Quake violent, scary reminder
‘‘I know a lot of people out there are feeling very vulnerable.’’ Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel
A ‘‘violent and scary’’ 5.7 magnitude aftershock has rattled Cantabrians’ confidence nearly five years on from the deadly February 22 earthquake.
Checks on the city’s key infrastructure found no major problems after yesterday’s earthquake at 1.13pm, which was centred 13 kilometres off Christchurch’s east coast at a depth of 14km.
Shoppers were evacuated from malls and stores, while 500 properties across the city lost power for a time, but there were no reports of injury.
The shake was followed by several felt aftershocks, including a magnitude 4.2 quake at 6.27pm.
Insurers said they did not expect a big financial hit as damage reports were minor.
However, engineers will check many workplaces for damage over the next few days.
Large cliff collapses at Whitewash Head, near Sumner, and at Godley Head, prompted the Christchurch City Council to warn people to stay away from the areas.
The council closed AMI Stadium until further notice for an engineer’s assessment.
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel, who admitted screaming when the earthquake hit, called on people to look after each other.
‘‘I know a lot of people out there are feeling very vulnerable . . . I guess what we have to take from this is our city is stronger than it was five years ago and is better able to respond to this.
‘‘I didn’t expect to be shocked by an earthquake because I’ve got so used to them. This one came from nowhere. There was no warning, no low rumble . . . this one was just bang, a very sudden, sudden shock.’’
City council staff dealt with burst water mains and liquefaction appeared in several New Brighton and Bexley streets.
Canterbury District Health Board chief executive David Meates said checks were being carried out on its buildings, but damage appeared minor.
Mothers and babies at the Burwood Maternity Unit were moved to other facilities as a precaution while the facility was checked. Meates said women expecting to go to Burwood today should check with their midwife.
The Ministry of Education said there was no major damage at schools. Last night, Christchurch Girls’ High was the only school planning to close today.
Despite the lack of damage, the earthquake rattled nerves.
Adam Bull, 19, who was biking at the bottom of the Sumner cliffs said shipping containers saved his life from falling rocks.
‘‘All of a sudden the [bike] bars start shaking and we hear this massive bang on the container. It sounded like someone was running on top of it and all of a sudden this dust just swept straight across the road.
‘‘If they [the containers] weren’t there . . . we would have just been absolutely cleaned out for sure,’’ Bull said.
‘‘We looked up and just saw all these rocks coming down so we biked as fast as we [could] out of there and stopped at the end, looked back and the rest of the cliff at the other end of Sumner was coming down. It was just mental.’’
Nick Smith, 14, and his family were out boating near the entrance of Lyttelton Harbour when the quake struck.
‘‘We thought something had hit the boat,’’ he said.
‘‘Mum just told us to look up and we saw rubble falling [from Godley Head] and collapsing on the water.’’
Nick quickly pulled out his phone and captured what was happening. ‘‘It was a bit scary. It looked pretty bad from out there with all the dust.’’
In the city, shoppers reported trying to dodge items flying off shelves at large retail stores.
Insurance Council of New Zealand chief executive Tim Grafton said little property damage had been reported, with the exception of goods falling from shelves in shops. The quake would not raise New Zealand’s reinsurance costs.
EQC chief executive Ian Simpson said people had three months to lodge a claim with the Earth- quake Commission for damage to their home, land or contents.
EQC would increase the number of contact centre staff from Monday to handle any increase in calls.