Damage to the commercial heart of Sydenham, Colombo Street
South where buildings have yet to be assessed after the
earthquake. Credit: NZPA / David Alexander
A series of 270 aftershocks have rumbled through
Canterbury since the region was shaken by a destructive
magitude 7.1 earthquake on Saturday.
GNS seismologist Brian Ferris said people would have felt
about 150 of those aftershocks.
About 10 aftershocks were between magnitude 5 and 5.5, 60
between 4 and 4.9 and 200 between 3 and 3.9, he said.
Since midnight there had been 18 aftershocks.
A 5.1 magnitude aftershock that struck shortly before 8am
today caused the most alarm in Christchurch since the initial
quake, as it was a relatively shallow 6km deep and centred
around the city's port area of Lyttelton.
ODT reporter Debbie Porteous said the "short, sharp shock"
cut the power in her central city hotel room and knocked over
glasses and cups.
"We ran to the doorway to shelter," she said.
The aftershock caused more damage to already weakened
buildings and forced another evacuation of the central city.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the gut-wrenching
intensity of the latest quake reduced many emergency workers
to tears and led to the evacuation of the Civil Defence
offices.
"It was a devastatingly, vicious sharp blow to the city," he
told NewstaklkZB. "This was a terrifying moment. We
have just had to evacuate our Civil Defence headquarters.
"We have got staff in tears, we have got fire engines going
through the middle of the city, power is out and a lot of
people are very, very churned up by that.
"My guts is just churning up here. When will this thing end?
It is like living in a maelstrom."
He said that yesterday people's confidence was beginning to
return as the gaps between aftershocks lengthened.
"We were restarting to think, maybe, just maybe, we are over
the worst of this and now we have had this shocking event.
"This is a hammer blow to the spirit of a lot of people."
He said people would recover but "we have got the most
amazing city, the most amazing people who have been through
four days of physical and mental hell".
He said today's big shake would cause more serious damage.
As he spoke the city was rocked by another shake, which
measured 3.8.
"Oh shit, excuse me. Holy heck... sorry about that," he said.
Mr Parker said assessment teams were heading back into the
city to check the damage but emergency workers and civil
defence workers were now extremely worried about their own
families.
"We are just so jumpy . It doesn't matter how calm you be in
these issues, there is still a part of you which wants to
tear out the door and head to the hills but that passes
quickly," he said.
Mr Parker said hearing the earthquake coming was "like an
incoming doodlebug".
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