I wanted to show Leah the "new" central library, Peterborough St, recently opened post quakes. I'd visited it the day after opening & Leah wanted to borrow books & DVDs for the festive season. We anticipated visiting the library, before shopping at Pak 'n Save, Moorhouse Ave.
Peterborough St: Soon after our library arrival, 1.58pm the M5.8 quake hit. Leah was near the front door looking for DVDs. She dived under a table. I was at the newspaper section, furthest from the exit sliding door.
23.12.11. Public Library, newspaper section, Peterborough St, during a quake swarm
People's reaction in quakes: Those I could see all froze. The man next to me sat reading a paper. An Asian man stood up, staring at me while I stared at him. Elderly couple at a nearby table sat frozen in their seats.
23.12.11. The Press of the day, Public Library, Peterborough St, during a quake swarm
Library jolting, adrenaline surging, I sashayed to the front door, thinking, "What if power cuts & we're trapped inside?"
Others were frozen by the sliding door entrance & digital BORROW tables. I snapped a ceiling panel & pink batt, fallen by a table. My camera flash galvanized others, like snapping my fingers before hypnotised eyes. No one panicked. All shocked, standing around, or seated, dazed.
23.12.11. Man escaping Public Library, Peterborough St, after the M5.8 quake, during a quake swarm
Smiley librarians helped people at BORROW machines. Leah looked for DVDs. Manager strode from his office, looking worried, saw everyone calm, so wandered around.
23.12.11. Fallen ceiling panel & pink batt, straight after the M5.8 quake, Public Library, Peterborough St
A big man stood frozen, smiling. Took a while for his 1 000 yard stare to dissolve. Others stayed seated on couches & at computer tables. Only one bloke skedaddled out the front door.
23.12.11. Quake shocked public & staff, by just fallen ceiling panel, M5.8 quake, Public Library, Peterborough St
Leah & I were in the "new" central library for about 8 minutes & 4 quakes. Later I saw only 2 of the quakes recorded by GeoNet, the other 2, always remembered by us.
23.12.11. Quake shocked public & staff, soon after M5.8 & M5.3 quake swarm, incl 2 more quakes, all within 8 minutes, Public Library, Peterborough St
An aftershock hit, I grabbed a metal RETURNS shelving, shaking wildly. If I'd dropped for shelter the shelving would've fallen on me. A file flew off nearby. No one else left the library, safer inside.
23.12.11. Fallen file from shelf, Public Library, Peterborough St, after M5.8 quake & M5.3 quake swarm, incl 2 more quakes, all within 8 minutes.
2.06pm. Another quake hit, M5.3 (GeoNet) while I stood by the fiction section, snapping library computer tables, frozen people still seated at computers, some people seated on couches, reading. An old man seated nearby asked me for a pic copy. I said: "I've already deleted it, as it came out too dark."
While Leah operated the BORROW machine for her DVD's, another quake hit. She dived under the machine. I grabbed it for support while the library shook a 4th time in 8 minutes. Borrowed time.
Leah & an old lady looked for books in the fiction section, Leah standing under roof, air-conditioning pipes. "Time to go!" I said. "This place is too bloody dangerous!" We left, others stayed in the library, opposite the Feb 22 Killer Quake trashed Convention Centre.
Post quake boffins liked telling people what to do, what not to do in quakes: DROP COVER HOLD. When was it safe to leave a building during a quake swarm? When does a quake swarm end? When was a quake an aftershock? When was an aftershock a quake? Academic when quakes struck. We didn't stay in the quaking library to see if it held up, or collapsed in a 5th quake. Whatever we did was luck. No DROP COVER HOLD for us. We skedaddled.
