PLANETARY TREMORS: Strong Magnitude 6.6 Temblor Shake Near The Kermadec Islands Triggering "GHOST QUAKES" In North Island, New Zeland - But Why?!

Tuesday's earthquake was centred near the Kermadec's Raoul Island, about 1000km northeast of New Zealand.© Massey University

February 2, 2016 - NEW ZEALAND - The magnitude 6.6 quake that struck off the coast of the North Island on Tuesday was widely felt and triggered false reports of shakes in New Zealand.

It is not uncommon for earthquakes to confuse seismic readings as energy from tremors travels large distances.

These "ghost quakes" register as local earthquakes when the GNS Science system starts to receive data.

Seismic graphs show the earthquake waves at 8am on Tuesday detected by the northernmost seismographs.© John Ristau

Let's dive right in to the world of ghost earthquakes.

What happened on Tuesday?

A large magnitude 6.6 quake centres about 850 kilometres north of Whakatane at a depth of 360km.

The epicentre was near the Kermadec Islands and the Kermadec Trench.

The location of the quake. Deep quakes off the coast can be initially recorded as multiple quakes.© USGS

The United States Geological Survey located the earthquake 120km north-northwest of a barren outcrop known as L'Esperance Rock.

Below the North Island, the Pacific plate is subducting beneath the Australian plate, which causes deeper quakes.© GeoNet

ell me more about this part of the Pacific.

The trench is the fifth deepest point of the world's oceans.

It marks the point where the Australian plate meets the Pacific plate.

A national seismic trace shows the earthquake detected progressively, from Raoul Island southwards.© GNS Science

Geographically, the entire region is one of the most seismically active areas in the world.

So, about all that shaking people "felt" in New Zealand.

A still from the Raoul Island webcam on Tuesday at 9.20am.© GNS Science

New Zealanders felt the quake's energy, but it wasn't in New Zealand.

Seismographs interpreted the waves as locally sourced and triggered alerts for the North Island.

"Ghost" quakes sometimes appear on the seismic monitoring system, the GeoNet array of around 200 seismograms dotted around New Zealand, after a large regional earthquake.

Magnitude 6.6 is a big shake and has the potential to cause a disaster.

Sensitive equipment picks up the seismic waves created by earthquakes. Equipment gets confused and pushes out an earthquake alert interpreted as locally sourced to the public, when the shake could be hundreds of kilometres away.

As in this case?

Yes, the earthquake was around 1000km away and deep.

This is all a bit confusing.

It's simple.

As the seismic waves travelled south from the source they are picked up progressively by detectors.

First Raoul Island, which has a webcam by the way, picked up the earthquake then the network detected the waves as they quickly moved southwards.

The "ghost" or "false" quakes, reported on Tuesday as three severe quakes in the Bay of Plenty region, were removed from the GeoNet alert system after initial reports.

This kind of thing has happened before.

In 2013, a quake near the location of Tuesday's shake triggered ghost earthquake readings in New Zealand.

Why don't scientists wait to confirm an earthquake's location?

In short, it's important to get information and data out to the public quickly.

As soon as readings start coming in from the seismic network that information is automatically publicly notified.

Later, once GNS Science review data, they can revise the reported magnitude and pinpoint the precise location.

Let's get technical shall we?

OK, it's all about different types of seismic waves, known as P-waves and S-waves, and the types of detection equipment.

P stands for primary waves, S for secondary.

Broadly, the equipment confuses the secondary waves for primary shaking, hence the three severe shakes initially reported by GeoNet and felt by New Zealanders.

GNS seismologist Dr John Ristau says:

"People actually felt the quake. It was quite deep.

"Our automatic system, generally, for 99 per cent of the time it actually works quite well.

"We know there's a problem when we have large earthquakes north of the North Island, particularly when they are deep.

"Our automatic system gets fooled.

"Primary waves are the fastest. That triggers the system. Then you have the secondary waves. The S-waves come in well defined...so the automatic system gets fooled into thinking it's another earthquake."

Can scientists do anything about the confusion?

The current system is the best available.

Ristau says GNS Science would rather have the system detect earthquakes as false than re-calibrate it and risk failing to detect a locally-sourced shake.

Plus, it's important to get information out to the public as quickly as possible in New Zealand and the Pacific.

Seismograms are extremely sensitive aren't they?

They can pick up wind and traffic noise, so it's no surprise when they detect tremors from earthquakes hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometres away.

They picked up the Foo Fighters blasting Auckland in 2011, remember?

That area of the ocean sounds interesting.

The Kermadec Islands and the surrounding area lie within a marine sanctuary created in 2015.

Once fully enacted as a reserve by the Government in 2016, the sanctuary will be one of the largest and most protected marine regions in the world.

It's even possible to visit, although you'll need a permit. - Stuff.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Very Strong 6.6 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes North Of New Zealand - Geonet! [MAPS + TECTONIC SUMMARY]

USGS earthquake location.

February 2, 2016 - NEW ZEALAND - A 6.6 magnitude earthquake 1100km off the North Island was responsible for the tremors that shook New Zealanders this morning.

Geonet seismologist John Ristau said the tremors felt in Bay of Plenty, Tararua and Canterbury were not official earthquakes.

There had been reports that a 5.3 magnitude quake was recorded 35 km south of Murupara and that 5.0 magnitude quake struck 20 km north west of Pongaroa.

A third quake was said to have hit 15km south-west of Amberley.

USGS shakemap intensity.

The shakes weren't official earthquakes but ripple effects of a 6.6. earthquake near Raoul Island.

Geonet received more than 500 reports of people who had felt shakes, Mr Ristau said.

