Good luck and my best wishes for everyone affected.

Moved to Community.

Having been to NZ and spent time in beautiful Christchurch i cannot imagine it now.  Hope our kiwi IC'ers in CHCH are all ok!

damn guess they didn't repair everything from the first quake, that is a lot of fatalities for a 6.3

sad thing is earthquakes are not weather, they will keep coming back and you have to retrofit asap

"A more powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, a city of 350,000, on Sept. 4, but caused no deaths. The latest one may have been deadlier because it was closer to where people live and work, centered 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the city, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It also may not have been as deep underground.

"The critical issue with this earthquake was that the epicenter was at shallow depth under Christchurch, so many people were within 10 to 20 kilometers (6 to 12 miles) of the fault rupture," said Gary Gibson, a seismologist at Australia's Melbourne University. "

OK there is something wrong here, and I expect the Richter reading to be upgraded before long.  6.3 is somewhat powerful, that can bend railroad tracks into an S, but looking at the photos and this looks more like what hit San Francisco 1989 and that was up there.  Richter is logarithmic scale.  ALSO this explanation makes no sense because Richter is a measure of SURFACE EFFECT.  (there's another scale for total energy released in three dimensions, that the pros use but that's for seismologists, the govt and the public really care about surface effect, that is why Richter survives)  this clearly was a rougher quake to ride out, greater surface effect whatever the total energy was

Spoke to my mum and dad earlier, they're okay, but they live in Kaiapoi north of Chch, and while they haven't been out to see what new damage has happened, the houses in the row behind them, which were all condemned and have been empty since Sept 4. are still standing.
Opti and family are okay being just 2 doors down from mum and dad.
My other sister and her family live in Ferrymead quite close to the Port Hills (and so Lyttleton where the quake was centred) and she said there was a lot of liquefaction of the ground and their kitchen was a mess, but we haven't heard from them since about 7pm last night, and they weren't answering their home phone by 9pm.  We hope they've been able to get her daughter from school, although the bridge between home and school is closed, but it's possible they've left the city and gone to stay with her partners family.  Hoping to hear from them again today so we know where they are.

Unfortunately, there were obviously a lot of tourists in the area, the major flower show which was setting up in Hagley Park for this weekend has been commandeered with the tents being used to shelter people, and the tourists are being flown out today.
The CTV building which collapsed had a japanese language school, a class of students who had only just arrived from japan were in there and last I heard 8 had walked out and they'll be digging through the rubble trying to find the rest, though they say people have been texting family from within the rubble.  There was apparently a creche on the ground floor.
So many people out and about during their lunch break and buildings falling into the street, and on buses, and clearly the news is only going to get worse from here.
I'm getting married there in october, and I can only hope that the people we met at the end of january are okay, now that I know my own family is fine.

Glad you're OK warsie.

We in CA know it sucks but ya gotta do what you gotta do, the fault is there and it ain't moving, and that means you gotta fit everything to last, as soon as possible.  We spent a few billion after 1989 and then when 1994 showed we still hadn't got it right we spent a few billion more.  The alternative is total destruction.  Gotta start pressuring your government to come here and to Japan for building codes for earthquake cities (not pointing fingers lemme say-- Minneapolis and St Louis are going to be rubble before the end of the century, they had 8.4 quake in 1805, and they still use BRICK for support walls X(  and they WILL NOT be told.  Modern is not "earthquake ready" unless you pay to make it so)

Good to hear you and your family are fine warsie

Hello all... thank you for your concern

Yes this was a very nasty earthquake that made the previous ones all look pansy...This one was in the middle of the day on a tuesday so a lot of people were out and about with building and things collapsing around them... Of course there are a lot of casualties but a lot of people have been rescued from collapsed buildings too, even someone from the 5th floor of one building... there are also a lot of people reported missing, some may just be with friends and havent contacted families but some may be trapped somewhere... Here's hoping they are all ok

My wife was working on the 5th floor of her building... it was a terrifying experience for her... parts of the inside of the building had broken away,  holes in floors and part of the building had collapsed too... straight after the earthquake happened, i was in my car and heading to town to look after my wife... her building had taken some damage from the previous 2 earthquakes so i was afraid for her life... as i was walking towards her building, i encountered a couple of guys who worked there to. i asked how the building was and if anyone was hurt. they told me that everyone was ok and heading up the street in the same direction as them... i was very relieved... i made my way towards a par in the middle of town where hundreds of people were gathered, frantically looking for her... i made my way to the far side of the park through silt and crap that came up from underground and reached the other side just as my wife arrived... i felt very lucky to even have found her but i was just so happy she was ok and so was our unborn daughter

At home, our street took a pounding... there is a massive hole in the middle of the road and a lot of nasty smelly stuff came up from the ground and covered most of the street... a bunch of us and neighbours got the shovels out and cleaned the street up as best we could... still, we have no power and our water has to be boiled before we drink it... though, we did drive to the other side of town that looks unaffected, and bought a bunch of bottled water and food... just things we need to get by

I think the stress got to my father... he is currently in hospital and hooked up to a ECG just to monitor his health... chances are he is fine but the emergency fellas dont want to take any risks... the rest of our family is ok, a little worried about my father but he seems to be fine

looking forward to getting power on so we can get out of the stone age again lol

my wife and i are planning on leaving to america to stay with her family for a while... she is very excited because she hasnt seen her family for years... it will be my first time overseas since i was 2 years old too... i hope that all works out for us

what part of america?

"her building had taken some damage from the previous 2 earthquakes"

Those gotta be pulled down.

so, we went to Auckland for the weekend, got passports for me and my son, getting an american passport for my son and started the process of getting a green card for me... we will probably fly out to America in 2-3 months, after baby Hannah is born.

My wife's family in Arkansas has already started preparations, baby beds, bottles, car seats... the works... everyone involved is pretty excited about it except my poor parents... their baby boy is leaving along with their favourite little grandson... it is for our safety so i'm sure they will understand in time

it has cost over $1000 just for me... none of us can afford another one