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OrgoneConclusion
Blue Fish Group



Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 45,414
Loc: Under the C
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Let's hope Blondell is OK
#14005726 - 02/22/11 03:15 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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A big earthquake killed 65 in/near Christchurch, New Zealand today.
Do you people know how hard it would be to get another female Kiwi on this board as a replacement?
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Diploid
Cuban



Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Two aftershocks have sent survivors scrambling for safety in Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city, after a powerful earthquake shook the city last night, killing at least 65 people and injuring dozens more. Rescue and recovery efforts are underway.
"This giant rock has just fallen on the RSA building…you can see it's crushed the building there and the cars," said a man on live TV.
The earthquake caused 30 million tons of ice to fall from New Zealand's largest glacier, 120 miles from Christchurch. Twelve-foot-high waves swept up and down the lake for 30 minutes.
The two aftershocks – one magnitude 5.6 and another 5.5 – shook Christchurch within hours of the initial 6.3 earthquake. The aftermath caused buildings to crumble, including the 130-year-old Christchurch Cathedral. Its spire toppled into the city square.
"To see the top of the cathedral come down, I've never seen anything like it. There's just no words to be quite honest, it was just absolutely awful," said one survivor.
Houses have been devoured by mud and the sides of buildings have been sheared off. Buildings have collapsed and bricks are scattered onto the streets. Roads and sidewalks have buckled and water is gushing through giant cracks in the pavement.
"There are about 10 people from my work in there," said one woman, standing outside her damaged office building.
On the ground, there is chaos. Residents are crying and screaming, and over 100 people, including a dozen Japanese students, are still thought to be trapped in the rubble.
Rescue workers battled debris and flooding to free those trapped in an office building in the city center.
"I was buried under part of the ceiling," one woman said.
"I think if we'd been at the end of the building, we would have all been squashed," said another survivor.
One man was lowered by rope to safety from a high-rise building.
"Stairwells, completely gone – 17 stories with just both stairs gone," said another survivor.
With such extensive damage, Prime Minister John Key reassured residents that help from the United States and Australia is on the way.
"It's an absolute tragedy for this city, for New Zealand, for the people we care so much about," said Key.
Key described a scene of "utter devastation" and vowed to work as fast as possible.
"This is a community that is absolutely in agony," Key said. "We will get through this. New Zealand will regroup and Christchurch will regroup."
Key said that at least 65 are dead, and that toll is likely to rise.
The 6.3 magnitude quake struck at 12:51 p.m. Tuesday local time, and was very shallow in depth, measuring just 2.5 miles beneath the surface, causing violent shaking, and widespread damage.
"The building just exploded," said resident Barry Saunders, in an interview with Radio New Zealand. "It was just like a movie. It took three or four seconds to comprehend what was going on."
The U.S. Geological Survey said Tuesday's quake was centered 3 miles from the city.
This latest tremor came just five months after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the city of 350,000.
That quake in September caused no deaths but badly damaged buildings throughout the city, many of them the same structures that collapsed Tuesday.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency shortly after the quake hit, and ordered people to evacuate the city center.
Troops were deployed to help victims trapped amid the rubble, the airport was closed, and the Christchurch Hospital briefly evacuated before it was deemed safe for patients to return.
Some people were stuck in office towers, forcing firefighters to extend their ladders to rescue people trapped on roofs. Among the dead, passengers on board two buses crushed by falling buildings.
New Zealand television showed residents walking amid the rubble in a daze, some badly injured from falling debris.
Newspaper editor Andrew Holden said he heard glass cracking and falling throughout the building, clouds of dust billowing through the newsroom.
"The roof above the main staircase collapsed so there was a fair bit of rubble down the staircase," Holden said, in an interview with Radio New Zealand. "We've had some good size shocks before but when you've got a quake of that size that just continues on and on." ABC News Radio and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
[utl=http://abcnews.go.com/International/powerful-earthquake-rocks-zealand-city-christchurch/story?id=12969226]ABC News[/url]
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Let's hope Blondell is OK [Re: Diploid]
#14006440 - 02/22/11 09:16 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Sounds exciting.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Blondell_Letrange
No other.



Registered: 11/08/10
Posts: 418
Loc: OZ
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Quote:
OrgoneConclusion said: A big earthquake killed 65 in/near Christchurch, New Zealand today.
Do you people know how hard it would be to get another female Kiwi on this board as a replacement?
There are actually a few Kiwi's lurking around this forum.
I am fine thank you, I am not in the affected area.
I don't really have much else to say about it though. Tragic event for New Zealand, especially since CHCH got nailed by a 7.1 only 6 months ago.

It was all due to timing, 12:00pm when everyone is at work and school isn't an ideal time...Many people are still trapped...
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andrewss
precariously aggrandized


Registered: 08/17/07
Posts: 8,725
Loc: ohio
Last seen: 1 month, 15 days
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Re: Let's hope Blondell is OK [Re: Icelander]
#14008196 - 02/22/11 03:28 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said: Sounds exciting.
hooray gettin buried alive...
-------------------- Jesus loves you.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Let's hope Blondell is OK [Re: andrewss]
#14008212 - 02/22/11 03:32 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Life is a risk. I always liked being in tornado weather when I was a kid or being out in the rain durning major lightning.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Diploid
Cuban



Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Let's hope Blondell is OK [Re: Icelander]
#14008500 - 02/22/11 04:37 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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During hurricane Andrew, I was living in Miami with a golf course in my back yard. In the middle of the night when the storm was REALLY howling, I put on a football helmet and pads (and a groin cup!) and walked out on the golf course. I figured as long as I don't get hit by a piece of 2x4, I'd be safe.
The rain was flying horizontally and it STUNG. Every drop felt like being shot with a BB gun. Try holding your hand out the window the next time you're going 60 mph in the rain. Then imagine it at 120 mph.
What a wild time that was.
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Let's hope Blondell is OK [Re: Diploid]
#14008563 - 02/22/11 04:51 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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That sounds very intense. Hurricanes are pretty scary.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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n.dangerously
Disease, Injury, Madness



Registered: 11/08/10
Posts: 107
Loc: PDX
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
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Re: Let's hope Blondell is OK [Re: Icelander]
#14009294 - 02/22/11 07:07 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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party on
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Blondell_Letrange
No other.



Registered: 11/08/10
Posts: 418
Loc: OZ
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Cups
technically "here"


Registered: 12/24/09
Posts: 1,925
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Re: Let's hope Blondell is OK [Re: Diploid]
#14010390 - 02/22/11 10:07 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Diploid said: During hurricane Andrew, I was living in Miami with a golf course in my back yard. In the middle of the night when the storm was REALLY howling, I put on a football helmet and pads (and a groin cup!) and walked out on the golf course. I figured as long as I don't get hit by a piece of 2x4, I'd be safe.
The rain was flying horizontally and it STUNG. Every drop felt like being shot with a BB gun. Try holding your hand out the window the next time you're going 60 mph in the rain. Then imagine it at 120 mph.
What a wild time that was.
I've been at daytona beach during 2 hurricanes and on the coast of VA when the big nor-easter went through two years back. My 3 story beach pad was shaking so much the toilet water was swirling!
Anyway, the wind is fine...the rain hurts but is fine...its the damn sand that kills ya.
-------------------- What's up everybody?!
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