NZ braces for more powerful aftershocks

CHRISTCHURCH: Seismologists in New Zealand said yesterday this week’s 7.8 earthquake was one of the most complex ever recorded and warned there was a high likelihood of more powerful aftershocks.

As a clean-up continued following the tremor that claimed two lives on Monday, scientists were coming to grips with the “astonishing” scale of the seismic seizure.

The official GeoNet science agency said the land moved up to 11m along the faultlines in the South Island disaster zone, permanently changing the region’s geography.

The quake also pushed up the seabed by as much as 2m along a 110km stretch of coastline that includes the tourist town of Kaikoura.

GeoNet said the quake ruptured at least four faults and was “one of the most complex earthquakes that has ever been observed”.

New Zealand is on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, which form part of the “Ring of Fire”, and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year.

There have been well over 2,000 aftershocks since Monday and the agency said statistical analysis showed residents should prepare for more major shakes in the coming weeks.

The current probability of quakes of magnitude 6.0 and above hitting in the next month was “about 100 times larger than what we would normally expect”, it said.

The warning came as warships from the United States, Canada and Australia began delivering emergency