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New Zealand’s South Island Rocked by 7.0 Earthquake
September 03, 2010, 5:08 PM EDT
By Jeremy R. Cooke and Stefanie Batcho-Lino

(Updates power outages in the third paragraph.)

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck New Zealand’s South Island, knocking out power, damaging roads and ripping facades off buildings in Christchurch, the country’s second-largest city.

The quake, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) west-northwest of the city and at a depth of 12 kilometers, ruptured sewer lines and water pipes and led to the closing of the airport, Radio New Zealand reported. At least two people suffered serious injuries, the public broadcaster said, citing Christchurch Hospital.

About 75 percent of the city was without power, Roger Sutton of electric utility Orion New Zealand Ltd. told the radio station. Facades of some buildings came down, scattering bricks and crushing cars, according to images posted on Fairfax New Zealand Ltd.’s Stuff.co.nz news website. Hospitals in the city are running on generators, and some buildings have sunk into the ground, Radio New Zealand reported.

“Oh, my God, there is a row of shops completely demolished right in front of me,” Christchurch resident Colleen Simpson told The Press, according to the local newspaper’s website.

The National Crisis Management Centre was activated to monitor the situation, said John Hamilton, director of Civil Defence & Emergency Management, in an e-mailed statement. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the event didn’t pose a tsunami threat.

Aftershocks

New Zealand’s most powerful recorded earthquake occurred in January 1855 with an estimated magnitude of 8.2, according to GeoNet, an earthquake-monitoring site. It shifted vertically about 5,000 square kilometers of land.

Several aftershocks followed today’s 4:35 a.m. tremor, including one of magnitude 5.7 at 4:53 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website. The strength of the first quake was revised to 7.2 and later to 7.0 from an initial report of 7.4 by the USGS.

Shaking was felt as far west as Greymouth, about 166 kilometers away, and in Dunedin, about 309 kilometers away, according to Radio New Zealand.

Streets in the downtown part of Christchurch were blocked off by police because of damaged buildings and debris, Radio New Zealand said. People were advised to conserve water, turn off power if a home is damaged, not go to the hospital unless it’s an emergency and refrain from using cellphones.

North Island

Damage was reported on the southern part of North Island, home to New Zealand’s capital of Wellington and Auckland, its largest city.

Christchurch is home to about 348,000 people, according to Statistics New Zealand. Mayor Bob Parker said on Newstalk ZB Radio the council was checking roads and seeing sewer problems.

Christchurch police official Mike Coleman told Radio New Zealand the quake caused “considerable road damage,” brought down live power lines and caused gas leaks. He advised residents to stay off the roads and check on their neighbors.

Christchurch International Airport is closed until at least 10 a.m. local time, according to its website.

The last quake to cause casualties in the nation hit in December 2007, when buildings in downtown Gisborne collapsed. Eleven people were injured and one died of a heart attack, GeoNet said.

GeoNet says it locates around 15,000 earthquakes in and around New Zealand each year. Most of these are small, though about 250 are strong enough to be felt.

--Editors: Sylvia Wier, Brad Skillman

To contact the reporters for this story: Jeremy R. Cooke in New York at [e-mail]; or Stefanie Batcho-Lino at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sylvia Wier in New York at [e-mail]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-03/new-zealand-s-south-island-rocked-by-7-0-earthquake.html