7.5 magnitude Earthquake hits New Zealand

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Live: 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes near Hanmer Springs in South Island, tsunami warning for many New Zealand coastal areas

• 7.5 quake strikes at 12.02am not far from Hanmer Springs in North Canterbury in the South Island – country still being hit, with more than 100 aftershocks so far
• At least two people have been killed amid reports of many other casualties – one victim suffered a heart attack, another was killed in a historic homestead in Kaikoura
• Wellington has also been badly hit, with damage to buildings and roads
• Tsunami warnings for entire east coast of New Zealand have been downgraded but people living on the coast are being warned to stay away from beaches
• Irregular waves of up to 2m have been reported in Kaikoura. Waves also reported in Wellington
• Schools from North Canterbury to Wellington told to remain shut until damage can be assessed
• Fire Service sending 7-strong urban search and rescue squad from Christchurch to Kaikoura
• Prime Minister John Key arrives at Civil Defence bunker under Beehive, says military helicopters being made available
• Key says communications have been difficult and full assessment of damage, casualties still being conducted
• St John receiving reports of injuries around Culverden and Kaikoura – paramedics being sent in by helicopter
• Fire Service sending 7-strong urban search and rescue squad from Christchurch to Kaikoura
• Power is out in many areas
• NZTA says roads some main highways are closed

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28 COMMENTS

  3. I’m sure ‘disaster capitalism’ will cope and that it will be very profitable for banks and corporations. And very profitable for a few politicians.

    • In 2013, the Prime Minister John Key falsely stated that hydraulic fracturing had been going on safely in Taranaki for the past 30 years without any issues.[7]

      Ha Ha will he ever wake up??????

      Why is a country that is known as an earthquake zone still 27yrs later fracking for oil & gas in Canterbury and other regions still when the evidence is known human activities in oil and gas drilling/fracking causes earthquakes to occur????????

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing_in_New_Zealand

      Hydraulic fracturing in New Zealand
      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      Hydraulic fracturing

      New Zealand

      “Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been carried out in New Zealand for over 27 years, mostly in Taranaki and also in coal seams in Waikato and Southland.[1] Concerns have been raised about its negative effects and some local government jurisdictions have called for a moratorium on fracking but this has been rejected by the government.[2] The environmental effects of fracking are regulated by the Resource Management Act (RMA) through the requirement for resource consents.”

      Fracking has been carried out in the Taranaki Region since 1989 and the technique has been used on over 50 wells in the Taranaki and Waikato Regions.[1] L&M Minerals have applied for exploration permits for coal seam gas extraction off the coast of South Canterbury and on the Canterbury Plains.[3]

      In 2011, the Taranaki Regional Council published a report that found there had been 43 hydraulic fracturing activities in 28 wells with no evidence of any related environmental problems. The report also found that the risk of contaminating freshwater aquifers was very low. Since August 2011, the Taranaki Regional Council has required resource consents for all subsurface fracturing discharges.[4]

      In 2012, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) undertook an investigation into the environmental impacts of fracking in New Zealand.[1] This interim report stated that environmental risks can be effectively managed.

      Also in 2012, Christchurch became the first city in New Zealand to declare itself a “fracking-free zone”[5] after a probable link between Earthquakes and Hydraulic Fracturing was demonstrated in England.[6]

      In 2013, the Prime Minister John Key stated that hydraulic fracturing had been going on safely in Taranaki for the past 30 years without any issues.[7]

      In 2014, the PCE published a report on oil and gas drilling and fracking.[8] The scope of this report was widened following feedback on the interim report, based on which the PCE concluded that concern was not about fracking per se, but about the spread of the industry that fracking enabled. The PCE found no evidence of major environment problems and that risks of a major problem are low, if best practices are followed. However, the PCE also found that New Zealand’s oversight and regulation was not adequate for managing the environmental risks. The 2014 report sets out recommendations to address regulatory shortcomings and concludes that the ultimate threat is climate change.[8] The government is considering the PCE recommendations to improve regulatory oversight.[9]

      Opposition[edit]
      Environmentalists have raised concerns about fracking citing concerns about water pollution and induced seismicity. Four local councils have called for a moratorium on fracking; Christchurch City Council, Selwyn District Council, Kaikoura District Council and Waimakariri District COuncil.[10][11] In 2012, community boards in Christchurch and in the South Taranaki district, where fracking is taking place, called for a ban.[11] The Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley stated that the RMA gives sufficient safeguards.[10]

      Straterra, the industry group for the New Zealand resource and mining sectors, believes that the fracking carried out in New Zealand is safe.[12]

      In April 2012, the Christchurch City Council voted unanimously to declare the city a fracking-free zone. Any resource consents required for fracking would be lodged with Environment Canterbury, the regional council with jurisdiction over underground discharges, so the fracking-free zone is largely symbolic. A spokesperson for Environment Canterbury said that the regional council has no specific rules relating to fracking but there are existing policies that would apply to applications for fracking.[13]

