More rockin' and rollin' on the South Island: even Diamond Harbour got a 3.7!:
A severe aftershock rattled Canterbury this morning, causing power cuts and sparking evacuations in parts of Christchurch.Below, liquefaction in Hoon Hay.
Frightened inner-city workers fled their offices after a 5.0 magnitude earthquake rattled already frayed nerves in Canterbury this morning at 11.32am. It struck 10 kilometres south-west of Christchurch at a depth of 9km, GNS Science said.
...Frazzled nerves were further strained when a 3.8 magnitude aftershock struck at 1.24pm, less than half an hour after many evauated offices and shops in the central city had reopened. It was a shallow quake centred 20km south west of Christchurch at a depth of 5km.
Page said before the 7.1 Christchurch quake, a magnitude 5.0 would have been considered a large quake for New Zealand.
...The aftershock gave two workers suspended above Christ Church Cathedral "a life changing experience'' this morning.
Ben West of Stoneworks and John Hare of Holmes Consulting were suspended from a crane on a platform inspecting a stone cross on the southern gable of the cathedral when the aftershock struck.
Hare hung onto the stone cross as it swayed back and forth, while West gripped onto the stone gable.
"We just shared a life changing experience, that was all,'' quipped Hare.
West and Paul Cullinane of Stoneworks later removed the large stone cross, which had been deemed unsafe even before the aftershock struck.
...Fiona Fidow at the Cupcake Collection in Westfield Mall, Riccarton, said it was the second biggest shock they had felt since the original quake.
"This was very loud, very strong shaking. All our china is smashed in our kiosk. The mall alarms are going off and the mall has been evacuated. Quite a few people are crying and hysterical. There are a lot of frightened people."
...Halswell School principal Bruce Topham said the only new damage he discovered was more liquefaction, which had come out of a crack ripped through the field in the September 4 quake. Staff and pupils were all OK, he said.
The aftershock has caused more liquefaction in the suburb of Hoon Hay, one of the worst-hit areas in the 7.1 quake.
Resident Alex Mitchell said he returned home 15 minutes after the quake hit and "stuff was still pouring out of the ground".
"It's exploded everywhere. If we'd been home at the time we could have got some really impressive pictures," he said.
Four other quakes this morning preceded the 5.0 tremor. A 4.0 magnitude quake struck at 10.54am, 20km south-west of Christchurch.
A 3.3 quake hit 10km west of Kaiapoi at 9.43am, a 2.8 hit 10km east of Darfield at 7.48am, and another 2.8 hit 10km south of Christchurch at 3.19am.
Minutes after the 5.0, a magnitude 3.7 quake struck 10km east of Diamond Harbour at 11.41am.
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