There would be few aftershocks because the earthquake was so deep, he said.

Old Shaky Isles living up to its reputation! A few #eqnz in the past 15 mins pic.twitter.com/BdE1p26aCS

— Paola Brett (@paolabrett) February 1, 2016

Several people have reported feeling the quakes on social media, in areas including Bay of Plenty and Wellington.

Fire Service and police northern communications have received no reports of damage.

A spokesman for the Murupara police said he was outside when the earthquake was recorded as happening and he didn't feel a thing. He said there had been no calls from members of the public.

A woman spoken to at Murupara Area School was also surprised to hear reports of a quake - saying she didn't feel anything and nobody at the school had felt the quake. - New Zealand Herald.

Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate

The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.

Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar events are likely to occur again.

USGS plate tectonics for the region.

North of New Zealand, the Australia-Pacific boundary stretches east of Tonga and Fiji to 250 km south of Samoa. For 2,200 km the trench is approximately linear, and includes two segments where old (greater than 120 Myr) Pacific oceanic lithosphere rapidly subducts westward (Kermadec and Tonga). At the northern end of the Tonga trench, the boundary curves sharply westward and changes along a 700 km-long segment from trench-normal subduction, to oblique subduction, to a left lateral transform-like structure.

Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 60 mm/yr at the southern Kermadec trench to 90 mm/yr at the northern Tonga trench; however, significant back arc extension (or equivalently, slab rollback) causes the consumption rate of subducting Pacific lithosphere to be much faster. The spreading rate in the Havre trough, west of the Kermadec trench, increases northward from 8 to 20 mm/yr. The southern tip of this spreading center is propagating into the North Island of New Zealand, rifting it apart. In the southern Lau Basin, west of the Tonga trench, the spreading rate increases northward from 60 to 90 mm/yr, and in the northern Lau Basin, multiple spreading centers result in an extension rate as high as 160 mm/yr. The overall subduction velocity of the Pacific plate is the vector sum of Australia-Pacific velocity and back arc spreading velocity: thus it increases northward along the Kermadec trench from 70 to 100 mm/yr, and along the Tonga trench from 150 to 240 mm/yr.

The Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone generates many large earthquakes on the interface between the descending Pacific and overriding Australia plates, within the two plates themselves and, less frequently, near the outer rise of the Pacific plate east of the trench. Since 1900, 40 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded, mostly north of 30°S. However, it is unclear whether any of the few historic M8+ events that have occurred close to the plate boundary were underthrusting events on the plate interface, or were intraplate earthquakes. On September 29, 2009, one of the largest normal fault (outer rise) earthquakes ever recorded (M8.1) occurred south of Samoa, 40 km east of the Tonga trench, generating a tsunami that killed at least 180 people.

Across the North Fiji Basin and to the west of the Vanuatu Islands, the Australia plate again subducts eastwards beneath the Pacific, at the North New Hebrides trench. At the southern end of this trench, east of the Loyalty Islands, the plate boundary curves east into an oceanic transform-like structure analogous to the one north of Tonga.

Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 80 to 90 mm/yr along the North New Hebrides trench, but the Australia plate consumption rate is increased by extension in the back arc and in the North Fiji Basin. Back arc spreading occurs at a rate of 50 mm/yr along most of the subduction zone, except near ~15°S, where the D'Entrecasteaux ridge intersects the trench and causes localized compression of 50 mm/yr in the back arc. Therefore, the Australia plate subduction velocity ranges from 120 mm/yr at the southern end of the North New Hebrides trench, to 40 mm/yr at the D'Entrecasteaux ridge-trench intersection, to 170 mm/yr at the northern end of the trench.

Large earthquakes are common along the North New Hebrides trench and have mechanisms associated with subduction tectonics, though occasional strike slip earthquakes occur near the subduction of the D'Entrecasteaux ridge. Within the subduction zone 34 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since 1900. On October 7, 2009, a large interplate thrust fault earthquake (M7.6) in the northern North New Hebrides subduction zone was followed 15 minutes later by an even larger interplate event (M7.8) 60 km to the north. It is likely that the first event triggered the second of the so-called earthquake "doublet".

More information on regional seismicity and tectonics

- USGS.

EXTREME WEATHER: Tornado Whips Through Canterbury, New Zealand - While Heavy Rainfall And Lightning Strikes Caused Flooding And Small Fires!

Tornado in mid Canterbury.  © Phillippa Fleming

December 13, 2015 - NEW ZEALAND - A tornado whipped through Canterbury this afternoon, while heavy rain and lightning strikes caused flooding and small fires.

The Fire Service said it had been stretched to the limit, with callouts to several small fires caused by lightning, trees crashing down on powerlines and flooding.

A hail storm hit just after 2pm, and left more than 5000 homes in south-west Christchurch without power.

Orion said it had restored supply to homes in Rolleston, Burnham and Springston, but about 1400 properties were still without electricity.

Orion expected electricity would be restored to all homes by 7pm tonight.

Mayfield cropping farmer Phillippa Fleming said she saw a tornado at about 3pm. She described it as looking like a Nike tick in the sky.

The tornado lasted about five minutes and there was lots of dust and debris when it touched the ground, Ms Fleming said.

People in Hinds and Mayfield posted videos of the tornado to YouTube.


WATCH: Large tornado near Hinds.

The New Zealand Farming group also posted a video on Facebook of what they described as a twister in mid Canterbury.

Metservice said the wild weather should ease back this evening as the temperature cools, but there could be other thunderstorms to come.

- Radio New Zealand.

