Aftershocks Continue in New Zealand

The death toll from the earthquake that devastated the New Zealand city of Christchurch now stands at 75, with more than 300 people missing.

New Zealand has a national monitoring and response system in place for earthquake, volcanic and flood disasters  called GeoNet. 

This website reports:

“The city had been comparatively lucky with both the location and timing of last September’s magnitude 7.1 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake; the location of this one within 10 km of the city and at a shallow depth of 5 km during the middle of a working day has resulted in destruction, injuries and deaths.

“Shaking intensity in the city was much greater for this earthquake than the magnitude 7.1 earthquake for any of its other aftershocks. The highest shaking was recorded at Pages Road Pumping Station at 188 %g, with readings of 127 %g at Heathcote Valley Primary School and 107 %g at Hulverstone Road Pumping Station. This is due to the proximity of the epicentre to the city and the shallow depth.

“Seismologically, this is classed as an aftershock because of its relationship to the ongoing activity since September last year. Its occurrence was always statistically possible, but the long time interval and slow decrease in general activity had made it less likely. Unfortunately, it has happened after all and in a location that has brought the worst result.”

And the aftershocks continue…   http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html