A night of aftershocks in Christchurch, including one of 5.1 magnitude, has left a dairy damaged and engineers moving in to re-inspect the CBD for signs of further damage. The first and biggest aftershock came on March 20, as predicted by Ken Ring.
A night of aftershocks in Christchurch, including one of 5.1 magnitude, has left a dairy damaged and engineers moving in to re-inspect the CBD for signs of further damage. The first and biggest aftershock came on March 20, as predicted by Ken 'Moon Man' Ring.
The 5.1 magnitude shake, the biggest in a night of tremors, hit at 9.47pm, 10km east of the city and was 10km deep, and was one of the strongest aftershocks since the 6.3 earthquake on February 22 which killed an estimated 182 people.
A Civil Defence spokeswoman said there were no reports of injury, but Civil Defence had received one confirmed report of damage to a small dairy in suburban Christchurch.
A quick inspection of buildings in the inner city had shown that some loose masonry has fallen, but a full assessment would also be made in daylight, the spokeswoman said.
The 5.1 aftershock was one of three to hit the city in quick succession overnight and adds to the long list of aftershocks recorded since February 22.
It was preceded by a quake measuring 3.0 at 9.43pm, 10km west of Lyttelton, at a depth of 5km, and followed by quakes measuring 2.9 at 10.05pm and 3.2 at 1.22am.
Back in September, Mr Ring - who claims to have predicted the February 22 quake - said the so-called Super Moon this weekend could cause an earthquake around Christchurch that would be "one for the history books"; on a graph on his site, it is listed as a "7+" day (which would certainly have raised more eyebrow's than last night's 5.1 judder; there have been 22 aftershocks of 5.1 magnitude since the original quake).
Later, on Australian breakfast television, he warned people against visiting New Zealand between March 19 and March 21.