PLANETARY TREMORS: "Heard A Massive Crash,... The Whole House Started To Shake,..." - Strong 4.2 Magnitude Earthquake "Causes Homes To Shake" In Kent, United Kingdom!

May 22, 2015 - KENT, UNITED KINGDOM - A 4.2 magnitude earthquake has been recorded in Kent, the British Geological Survey (BGS) has said.

The tremor originated near Sandwich at a depth of 15km (9.5 miles) underground at 02:52 BST, it reported.

Residents in areas including Margate, Canterbury and Southend-on-Sea in Essex felt the tremor, with some saying they thought it was a plane crash or a bomb.

Kent Police said a number of calls had been received but no injuries or structural damage had been reported.

But Herbert Smith tweeted that he and his wife Doreen were taking refuge in their caravan after being evacuated from their damaged home in Flete.

The British Geological survey's monitoring stations showed seismic activity on Friday morning.  © British Geological survey

'Massive crash'

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which monitors seismic activity across the continent, also recorded the earthquake.

Theresa Foord, from Eastry near Sandwhich, said: "I heard this massive crash and then the whole house started to shake.

"Plates came off the wall, doors came open - it was all very frightening.

"It seemed to go on for ages but it was about three to five seconds."

BBC South East reporter Simon Jones, who lives in Canterbury, said he was woken up when his house started shaking.

"The initial thought was perhaps something had gone into the house, like a lorry but then I turned to social media and people right across east Kent were reporting an earthquake," he said.

Vikki Petts tweeted: "So we just had a 4.3 magnitude earthquake in Kent and my housemates slept through the entire thing. certainly woke me up!"

Jonathan Tapp said: "Earthquake in East Kent and now can't get back to sleep. Despite months spent in [New Zealand] this is my first one that I've felt."

Iain Buchanan, from Ramsgate, said: "So I'm not going mental, my house shook due to an earthquake in Kent of all places."

Police said they began receiving reports of the tremor in east Kent at about 02:57 BST.

Neither the force nor Kent Fire and Rescue Services had received any reports of structural damage or injuries, they said.

Hundreds of homes in Folkestone were damaged by a 4.3 magnitude tremor struck parts of Kent in 2007.

More than 70 buildings were so dangerous residents could return to them because of loose chimney stacks, tiles and masonry. - BBC.

 

INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE: Microlight Plane Crash Near Timaru, New Zealand - Police Officer And Veteran Pilot Named As Victims!

Microlight crash victim Alfred Jack Mehlhopt trying to fly a bamboo and bicycle tubing aeroplane in 2003. He was described as an experienced pilot.
Photo / Getty Images

January 24, 2015 - NEW ZEALAND - A senior police officer and a veteran pilot have been named as the two victims of a microlight crash in Canterbury.

Senior Sergeant Hohi "Randel" Tikitiki, 51, and Alfred "Jack" Mehlhopt, 86, had set off on a routine training flight from Richard Pearse Airport, Timaru, at 7pm yesterday, but crashed 30 minutes later.

Their microlight, from the South Canterbury Microlight Club, crashed on farmland 11km north of Timaru.

Civil Aviation Authority investigators have warned it could take months to find out the cause of the crash.

The victims' families and Canterbury Police paid tribute to the two men today.

Canterbury Police District Commander Superintendent Gary Knowles said: "This tragic and sudden loss of life has rocked not only the community in Timaru but everyone at Canterbury Police.

"Randel was a valued friend and colleague to many in New Zealand Police and a respected member of the community in Timaru.

"The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Canterbury Police are with the friends and families of Randel and Jack, two men who made a real difference to so many lives."

Jack Mehlhopt (left) had a lifelong passion for planes. Photo / Getty

Mr Mehlhopt's family said they were extremely upset and that "Jack" would be missed by many.

"Jack was an extremely experienced aviator having held a Pilots Licence since the age of 16. Aviation was his lifelong passion. The fact he is never coming home again is something that is very hard to get your head around."

Mr Tikitiki's family described him as a "loving father of twin girls" and a "dedicated police officer".

CAA spokesman Mike Richards said two safety investigators would be examining the scene today.

Photo / File

"The investigators will concentrate first on gathering as much information as they can from any eye-witnesses and then proceed to form a picture of the environmental conditions at the time of the accident.

"Depending on what they find, the investigation could take many months to complete as it is quite common to require mechanical and electronic parts to be sent to manufactures testing centres.

"If any significant mechanical issues are identified as possible cause of the accident the CAA will issue immediate advice to the aviation community to help prevent a repeat of this unfortunate accident.

"However, it is far too early to speculate on what has happened here."

The owner of the farm where the microlight crashed said emergency services had covered up the scene. "It happened about three of four paddocks back from the house. [The wreck] has been covered over and there are a few cones with a tarpaulin on the outside," Mark Phillips said.

The deaths have been referred to the coroner. - NZ Herald.

FIRE IN THE SKY: "Never Seen Anything Like It" - Massive Meteor Sighted Over New Zealand!

May 03, 2014 - NEW ZEALAND - New Zealanders are reporting sightings of a "massive" meteor seen in the skies over the country last night.

File photo.

Edward Ennis, of Christchurch, said he saw a "massive meteor burn up in the sky" from his home in Spreydon about 7.55pm.

"Never seen anything like it," he said. "Amazing."

Vice president of the Canterbury Astronomical Society Adrian Kelly said he was holding an open night at the organisation's observatory when a "sizable fragmented fireball" was seen.

He said the meteor was probably a couple of metres in diameter and had broken up in the earth's atmosphere causing the dramatic image seen across the country.

