The Ground is Rocking in New Zealand.
Earthquakes are a part of life here, but riding one out can be an awakening experience.
Mt. Cook as seen over Lake Pukaki on the South Island of New Zealand. Photo by Charles Black.
I awoke in the middle of the night to the bed shaking, not in a good way. The bed was rocking enough to pull Heidi and me from a sound sleep, and it continued to shake forcefully but not violently for several seconds more before it subsided. The trembling was not fierce enough to cause loose items to rattle around, nor did anything fall to the ground, but it was un-ignorable. And the movement was accompanied by a sound. A directionless, low-grade growl that seemed to exist just at the edge of perception.
After maybe five seconds, the movement and sound subsided. In fact, I’m not sure I was aware of the sound until it went away.
“What was that?” Heidi asked.
“Earthquake,” I replied. “They happen here,” I said with as much nonchalance as I could muster.
Thanks to my midwestern upbringing, I had felt an earthquake only once. That had been a rare quake in Kansas or Missouri, but I had felt it in Michigan. I was standing in the hall of the OR studying the surgical board when it felt like the world briefly swayed. I wasn’t even sure if I felt something until the nurse next to me asked, “Did you feel that?”
This event wasn’t like that. This quake was unmistakable. It was strong enough and persistent enough to demand we sit up (literally) and pay attention to it.
Earthquakes are a common occurrence in New Zealand. This geological activity should not be surprising as the islands’ existence results from a fracture in the earth’s crust deep under the Pacific Ocean. The Southern Alps that dominate the South Island are the result of geologic uplift resulting from the collision of two tectonic plates. This is why they resemble my beloved Colorado Rocky Mountains, a similar process forms both ranges.
The same process did not create the mountains of the North Island. Instead, the mountains of the North Island are volcanos. The North Island is more geothermally active with geysers and hot pools, much like Yellowstone Park. The islands are active enough to generate 20% of the nation’s power from geothermal sources.
The quake that woke us occurred just 10 kilometers (6 miles) northeast, and five kilometers underground from the town of Greymouth, where we live. It measured 4.7 on the Richter scale, which made it a rumbler of “moderate” intensity. If you are curious, the scale goes from Weak to Light to Moderate to Strong to Severe and tops out at Extreme.
On 22 February 2011, a “strong” quake measuring 6.3 struck Christchurch at lunchtime on a Tuesday at a shallow depth of four kilometers. Buildings collapsed, and the ground shook so severely that it liquified, leaving people in thigh-deep, mud-like goo that resembled quicksand. In the end, 185 people died, and 6,659 major injuries were reported. Physicians working in Christchurch at the time described a hospital filled to several times its intended capacity after the event. The hospital canceled all elective surgeries as the operating theater became mainly an orthopedic workplace. Each day the teams would go through the overcrowded wards and decide who most needed surgery that day. The rest simply had to wait.
In the end, NZ$40 billion of property damage occurred, with an estimated 10,000 homes needing rebuilding and 3,500 demolished. In some places, entire neighborhoods were deemed unsafe for rebuilding, and today those empty tracks of land stand as ghostly reminders in the middle of an otherwise vibrant city.
When we visited 11 years after the quake, we could see ongoing rebuilding. Some culturally significant but not earthquake-proof buildings still stand thanks to the help of steel frames and concrete counterweights. The plan is to restore these cultural icons if they can figure out how. Until then, they stand empty in their external fixators as reminders of that fateful day’s events.
Not only could the shaking from the Christchurch quake be felt all over the South Island, but the repercussions of that event can be felt even today in faraway cities. For example, our local grocery store is undergoing a much-needed renovation and expansion. This upgrade was supposed to have happened a decade ago, but the money and resources needed for the local improvements were instead spent on rebuilding chains in Christchurch.
Much of the damage in Christchurch occurred in structures not built to endure earthquakes. Today, the building standards require earthquake resistance. The result is a lot of one-story buildings as these are less prone to collapse in a quake. The hospital I work in was completed just two years ago and meets all the requirements for earthquake safety, but that drove up the cost. Meanwhile, all the support building for office staff are in separate single-story buildings to minimize the expense of earthquake preparedness.
One notable feature of homes and buildings in New Zealand is the absence of chimneys. If you look closely at many older homes, you can see the remnants of where the chimney used to be. However, chimneys proved to be a serious danger in an earthquake. They are prone to break and fall resulting in significant damage to the cars, houses and people from all those heavy bricks. So most homes in New Zealand have had their chimneys removed and either boarded over, or replaced with stove pipes that can better weather extreme geological events.
It’s a catch-22 living here, the country is so beautiful with its sharp snow caped peaks, hot springs and lush vegetation, but those features are all products of its geologic newness. The downside is that nature isn’t yet done sculpting these islands, and we must live with the hand of creation at work. This creates a strong contrast with our nearest neighbor, Australia. That continent has been geologically silent since it split off from Pangea in the unimaginably distant past. Because of that, Australia is an old and tired land that is mainly barren and produces little. Without the constant geologic uplift to renew the soil with nutrients and minerals, the land is exhausted and unproductive with most of the nation an empty and uninhabited desert.
So living with regular earthquakes is the price we pay for enjoying the lush and dramatic landscapes that surround us. And live with them is the proper term because a quick look at the geological service told me that in the seven days before the quake that woke us up, there had been 15 other quakes in the islands. Most of those were weak or light and some had probably gone unnoticed by anyone who didn’t have the sensitive instruments needed to detect such things. But it does show just how active and changing this land is today.
I admit that I was more curious than alarmed by the incident and quickly went back to sleep. Still, three other family members didn’t share my ease at returning to slumber — the fifth member of our family was unaware there had been an earthquake until we told him the next day, and then he didn’t believe us. That’s not to say I want to be awakened like that again, but I am comfortable that we live in a good house which has withstood episodes like this in the past and I’m confident will keep us safe in the future.
What we have done is begin to stockpile bottled water and non-perishable items in the event of a larger quake. The most realistic danger would be the loss of power and water. That would mean we might have to make due without those things for a few days and we want to “be prepared” like good Boy Scouts.
And I think that is the lesson wherever you live or travel. Don’t live in fear of the worst that could happen, but do prepare so you can feel comfortable to get out and enjoy.
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