      In New Zealand, an inquiry into fracking was undertaken by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright.[14] A preliminary report recommended tighter regulation on the practise, but stopped short of pushing for a moratorium.[15] The New Zealand Government welcomed the report, but the Opposition doubted the government’s commitment on introducing tighter laws.[16] Dr Wright said she couldn’t rule out the possibility fracking could cause large earthquakes, like the series of tremors that destroyed much of Christchurch over 2010 and 2011 [17] Environmental Defence Society Chairman Gary Taylor said he was pleased Dr Wright had examined the overarching issue of climate change given the Government’s gutting of climate change policy and bias towards fossil fuels. Taylor called for more balanced policy where renewables are given priority and carbon is priced properly.[18]

  5. And the bi-products of 30 years of neo liberal economics have burgled evacuated homes.
    Isn’t it fascinating? At both ends of a disaster, you have soulless crooks feeding of the misfortunes of others.

    Gee, thanks roger douglas.

    Lest we forget.

  7. And good to see our ‘hero’ leaders – Key and Brownlee flying down to be on the scene…’to be seen’ doing something – yeah right. Like they did anything for those caught up in the last earthquake, which is still on going….

    • I noted that the TV 1 or TV3 coverage intentionally only focused on Key and Brownlee when they walked into Kaikoura, from their helicopter. A tiny glimpse of Andrew Little’s body was seen at the beginning, so he was instantly out of the picture after that.

      Andrew was there, but the media will present it as if he was not there.

    • Agreed, Kim Dandy. Jonkey must really hate these happenings. They take him away from mingling with his cabal mates, and having to appear to be concerned for others.

  8. John Key says NZ is in a good position economically to cope with these latest quakes.

    However, (with the greatest of respect and sympathy for the victims affected by this latest disaster who deserve as much humane assistance as possible), if that is the case, why has the country not been in a position to address poverty and homelessness?

      • Frank, I think you do not understand the financial system or the economic system or the purpose of government. Apparently almost no one does.

        Money is created out of thin air and interest is charged on it. It therefore follows that when a government is short of money (which is all the time) it borrows money, at interest, from lenders who have created it out of thin air. Hence, nations’ debts increase over time. All talk of ‘surpluses’ is just lying, and refers to the difference between money taken from taxpayers and that spent over a particular period.

        ‘New Zealand’s net external debt has expanded from $76.2 billion to $138.9 billion over the past 14 years with the net contributors to the latest $138.9 billion figure being government $11.2 billion, banks $97.2 billion, other $1.3 billion and inter-company $29.3 billion.’

        The trick is to con the general populace into believing there is a mysterious thing called ‘inflation’. Inflation is just a subterfuge for devaluation of money -the continuous reduction in the purchasing power of money in circulation which is orchestrated by governments and banks to keep their Ponzi scheme running.

        The GDP-based economic system is completely idiotic because it is based on consumption and rewards consumption: it naturally follows that earthquakes and other phenomena that would normally be regarded as disasters are actually very good for the economy because they generate demand for goods and services that would not otherwise exist. As long as money can be prised out of insurers, there is no problem. And insurers always play ball in the end because the international finance game requires that they do.

        The purpose of government is to facilitate the agendas of international and local bankers and the agendas of corporations (it makes no difference which party is in power). In fact, when you really examine the system, you see that the purpose of government is to squander energy and resources as quickly on infrastructure that has no future as possible and make everything worse…..and governments have no difficulty whatsoever in doing that.

        And the main objective of politicians is to get re-elected (because there is no other employment that pays anything like as much for having such little basic intelligence and for doing so little) and to rort the system whilst in power.

        So when it comes to tax cuts as election bribes, you can be sure that the government will implement them by borrowing yet more money from overseas if there is the slightest whiff of election defeat in the air.

    • Are there any SOA for Key and National to sell? If not I’m sure they can borrow billions more and tell us the economy is booming on the back of a rebuild.

  10. Good we got to see the few things that fell over in Meet Heather du Plessis-Allan flat on Story. Almost made the bit on the White house pillows seem sensible.

  11. Oh, this morning, I was hardly awake, I turned the radio on, and heard something like “quake” and “earthquake”. At first I hoped for a political kind of earthquake, but then I listened up and heard the real news, that was on RNZ this morning.

    Gosh, so two real strong shakes, so strong as no one quake since the 19th century some time. But then there were reports of some serious damage, and two being killed.

    As the day went on, I heard nothing else reported on radio, TV and so forth, or at least hardly anything else. Surprisingly Kathryn Ryan, the not so hot Nine to Noon host on RNZ, did have the political commentators on, who talked about nothing much else than the Trump victory in the US, reasons and polls and what else mattered.