"It's not often you see them break up. You need to be in the right place at the right time."

He said May was a good time to see a meteor but you still had to be lucky to catch a glimpse of them let alone a photograph.

"They are incredibly fleeting things."

Sharon Boland said she also saw it from West Melton.

Another witness commented online that they had seen a "bright light with tail on it" about 8pm over Lower Hutt.

Others described it as "a large white shooting star, heading south-ish, with a firework-like tail" and a "bright flash in sky proceeded by [a] falling fireball, shattering into small pieces".

Tony Smith from Parklands in Christchurch told reporters he first thought it was a shooting star.

"It then turned into a fireball. I said to my partner, 'I just saw a meteor'. She thought I was crazy," he said.

Leigh Hindry reported seeing a "very bright" light from Waikanae shortly before 8pm.

A motorist driving up Hills Rd in Christchurch last night said it was "an amazing green, like Superman Kryptonite green". - Stuff.

MONUMENTAL WEATHER ANOMALIES: The New Breed Of Tremors - Earthquakes In New Zealand Weakened Earth's Crust; Even More Unusual Than First Thought?!

November 26, 2013 - NEW ZEALAND - The Canterbury earthquakes were even more unusual than first thought and unlikely to occur anywhere else in the world, new research reveals.

The research, led by seismologist Martin Reyners of GNS Science, showed the unusual rock structure of the region meant the Canterbury earthquakes produced some of the strongest vertical ground accelerations ever seen in an earthquake.

The makeup of this unique dense and thick slab of rock could have implications for other regions around the lower South Island.

''There will be few other places in the world where a similar earthquake sequence might occur," Reyners said.

The research, published in Nature Geoscience showed that the strong quakes in Canterbury also could cause widespread cracking and weakening of the earth's crust - challenging the common assumption that the strength of the crust was constant.

Normally rocks become hot and ''plastic'' at depths of about 10km. However, the researchers found that strong, brittle rocks continued to a depth of about 30km under Canterbury.

''Strong rocks store and release strain differently to weak rocks," Reyners said.

This unusually thick and dense slab of rock helps to explain the long and energetic aftershock sequence in Canterbury, he said.

Seismic energy would have dissipated more quickly in softer rock.The researchers were now focussed on determining how widespread this strong rock unit is in the lower half of the South Island.

"This is important for defining the earthquake hazard for people living between mid-Canterbury and Southland," Reyners said.

The researchers had initially set out to determine the three-dimensional structure of the crust under Canterbury by using a technique called seismic tomography - similar to a medical CAT scan or ultrasound.

This helps to get more accurate aftershock locations and better define the many smaller faults that ruptured in the earthquakes.

Instead, researchers found that rock properties had changed significantly over a wide area around the Greendale Fault, which ruptured on 4 September 2010 producing a magnitude 7.1 quake.

"This finding was entirely unexpected, but it explains why the main shock released so much energy," Reyners said.

Most of the quakes in the two-year-long Canterbury sequence released abnormally high levels of energy - this was consistent with the ruptures occurring on very strong faults that store energy slowly and gradually and are hard to break.

The Canterbury quakes had their genesis 100 million years ago when very strong rocks became emplaced under Canterbury, he said.

The delay between the September 2010 and Feburary 2011 quakes also may have been caused by a ''strength recovery'' required for the crust following the cracking following the September quake, the research said.The research involved analysing the seismic waves produced by 11,500 aftershocks in Canterbury.

This enabled the team to build a 3D picture of rock structure to a depth of about 35km below the surface.

Reyners said post-quake analysis such as this research was important as it helps to understand how strain builds up in thecrust and how it is released during earthquakes.

"But to do that accurately, we need to understand the types of rocks that exist at depth.''  - Stuff.

EXTREME WEATHER: Destructive Winter Storm Batters New Zealand - Uprooted Trees; Ripped The Roofs Of Buildings; Damage Roads; About 1,500 Houses Without Power!

June 22, 2013 - NEW ZEALAND - Rain is continuing to cause havoc in the storm-battered capital as authorities respond to leaking roofs, surface flooding and slips.

Contractors start to remove a large tree from an Owhiro Rd home.
MAARTEN HOLL/Fairfax NZ

About 1500 households in the Wellington region are still without power today after the storm ripped roofs of buildings, bowled over trees and damaged coastal roads and sea walls on Thursday and Friday.

The low that brought the storm is expected to move away from the country tonight, but it is continuing to bring showers and snow flurries to parts of both islands today.

A Fire Service central communications spokesman said firefighters had been called to about 20 homes with leaking roofs in the Wellington region since 7am today.

The rain was also continuing to cause slips and surface flooding, according to regional Civil Defence authorities.

It was also causing problems in Canterbury, with surface flooding reported in parts of Christchurch and Selwyn.

A fell tree on Maungaraki Road.  MAARTEN HOLL/Fairfax NZ

Trees ripped out of the ground in Petone.  MAARTEN HOLL/Fairfax NZ

Man inspects damage to his roof. MAARTEN HOLL/Fairfax NZ

A flood alert is in place for the Halswell River and firefighters are helping to put up sand bags in Leeston, about 45 minutes southwest of Christchurch, where flooding is threatening homes.

 A Fire Service southern communications spokeswoman said about 30 properties had reported surface flooding since 9am.

However, no houses had flooded yet and the sand bags were a precautionary measure.

In Wellington, the clean-up was continuing today in persistent heavy rain.

Civil Defence group chairwoman and Kapiti Mayor Jenny Rowan said hundreds of workers and volunteers had toiled in atrocious and often dangerous conditions to to get power restored, roads reopened, damaged roofs secured and fallen trees removed.