23.12.11. Liquefaction water, soon after M5.8 & M5.3 quakes, Packe St
23.12.11. Asking directions to Speights Ale House, soon after M5.8 & M5.3 quakes, during a quake swarm, Packe St
23.12.11. Liquefaction mud oozing from a pavement, by a drain, soon after M5.8 & M5.3 quakes, during a quake swarm, Packe St
Shopping out, I drove to Packe St, parking near Jake's flat in Geraldine St. Brown liquefaction water oozed along Packe St curb, brown quakemire oozed from a pavement hole. Diarrhoea.
23.12.11. Bealey Ave traffic, passing Speights Ale House, during the first hour of the quake swarm, soon after M5.8 & M5.3 quakes
Jake's cell phone was down, so we walked to Speights Ale House, Bealey Ave, where Jake worked. Boozers boozed on two verandahs. Two old geezers boozed at a table inside. Staff worked the bar & in the kitchen, where Leah asked for Jake. No Jake, not on shift. Quake clean up done, a bin full of broken, maroon crockery by the bar.
23.12.11. Bealey Ave, Speights Ale House patrons, reasonably safe on a verandah, during a quake swarm, soon after the M5.8 & M5.3 quakes
23.12.11. People safely out of Bealey Ave flats, during the first hour of the quake swarm, soon after the M5.8 & M5.3 quakes
Trekked along Bealey Ave to Jake's flat. People stood outside businesses & abodes, safer during quakes. We spoke to a smiley, SA couple, recent immigrants, we'd never met till then. Strange. Smiley, Indian immigrant couple stood by too.
23.12.11. Geraldine St info sign, Xmas quake swarm afternoon
Geraldine St: Young couple sat on the grass verge, baby in pram, waiting out quakes. Blonde, walking her dog, wandered past waving her cell phone, muttering, "I need a new battery."
23.12.11. Young family on pavement, safely outside their Geraldine St home, during the first hour of the quake swarm, soon after the M5.8 & M5.3 quakes
Jake & girlfriend OK. 2.14pm. At their flat, another quake hit, M4.2. (GeoNet). Flat shook. Strong jasmine scent, bright sunlight. Picked two jasmine flowers off their garden vine, gave one each to Leah & Jake's girlfriend. Jasmine & Fri 23.12.11 Xmas Quake Swarm, never forgotten.
Over the next half hour, 2 more quakes: M4.8 & M4.4. The M4 quakes didn't bother us much, we'd experienced many over the last 15 months. M5-6+ quakes were dangerous, threatening. We were good at guesstimating quake magnitudes: M4 no sweat, no evasions needed. M5-6+ get the hell out! Gentle rumbling underfoot, pot plant leaves trembling, hung keys or computer monitor shaking, meant no problem M4s. Loud rumbling, violent shaking or jolting underfoot meant M5-6s.
23.12.11. Geraldine St flat, 2.14pm, M4.2 quake, during the quake swarm
Leah & I walked along Bealey Ave to London St to check Leah's school. Brown quakemire, Barbadoes St cnr. Perth St: Quake spalled concrete curb lay by a drain's iron grille.
23.12.11. Liquefaction mud oozing across pavement, Bealey Ave / Barbadoes St, during the first hour of the Xmas quake swarm
23.12.11. Post quake, abandoned, Bealey Ave flats, nr Fitzgerald Ave crossing
23.12.11. Spalled concrete curb stone, by iron drain grille, Perth St, soon after the M5.8 & M5.3 quakes, during the Xmas quake swarm
London St: School OK. Richmond Working Mens Club, back entrance closed. New CLOSED sign on gate.
23.12.11. CLOSED back entrance, Richmond Working Mens Club, London St, quake swarm afternoon
Village Green, between Pavitt St & Stanmore Rd: A family played cricket. Moving around outside, we often didn't feel moderate quakes, M3-4s. We felt them sometimes when we were still.
23.12.11. Family cricket, Village Green, between Pavitt St & Stanmore Rd, during the first hour post M5.8 & M5.3 quakes during the Xmas quake swarm
Trekked back to our car, Bealey Ave traffic lights kaput. Cars drove carefully. Hot, at an Asian dairy we bought ice creams. Dark inside the dairy, power cut. Two Asian ladies chuckled behind their counter. "Survived another quake." Dairy owner sorted change on the electric till top, till didn't work.
