(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

:-/ 14 thousand people killed, and growing, in India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, malaysia, the Maldives, elsewhere.

Tsunamis are in many ways my greatest fear, in terms of natural disaster, in a practical sense. Tornados? We don't get 'em. Cyclones? Sometimes the tail-end of one, that's all. Drought? Yeah... but Sydney's across the Ditch and that tends to give one a senseof perspective every January. Flood? Sure, but not dramatic. Earthquake? Hey, I live in Wellington, I'm cool with them.

...tsunami? NZ is an island- okay, three islands- and we are low. All our cities are ports, pretty much. And this tsunami was caused by an earthquake offshore of 9.0 Richters. Just last week we had, down south, an 8.4 or 5 richter. It's not all that far off. >.<

So, well, I'm thinking a lot about the people in Southern Asia. it's so surreal, it's like some movie or something, this idea that on the other side of the planet thousands and thousands of people just died. All at once.

Comments

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

Flood? Sure, but not dramatic. Earthquake? Hey, I live in Wellington, I'm cool with them.

Just had to say...Manawatu? Last February? Not dramatic?

And take a look out your window, metaphorically, at Kilburnie and Rongotai. Then think about earthquakes. Then move to another city. :P

[mandor700.livejournal.com]

Yea but comparitivly speaking, With a flood what? Some rivers get bigger, some people have to be heli'd out, some houses get swamped and some country folks realise that if you live on a flood plain then it is a good idea to insure your house against flooding.
But with a tsnami all that happens in a matter of seconds not hours or days and its all the worse for it.

[nzlemming.livejournal.com]

[pedant_mode_engaged]
Actually, the indications from previous quakes in the capital are that the land over there rose about 1 metre during the 1855 earthquake (http://geography.massey.ac.nz/staff/Hesp/PDFs/PPG99.pdf page 11) and would go up again.

According to http://www.doc.govt.nz/Community/001~For-Schools/003~Field-Trips/008~Wellington/Matiu-Somes-Island/090~Formation-Of-Wellington-Harbour.asp (don't you just love their URLs!):

Matiu/Somes, Makaro/Ward, and Mokopuna, Wellington Harbour’s three islands are peaks on a ridge formed 1.5 million years ago. The Port Nicholson basin was once some distance away from the coast and rivers and streams drained across it. The basin flooded when land south-east of the Wellington fault tilted down -Wellington Harbour (now formed) submerged the ridge and created three islands.

The harbour originally had two entrances, the present one and a channel where Kilbirnie now lies. The Miramar peninsula was an island. An earthquake in 1460 linked Miramar island with the mainland. Further uplift during the major earthquake of 1855 brought Matiu/Somes higher above sea level so that much of the present shore line is surrounded by cliffs.

I remember being told that the park in Miramar used to be a lagoon even in European times, but I can't find a source for that at the moment.

And, with regard to moving (because I know where you're going), have a look at http://www.eqc.govt.nz/commiss/105.html ;-)

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Oh, well. I can take it. Can you, Lucy?

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Well, no, actually. Okay, it poured and poured and POURED for days and THEN there were floods. Wow, what a huge surprise for all ofus. I mean, it was terrible, especially for the people who got flooded, but there's also this wierd element of hey, pool party in the street. Tsunamis, on the other hand, kill people and do it fast.

And as for the earthquakes, what I really meant is okay, I know it's a really serious danger, but I've picked up the Wellington habit of being blase about it. Because we're so overdue, and because frankly we can't do anything about it, and it's the huge hanging threat, we tend to just ignore the possibility, and condescend to anyone who's scared of our baby quakes. ;)