"However the clean-up is by no means complete - some areas are still without power. And with continuing rain there is potential for flooding," she said.

"We have reports that slips are still coming down in parts of the region and that there are trees and branches that could still come down. If in doubt, steer clear of storm-damaged trees and let the experts do the clean-up."

Ms Rowan urged residents to lend a helping hand to clear leaves and debris from drains, as council call centres were getting a steady stream of calls to report surface flooding.

Wellington City Council spokesman Clayton Anderson said the call centre has been dealing with a stream of requests all morning.

He said if homeowners think they are able to fix issues themselves, it would free up council workers to focus on more urgent jobs.

"If you are considering calling the council about a blocked drain outside your house, and you think that you could potentially deal with it yourself or you and a neighbour could deal with it yourselves, we'd ask you to get out there and muck in a bit.''

Most main roads around the region were now open, including the coastal road between Island Bay and Owhiro Bay, but motorists were advised to take care.

Council staff were today inspecting road access to the coastal community of Makara due to concerns the heavy rain may cause flooding in the area.

An unlucky car on Mount Victoria. Simon Hodge

Storm damage by the coast at Island Bay. PHIL REID/Fairfax NZ

Damage to Wellington south coast's Esplanade. PHIL REID/Fairfax NZ

Wellington Electricity said a large number of the 30,000 customers who were left without power by the storm now had electricity restored.

However, about 1500 customers still have no power including in Whitemans Valley, Titahi Bay, Wainuiomata, Miramar, Kingsley Heights, Makara, Ohariu Valley, Newlands, Johnsonville, Plimmerton, Mana, Days Bay and Porirua.

A Wellington Electricity spokesman asked residents without power to get in touch.

"Significant progress has been made to restore service to as many customers' electricity service as possible on Friday and overnight Saturday, however the scale of the event means that these remaining customers are taking longer to restore."

Council welfare staff were organising help for some residents who were still without power.

In Canterbury, up to 5mm of rain was falling an hour in the Halswell catchment area, and the river was still rising.

Environment Canterbury said the river had reached almost 6.3m at 1pm - up to 2m above normal - which was a significant level for the river.

Anyone close to the river is advised to monitor their situation carefully.

Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton said it was too early to know just how expensive the damage in the Wellington area will be to repair, but claims were likely to run to tens of millions of dollars.

"A mixture of roof damage, windows blown in, and there could be water getting in as a result and damaging contents.

"Those are the likely things that would have come through.''

He said it would be a while before all the claims come in but it was already looking like a very expensive storm.

"We had severe flooding events in Nelson and the Bay of Plenty in April - that came to $36 million.

WATCH: Wellington cleans up after destructive winter storm.

"This, we don't know, but it will definitely be running in the tens of millions.''

Mr Grafton said while people in other regions had also suffered damage, most claims would come from Wellington.

Meanwhile, the Interislander ferry Kaitaki, which slipped from its moorings in Wellington this week, needs further assessment before it can go back into service.

The Arahura will take its place in the meantime.

Further bad weather last night meant Interislander services were cancelled, but a KiwiRail spokeswoman said this morning the Arahura sailed with no problems.

"It left at 8.15AM this morning, and the Arahura at the moment is the only ship that is sailing. It's operating to the Kaitaki timetable.'' - NZ Herald.

EXTREME WEATHER: New Zealand Told To Brace For Wild Weather - Met Service Issues Severe Weather Watch For Many Parts Of The Country; Deluge Of Heavy Rainfall And Snowfall Expected!

June 03, 2013 - NEW ZEALAND - MetService has issued severe weather watches for parts of the country.

Westland, Buller, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Wellington, Wairarapa, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua are among the regions set to face heavy rain and wild weather over the next 24 hours.

Motorists stuck at Burkes Pass - Source: Renier Figuracion.

Pictures sent to ONE News show heavy snow has been causing disruptions for motorists on the last day of the long weekend.

Vehicles with chains waited for hours this afternoon for roads to open in Burkes Pass, just north of Tekapo.

Eight firefighters in the area were called to push at least half a dozen cars out of the snow and assist police with road control, Volunteer Fire Chief Officer Craig Willis said.

MetService says there is a high possibility of heavy snow in North Canterbury and Marlborough tomorrow as the cold southerly rain turns into snow above 400 meters.

Burkes Pass closes due to snow - Source: Bethany Rentoul.

Heavy rain and gales are expected for central New Zealand tomorrow as a front is expected to move slowly across the upper South Island and lower North Island .

Snow of about 500 meters is predicted for Hanmer Springs and Seddon areas.

Road toll

As of early evening, there had been no deaths on the road this long weekend, putting the country on track to achieving the first zero road toll over the Queen's Birthday Holiday since records began.

But with snow and flooding in many southern areas, police are warning motorists to take extra care. - TVNZ.

PLANETARY TREMORS: 4.8 Magnitude Quake Shakes Nervous Christchurch - Sending Shoppers Fleeing Into the Streets!

Nervous shoppers fled into the streets when a 4.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the New Zealand city of Christchurch, halting rebuilding work following last year's tremor that killed 185.

These were no immediate reports of damage or injuries and police and ambulance services said they had received no calls for assistance.

The quake struck at 12.44pm (AEST) at a shallow depth of eight kilometres about 25 kilometres east of New Zealand's second largest city, the US Geological Survey said.

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, which is overseeing reconstruction after the deadly 6.3 tremor in February last year, said it suspended demolition work in the city centre as a precaution.

