Big quake shakes central New Zealand
A severe magnitude 6.5 earthquake has hit central New Zealand this evening, damaging buildings, cutting power, trapping people in lifts and injuring at least two people.
GeoNet said it was centred in the Cook Strait, 20 kilometres east of Seddon at a depth of 17 kilometres. It struck at 5.09pm.
he Pacific Tsunami Center in Hawaii said the quake did not generate a tsunami, but a number of smaller quakes have struck since - the latest, a 4.4 magnitude 25km east of Seddon at 8.27pm, followed closely by a 5.1 magnitude near Hanmer Springs.
A spokesman for Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye confirmed acivil defence emergency had not been declared, but an emergency centre had been set up in Thorndon.
At least two people have been reported as injured - one person in Kapiti and another who was hit by a falling television in Wellington.
A spokesman for Wellington Free Ambulance said they received a number of calls following the quake.
''We had one guy knocked out by a TV falling on him. That was at the Soho Apartments in Taranaki St. He was a male in his 40s and was taken to Wellington Hospital."
There had been extensive reports of damage in the capital, but so far most of it minor.
A section of ceiling collapsed on the third floor of the community health building at Hutt Hospital. Four staff members were evacuated.
Police spokesman Inspector Marty Parker said buildings in the city were being evacuated after structural damage was discovered.
A building on Featherston St was cleared, as was the Mercure Hotel on Willis St.
"Apparently they've suffered structural damage. They're evacuating that and a couple of surrounding buildings, as a precautionary measure."
Road blocks were also in place around the Mercure, he said.
A number of glass windows across the city had also smashed, and cracks had appeared in many buildings.
Infrastructure across the central and lower North Island, and the top of the South Island had ground to a halt.
Phone lines jammed in the top of the South Island and bottom of the North Island immediately after the large quake struck as people tried to call family and friends, a Telecom spokeswoman said.
Both the mobile network and the landline network were overloaded for 15 to 20 minutes.
''There was a spike in traffic straight after the quake hit, which is as we would expect - everyone getting on the phone to make sure their family is OK.
''To the best of our knowledge there's no network damage.''
People should send text messages, instead of calling, to ensure emergency calls can get through, the spokeswoman said.
Vodafone customers were also affected when nine mobile sites went down immediately after the large quake.
Sites in Marlborough were affected by power outages and two Wellington sites lost coverage, a spokeswoman said.
''Some customers may have had problems with calls and tects following the quake - issues compounded by overloading on the network, rather than damage.''
The network was now stable and all mobile cell sites had been restored.
''Our guys are just making sure now that staff are OK, buildings are OK and that the network is stable.''
Prime Minister John Key was not in the capital but his spokesman said his thoughts were with quake-hit regions.
"This will be a frightening time for people in areas where the quakes are most felt, and the Prime Minister's thoughts are with them at this time," the spokesman said.
Key was being kept informed on events.
"No tsunami warning for the region has been issued. However, the Wellington City and Hutt City Regional Emergency Management Offices are activating to coordinate any response at a local level," the spokesman said.
"At this stage, the Prime Minister will be returning to Wellington on Monday morning, as planned."
A Kiwirail spokeswoman said services from Otaki in the North Island to Kaikoura had been suspended until further notice.
There could be some disruption to freight services between Picton and Kaikoura, while an inspection of the tracks, bridges and tunnels was done, the spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for the NZ Transport Agency said an initial damage report of state highways in the quake zone was done and no damage or blockages were found.
The agency would carry out more detailed inspections tomorrow, he said.
The 6.5 magnitude quake was likely linked to a fault in the Cook Strait capable of generating far more severe shaking, GNS Science said.
Dr Kelvin Berryman, GNS Science director of Natural Hazards, said the severe shaking over the past three days was probably linked to one of several faults capable of generating shakes of magnitude 7.0 or more.
The most likely candidate was the Needle fault, although the location of the quakes over the past three days did not quite match up.
He said a larger quake was unlikely but the swarm that kicked off on Friday morning was not following the normal aftershock pattern, in which the tremors became progressively less severe.
This afternoon's 6.5 magnitude shake, the biggest in the latest swarm, meant the shaking was not following the usual pattern, he said.
GNS should have a clearer idea of the probability of another big, or even bigger, quake by tomorrow, he said.
Research seismologist Stephen Bannister said a magnitude 6.5 earthquake releases energy equivalent to 100 nuclear bombs of the size which devastated Hiroshima.
There had been more than 230 earthquakes since Friday in the area, with about 15 above magnitude 4.
"People will be feeling shocks that register above [magnitude] 3, and we have had about 50 of those since Friday.
"It's not a simple main shock followed by aftershocks, it's an evolving sequence," Bannister said.
He said with earthquakes of this size, aftershocks should be anticipated in the coming days.
"We would just encourage people to make sure they have their emergency kits and rations ready for future events. We can't say how many more large ones to expect."
Victoria University geophysics professor Euan Smith said much of Wellington's city centre was reclaimed land which meant it was not as stable as other areas.
"Where rubble has come down in Featherston St, there was no land there before the 1855 earthquake in Wellington.
"Reclaimed land shakes more easily and is not as strong as hard ground. From Lambton Quay and towards the harbour is also reclaimed land, and these areas will shake much more strongly than other areas."
The Hutt Valley was similarly on softer ground.
"If this evening's was the first then I would say we could expect them to decay in the usual way, but given we had the earlier ones we should still be anticipating that there could be quite large earthquakes for the next few days."
The Earthquake Commission announced earlier this month that they had renegotiated $3.25bn in reinsurance cover.
Chief Executive Ian Simpson said at the time that EQC has sufficient cover to meet the costs of a "significant' disaster.
If there were a sequence of events, as in Canterbury, it would have up to $6.5bn in cover. A spokesman for EQC minister Gerry Brownlee said EQC had "ample to cover any future event."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8945358/Big-quake-shakes-central-New-Zealand
