquake as a long shaking, while Gisborne woman Jennifer Cockayne felt it as a rolling sort of quake that seemed "like a wobble rather than a shunt" which left her with an uncomfortable feeling.

Some as far north as Auckland felt the rocking. Manoj Bangia was sitting with friends in a Pakuranga living room when the house started shaking. "We all felt our heads dizzy. [It] lasted for 10 to 20 seconds before we came out of the house."

A couple on the 26th floor at the Metropolis apartments in Auckland's CBD said they also felt the quake as their building started creaking. At first, they thought it was the wind, but because it was a still night they assumed it was an earthquake.

In Canterbury, a resident described the quake as a "lazy roller" that rattled the nerves.

In New Plymouth, Michael Riley said: "It was the biggest earthquake I have ever felt."