Christchurch has experienced thousands of aftershocks in the past 18 months, delaying efforts to rebuild and further unsettling residents. - The Australian.

For the complete USGS earthquake data summary, click HERE. 

PLANETARY TREMORS: The Alpine Fault - Researchers Find New Zealand More Seismically Unstable Than Previously Thought!

Researchers have discovered New Zealand's earthquake-prone landscape is even more unstable than previously thought, recording deep tremors lasting up to 30 minutes on its biggest fault line. Scientists measured the so-called "creeping earthquakes" when they investigated a puzzling lack of major seismic jolts along a section of the Alpine Fault, which runs the length of the South Island. 

The quakes, which caused no surface damage, occurred 20-45 kilometres (12-28 miles) beneath the Earth's crust and continued for as long as half an hour, much longer than ordinary earthquakes. In contrast, the 6.3-magnitude quake that killed 185 people in the South island city of Christchurch in February last year lasted just 37 seconds and struck at a depth of about five kilometres. The quakes could not be measured by regular seismic monitoring devices and researchers from Wellington's Victoria University had to place sensors in boreholes 100 metres deep to pick them up. Seismologist Aaron Wech said the research showed the Alpine Fault, regarded as New Zealand's most hazardous, did not remain still between major earthquakes but was constantly shifting.  Wech said the implications for future earthquakes were unclear. 

"It could be that constant tremor builds up stress and may trigger a major fault movement (earthquake) or, alternatively, the activity may decrease the likelihood of a major quake by acting as a release valve for stress," he said.  "What's important is that we find out more about these tremor events, such as where they happen and how often, so we can better predict the hazard the Alpine Fault poses."  The research was published this week in the US journal Geophysical Research Letters.  The government's GNS Science agency estimates the Alpine Fault has generated four quakes of magnitude 8.0 or higher in the past 900 years, most recently in the early 1700s, and another is overdue.  It says there is a high probability one will occur in the next 40 years, producing "one of the biggest earthquakes since European settlement of New Zealand (which) will have a major impact on the lives of many people".  The Christchurch earthquake was not caused by the Alpine Fault but a previously unknown fault line, part of a network of seismic fractures criss-crossing New Zealand, which lies on the junction of two tectonic plates. - AFP.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Shaky Weekend in New Zealand - Christchurch Hit by Series of Aftershocks; 17 Tremors Over the Weekend!

New Zealand's second largest city of Christchurch was hit by another series of aftershocks over the weekend, the largest of which measured magnitude-4.8 at 0506 GMT Sunday, the country's geological hazard monitoring system GeoNet reported.

GeoNet duty seismologist Caroline Holden said the aftershocks overnight were all part of the same fault system that had rocked Christchurch previously but the magnitude-4.8 shock was the largest since January 14. GeoNet data show the city was hit by six earthquakes Sunday (local time) measuring more than magnitude-3.0. Christchurch has been hit by around 10,000 earthquakes since a magnitude-7.0 earthquake hit the city on Sept. 4, 2010. The most-devastating one was a magnitude-6.8 earthquake on Feb. 22, 2011, that killed 185 people and devastated much of the central business district. - Wall Street Journal.

Christchurch was struck by its biggest aftershock in months last night, after a weekend of jolts.  The 4.8 magnitude quake occurred just after 5pm last night at a depth of 8km.  It struck 20km east of the city.  Earlier in the day, at 9:35am a 4.1 magnitude quake hit near Rolleston.  According to Geonet duty seismologist Caroline Little there was a total of 17 aftershocks, though police say there are no reports of damage. - 3 News.

PLANETARY TREMORS: "Noisy" 4.4 Magnitude Quake Rattles Christchurch!

Christchurch has been given a shake this afternoon, with a magnitude 4.4 earthquake striking off the coast.

The quake struck at 1.27pm, and was centred 10km northeast of Christchurch, just off the coast of New Brighton, at a depth of 11km. GNS Science said the quake was felt in the Christchurch area, with reports it was felt strongly in Aranui, Burwood and Marshland.

Canterbury University student Thomas Mead (@ThomasMedia) described it on Twitter as the "biggest aftershock in a long time". Sarah Ruane (@thebookwitch) said: "That one was noisy - rumbling in and around and away again.

"Now THAT was a big truck going past! Monitors wobbling and people jumping under their desks here at work. Haven't felt one in ages," Kineta Knight wrote (@kinetaknight). - NZ Herald.

ALERT: Planetary Tremors - New Zealand General Practitioners Are Being Urged to Prepare For a Major Disaster!

Family doctors are being urged to be prepared for mass casualties should a disaster cripple Wellington.  Under Capital & Coast District Health Board mass casualty guidelines, GPs are advised to open their surgeries to ease the pressure on Wellington Hospital if a major disaster, such as an earthquake, strikes.

Scenes from the earthquake devastation in New Zealand in 2011.

Thirty surgeries in the region were supplied with kits to deal with major incidents, and medical staff were being told to help others once they have ensured their family is safe, clinical adviser of primary and integrated care Adrian Gilliland said. "You can't function properly as a health professional if you're not confident that your family is safe."  He was speaking to more than 170 doctors on Saturday at the Wakefield Health GP conference in Wellington on Capital & Coast's disaster preparation. 

The Christchurch earthquake in February 2011 highlighted the need for GPs to treat patients with minor injuries, stress and anxiety, Dr Gilliland said. "We're expecting people to go to the surgery they would normally attend. The majority of victims [would] have minor injuries, the seriously injured should be brought to the hospital."  Pharmacies should also stay open where possible to ensure people can replace prescription medicines.  Medical centre staff are advised to offer assistance at Wellington Hospital, which is expected to be overwhelmed.  The guidelines also alert GPs to the various risks which could spark mass casualties, such as acts of terrorism or transport accidents. 