    Afternoon came, and still, all stations that usually present a bit of a variety, still continued, earthquake porn, it was, earthquake porn, which was more intensive than the usual freak weather porn. It was tiring me, so I turned the radio and TV off, also watched a bit of Al Jazeera in between, to see what the rest of the world reported. But even they mentioned the quakes and showed some pics.

    I conclude, at a late night in New Zealand now, we have just had the election 2017 been decided, by divine power or intervention, it again appears, remember 2011?

    We must declare our Esteemed Great Leader now “THE FATHER OF THE NATION”, I presume, he was in Kaikoura, with Brownlee, the man of largesse, and Little the Angry Andy was also supposed to be there, but TV media and I think even radio, blocked him out, he was not seen or heard.

    Key is now to be knighted, no doubt about it, the man in control, the captain at the helm, the Father of the Nation, he deserves to be recognised for his grand skills of managing disasters, he will be knighted some time soon, by our highly revered Royal Queen.

    Have no more doubt, we need no election, may as well declare new Royalty here, home made, the Prince in waiting, one Maximus Absolutus Grandiosus is also being groomed now, to become the next one up in the dynasty.

    The US is establishing the Trump dynasty, we will have the Key dynasty, gosh, thanks for our divine powers, to ensure we had an earthquake, to sort our future out, once and for all.

    Hail Thee, Hail Thee, Master of the Universe, Father of our Nation, John Grandiosus Key!

  12. News summary for 14 Nov. 2016:

    EARTHQUAKE, MAJOR EARTHQUAKE, DESTRUCTIVE EARTHQUAKE, MASSIVE DAMAGE CAUSED BY EARTHQUAKE, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS, NO BILLIONS OF DAMAGE TO PAY FOR REPAIRS CAUSED BY LARGE EARTHQUAKES.

    So there go the tax cuts, I suppose, that is unless the government may plunder the health, education and welfare budgets more than they have already over recent years (going by per capita spending).

    And I wonder, do we report about some earthquakes all day, non stop, on all stations and all websites 24/7, like today, when it happens in say Iran, Pakistan or somewhere in Sumatra?

    If one hits Iran or so, I bet one minute news coverage is already “extensive” in the view of our media bosses and players.

    So New Zealand lives lost, sadly two, seem to be worth much, much more than any hundreds of thousands of lives in poor countries.

    Nothing new in the news business, business as usual, I note.

  14. Presumably the various bits of infrastructure that need fixing will enable the pig-man to expand his commercial empire northwards along the coast of the South island and to establish a firmer foothold in Wellington: lots of contracts to be awarded to the right people for favours; lots of deals to be done behind closed doors; lots of money to be made; lots of ordinary folk to be thoroughly screwed (again).

    And the bought-and-paid-for media will undoubtedly cheer every time the pig-man makes an appearance.

    Earthquake strengthening is the latest rort, it seems. Get a bought-and-paid-for consultant to declare a building an ‘earthquake risk’ and then you can demolish it and build an art gallery or convention centre or whatever. Or you can rort the system for contracts to get unnecessary strengthening done.

    ‘The Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary closed earlier this year for earthquake strengthening, but engineer Jenny Goddard said not a single stone dropped after Monday’s high-magnitude shake.’

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/nz-earthquake/86448411/new-zealands-oldest-stone-church-appears-unaffected-by-75-earthquake

    Meanwhile, all the very real threats to the welfare of the populace and the very real threats to infrastructure are completely ignored, of course. Surreal beyond belief!

    http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/

  15. Let me guess, I bet the government will not provide “special needs grants” to the quake “victims” facing damaged homes, unsafe buildings to live or work in, like they do the those at the bottom, living on benefits, when they are in desperate need.

    I bet, they will fly people out of Kaikoura, bus people into safe homes and shelters, they will do all they can, without charging them much if anything, and they will not be expecting them to pay back the help they are offered.

    This is what I notice so often, when some disaster strikes, hitting the “honourable, hard working Kiwis”, much fanfare, much effort, much sacrifice, to somehow offer disaster help, at least for those emergency services not repayable.

    These are the middle class, the working ones, the ones who own and run businesses, they are “worthy” of help and sacrifice, beneficiaries ending up homeless only get up to a week of not refundable emergency accommodation, after that they have to pay it back. Before they often had to pay back ALL the emergency accommodation costs, putting some into debt by the thousands.

    Two measures for two CLASSES of people, yet again. And note the media attention, when did they broadcast hours about the homeless in Auckland, well, we were lucky they made it a story at all, even just a brief one, on TV3, the RNZ and TV1.

    And it was just one or two journalists, who actually set that ball rolling. Now there is little if any reporting on the people still sleeping in cars or garages.

    When you are not working, you do not count, that is the conclusion, in this “egalitarian” country.

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