When was the first chch earthquake

Centred 40km west of Christchurch. Epicentre near Charing Cross, 10km south-east of Darfield at a depth of 11km. Widespread damage occured, but no loss of life.

Disruption to water, power and sewerage services. Centred 10km south-east of Christchurch at a depth of 5km. Centred 10km south-east of Christchurch at a depth of 6km. It was preceded at 1pm by a magnitude 5. Further building and land damage from lliquefaction and major rockfalls around the Port Hills. Find out more about the science of earthquakes. It is recorded as a magnitude 7. Extensive vertical and horizontal ground movement caused considerable damage to buildings and land. The quake badly damaged the spire of the Cathedral as well as buildings throughout Christchurch.

Some of the destruction by earthquake at Cheviot, North Canterbury, 16 Nov. Skip to main navigation Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to search Skip to content. During the rescue effort, Australian emergency services workers assisted with the recovery efforts, including, police, search and rescue, medical and forensic experts. Government of New Zealand, 'Around 10, houses will need to be rebuilt,' 8 March , accessed 16 March Government of New Zealand, 'Support package provides much needed assistance,' 2 March , accessed 16 March Join Log in.

Due to the loss of Australian lives, this event has been included in this dataset. Featured Collection Understanding Hazards Learn more about earthquakes.

Christchurch City and its environs had only experienced three moderate earthquakes in the previous 40 years. All that changed with the Darfield earthquake, as dozens of its aftershocks caused at least moderate damage; a moderate earthquake is one that produces a shaking intensity of Modified Mercalli 6.

The Darfield earthquake sequence initiated three other significant earthquakes close to the city of Christchurch:. The Canterbury Plains are covered with river gravels so we cannot see the evidence for past active faults in this region, as they are now buried. It is believed that the newly-revealed Greendale fault was pre-existing, and a patch was re-activated during the Darfield earthquake. Large up to km long normal faults with the same strike direction are numerous on the Chatham Rise, out to sea east of Banks Peninsula.

Surface fracture approaching a farm shed off Kivers Road, near Burnham, Canterbury. Focal mechanisms or fault plane solutions show the fault and direction of slip.

Focal mechanisms of the Darfield earthquake and nearly a month's worth of aftershocks are shown in Fig. The surface fault trace is shown as red line segments. The main shock location indicated by a yellow star has a reverse faulting mechanism.

Most of the aftershocks located near the epicentre have strike-slip mechanisms. To the west, closer to the foothills, reverse faulting has also been observed, and the two mechanisms for aftershocks close to Christchurch also have a strong reverse faulting component.

Figure 1: Focal mechanisms for the Darfield earthquake and 92 of its aftershocks. The accompanying map Fig.