The overall risk of terrorism was low, but Wellington faced a "slightly higher risk" of attack than other parts of the country because of the range of targets in the city, including Parliament and embassies.  Hundreds of people could be injured in a ferry, train or plane accident, compared to thousands if an earthquake hits. There was a 90 per cent chance of a magnitude-7 earthquake occurring within 100 kilometres of Wellington in the next 50 years, the guidelines say. - Stuff.

FIRE IN THE SKY: Solar System Disturbances - Fiery "Meteor" Blazes Across the Night Skies of New Zealand!

Reports have come in of a bright light seen moving over the sky in Wellington and Christchurch.

There have been numerous reports of what appears to be a meteor shooting across the sky in the South Island and lower North Island. Sightings of a "ball of coloured flame" or "silver fireball" have been witnessed in Christchurch, Whanganui, Wellington, Kapiti Coast, Nelson and Kaikoura between 6pm and 7pm on Monday. One witness in Canterbury wrote on Weatherwatch.co.nz: "Was like a flying ball left with a jet stream sort of thing in the sky and was really bright!"

"Fantastically big, bright, and racing across the sky," said another witness in Otaki, Kapiti Coast. Simon Holtham wrote on the website: "I saw this too, it was like something out of a movie, ball of coloured flame shooting towards the earth from west to east, a couple of flashes, lots of smoke which stayed in the sky for ages, and then gone." Another person said: "Seen bright light flying in high speed with huge tail over looking the Cook Strait." - 3 News.

WATCH: Meteor over New Zealand.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Earth Crust Displacement - 10,000 Aftershocks Rattles Canterbury in New Zealand Since September 2010; Seismic Sequence Will Last For 30 Years!

Five thousand earthquakes after the devastating February 22 tremor, Canterbury's aftershock sequence has a recognisable personality. Seismologists looking at 12 months of data have found that the frequency and size of the aftershocks is similar to the seismic aftermath observed in eastern Californian and Tasmanian events, where the tremors lasted decades but were increasingly smaller in scale.

Residents try to free a car stuck in a liquefaction sink hole in
Christchurch after a series of quakes hit the city.

Since the original rumble in September 2010, 10,000 quakes have rattled Canterbury. More than 5500 of these have occurred since the deadly February quake re-energised the sequence, and 214 of these tremors were magnitude 4 or larger. Natural hazards research platform manager Kelvin Berryman said the Darfield aftershock sequence was expected to last for 30 years, with tremors tailing off gradually until they were unnoticeable. Cantabrians repeatedly asked whether they were experiencing a particularly vicious sequence, in particular when a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurred two days before Christmas. Seismologists say the Darfield sequence was not violent compared with historical records. In contrast, Sumatra is still experiencing moderate-size quakes eight years after the magnitude 9.1 quake which caused the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

But unlike the Sumatran sequence, the Canterbury quakes were limited to a smaller geographic area, and have been particularly hard on Christchurch's central city.  "We had the misfortune of the quakes migrating into the city and staying in the city for a while. But now we're seeing them migrating away," said Dr Berryman. GNS Science's latest computer modelling shows there is an 8 per cent chance of a 5.5 to 5.9 magnitude tremor in the next month and 2 per cent chance of a magnitude 6 to 6.4 quake. Earthquake scientists the Herald spoke to felt they had regained the high ground after a difficult year in which their expertise was challenged by a public that was desperate for hard answers on the city's seismic future. Seismologists, geologists and engineers relished the public thirst for their knowledge after the original Darfield quake in September, 2010.

But the huge death toll in the February tremor meant some frazzled residents vented their frustration at the scientific community, and asked why the huge quake had not been forecast. A paper released last month said a week before the magnitude 6.3 tremor, computer modelling had shown a 25 per cent chance of "a magnitude 6 or greater earthquake occurring in the general aftershock zone of the Darfield earthquake in the next year". GNS Science stood by its decision not to publicly announce this figure, because the projected earthquake could have occurred in six or seven different places, and an announcement could have needlessly alarmed residents. University of Canterbury geologist Mark Quigley said scientists should always be challenged on their findings, but a lot of the criticism they faced after February was based purely on emotion. "It got to this stage: 'Why couldn't you predict that one?' or 'What could you have done better?'. But I felt that we had done a very good job as a scientific community." On the anniversary of the tragic quake, the public frustration surrounding quake prediction has dissipated, said Dr Berryman. "There's still some tough questions, and there needs to be. But there's also some appreciation of the challenges of forecasting rare events. Many, many people in Christchurch are pretty tuned up on earthquake science these days."

Why city suffered so badly: • 60km to 80km of the earth's crust has experienced a stress change, meaning the aftershock sequence will last about 30 years. • Horizontal ground motions 1.7 times the force of gravity were larger than expected. • One reason for this could be the way the fault ruptured towards Christchurch (it had strong "directivity"). • Upper and lower layers of the earth separated during the quake, then "slapped" back together, producing very high impacts (known as the trampoline effect). • The hard rock under Banks Peninsula may have compounded the effect of the quake by reflecting seismic activity back towards the city.
• There were "remarkably high" levels of stress built up under Canterbury's soil. • High water tables trapped energy in the top layers of soil in some areas, boosting liquefaction. • Liquefaction caused the worst damage to land and buildings, including many CBD high-rises. • Deep-seated landslides caused the most damage in the southern Port Hills. • Critical structural elements in buildings built between 1976 and 1992 failed. - NZ Herald.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Seismic Swarm in New Zealand - Several Earthquakes Hit New Zealand 's North Island?!

The Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa and Taupo regions on New Zealand's North Island were shaken by earthquakes on Saturday and Sunday while scientists continue to record aftershocks in Canterbury.

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake was recorded 30km southeast of Hastings at a depth of 30km at 8.49am (6.49 AEDT) today, GNS Science said. It was felt from Waipawa to Napier in Hawke's Bay. A magnitude 3.6 earthquake struck 30km east of Masterton at a depth of 40km at 11.11pm (9.11pm AEDT) last night and a Taupo felt a 2.9 earthquake at 3.07am (1.07am AEDT) this morning.

While there was no relief for people in Canterbury nearly a year after Christchurch was devastated by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake. GNS Science reported earthquakes measuring 4.2, 4, 3.8, 3.7, 3.5 and 3.2 in Canterbury so far this weekend. On February 3, 1931, an earthquake measuring 7.8 killed 256 people in Hawke's Bay. - Herald Sun.

PLANETARY TREMORS: 5.1 Quake Hits South Island of New Zealand!

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake has struck Christchurch, New Zealand at a depth of 10.3 kilometres (km) or 6.4 miles. The quake hit at 10:34:22 UTC Tuesday 21st June 2011 and was located at 43.596°S, 172.607°E. The epicentre was 7 km (4 miles) from Christchurch, New Zealand; 218 km (136 miles) southeast (159°) from Westport, New Zealand;  302 km (188 miles) northeast (34°) from Dunedin, New Zealand; and 313 km (194 miles) southwest (214°) from Wellington, New Zealand. There are no reports of damage or injuries as yet.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Christchurch stress as high as war zone?!

The strung-out residents of New Zealand's quake city have started to display signs of extreme stress usually only seen war zones as they recover from their third powerful earthquake, experts say.

A double whammy of quakes measuring 5.7 and 6.3-magnitude hit Christchurch on Monday afternoon, leaving residents with the grim and all-to-familiar task of sweeping up silt and calling their insurance company. The physical toll was considerable. An elderly man died, 45 others were injured, a further 50 buildings collapsed and the number of homes to be abandoned has been pushed into the thousands. The financial toll is also steep, with risk analyst Eqecat estimating the latest disaster could add $NZ6.1 billion ($4.67 billion) to the region's insurance losses. But it is the emotional toll that many, including New Zealand's prime minister John Key, are warning is of most concern.

On the back of September's damaging 7.1-magnitude quake and February's devastating 6.3-magnitude jolt, which killed 181 people, Monday's violent tremors have left many people at the end of their tether. Support services across the South Island city say they have been overwhelmed with exhausted, anxious people struggling to cope. Canterbury Charity Hospital has been offering counselling for stressed residents since February and far from slowing, the numbers seeking help have been rising steadily. Canterbury mental health liaison officer Cerina Altenburg told Radio New Zealand the constant aftershocks coupled with ongoing uncertainty over jobs and property, were having a devastating effect on mental health. Residents were exhibiting signs of extreme stress usually only seen in war zones. "People who had never previously approached any psychological support services are finding themselves out of their depth and overwhelmed," Ms Altenburg said. Pharmacies have reported a rise in prescriptions for sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medications, while support services dealing with domestic violence have raised fears many people are self-medicating with alcohol.

Women's Refuge says violence in the city has sky-rocketed, along with a big jump in drug and alcohol abuse. Demand for its services has been up 30 per cent since the February quake. Meanwhile, many Christchurch families are dealing with the ongoing uncertainty by leaving town. About 50,000 people have already left and a poll of 15,000 people on Christchurch newspaper The Press' website indicated one in five wanted out. But Christchurch clinical psychologist Fran Vertue said she believed the vast majority of residents were emotionally and financially tied to the city and would not leave. "If you have got all of your money tied up in land, it's not that easy to up sticks and go," she said - The Herald Sun.

PLANETARY TREMORS: New Fault Discovered in New Zealand?!

A new fault has been discovered in New Zealand, that could possibly produced a mega-earthquake in the already disaster-ravaged area of Christchurch.

A previously undiscovered fault capable of generating a magnitude-7 earthquake has been found by scientists investigating bedrock off Christchurch. Analysis of the Canterbury earthquakes is being carried out by teams of scientists from agencies including GNS Science, NIWA and the University of Canterbury. They have found a previously unknown "complex arrangements of faults" in the bedrock under Canterbury and offshore under Pegasus Bay. One of those was an offshore fault about 25km long - similar in length to the Greendale fault which caused the original Canterbury earthquake on September 4. The large fault was discovered when NIWA's research vessel Kaharoa conducted a seismic survey of 800 square kilometres in southern Pegasus Bay. NIWA principal scientist Philip Barnes said it was part of a widespread network of faults in basement rocks in the bay. Most were millions of years old and "very slow moving" - though a small number of faults showed evidence of reactivation in the more recent geological past, he said. "There are younger fault structures that are active and they are reactivating the older faults." However, he said there was no strong evidence of aftershocks in the region migrating toward Pegasus Bay at present. "Understanding the earthquake hazard for the coming years and decades requires an assessment of all the faults in the region, and learning about their rates of activity and earthquake potential." University of Canterbury professor Jarg Pettinga, who led the onshore seismic surveys, said his team's data had revealed several previously unknown fault structures, mostly trending northeast-southwest. They were likely to be the bedrock structures on which the magnitude-5.3 Boxing Day and magnitude-6.3 February 22 earthquakes occurred, he said. - NZ Herald.