23.12.11. Liquefaction mud & water, Packe St, within an hour post M5.8 & M5.3 quakes, during the Xmas quake swarm
3.18pm. Driving back to Burnside, Purchas St / Barbadoes St: M6 quake hit, bounced our car. I drove fast from the lumpy, sunken crossing, as those roads were liquefactioned in 04.09.10 Darfield Quake & 22.02.11 Killer Quake. Two cars were stalled on Barbadoes St, so we waited behind them, watching power lines dancing above.
The M6.0 quake was the 4th biggest quake we'd experienced, including the 04.09.10, M7.1 Darfield Quake, which began the quake series we'd endured the last 15 months. The M5.8 quake we survived in Peterborough St library was the 7th biggest quake during the quake series, so far. (The Press 28.12.11).
Madras St: Brown liquefaction water puddles, same as Feb 22 Killer Quake, less volume, as the ground wasn't saturated. We'd had sunny days before the Dec 23 Quake Swarm, so less groundwater aggravated liquefaction. (Heard later TV news that E suburbs, were badly liquefactioned again. Avon River, returning riverside suburbs to swamps).
Leah meanwhile had texted Luke & a teacher friend, checking they were OK. Luke was safe at Heath St, our rental shaken the umteenth time in the last 15 months. Luke's girlfriend's home at New Brighton had a quake power cut. (Heard later TV news, 30 000 houses had power cuts, soon sorted). Leah's teacher friend was at Merivale Mall parking lot when the M6 quake hit. Another car crashed into her's in the parking lot.
Madras St: Tall young man wearing white socks, no shoes, ran around a fallen, grey Vespa. He was crying. We thought he'd fallen off the Vespa in the M6 quake. We'd already endured 6 big quakes in the last hour & a half.
We stopped. "Are you OK?" I asked. He focused, looking normal again.
"Yes. It's my flatmate's Vespa." Neighbours left another flat, comforting him. We all reacted in different ways to quakes. No shame there, he was terrified, alone, lost his mind a bit. I could've snapped a bawling "news" pic, but despised "news" where ghouls snapped traumatised people, crying.
Back home Luke was pleased to see us. He was working in the garage when the first quake hit & left fast. We had power, sewage connection, running water, food. Leah boiled water, I filled our bath with cold water, just in case. We watched TV news. Leah listened for news on the radio too. I Facebooked family & friends, telling them we were OK, while Leah texted & phoned family & friends too.
4.50pm. While Facebooking, another quake hit, M5, shook our house & computer.
5.08pm. M4 quake hit, while I sat in our lounge watching TV. Didn't bother to rise, as I was 5 steps from our open front door. I knew that distance intimately, as I'd moved it during the M6.3, Feb 22 Killer Quake. Our back door was further away, where I'd stood during the June 13, M6.3 quake.
Later that evening I shopped for essentials at our local supermarket, Wairakei Rd. Shop, already cleaned post quakes. Wine section: floor tiles, red wine stained, lovely bouquet. Next day, 24.12.11, we would do our last Christmas Shopping at Pak 'n Save, Moorhouse Ave. We'd avoid the malls.
Another quake while I signed off, early morn, Sat 24.12.11. Rumbled our house & computer: M5.1 from Diamond Harbour way. GeoNet had recorded 25+ more quakes during that quake swarm night, around Belfast, Diamond Harbour, Akaroa, mainly Lyttelton & Christchurch, M3-5.1 range.
Seismologists later opined that the 23.12.11 Xmas Quake Swarm had come from their recently surveyed & discovered N-S faults in Pegasus Bay. So quakes from 4 Sept 2010 Darfield Quake had moved W-E faults direction, to Boxing Day Quake & Feb 22 Killer Quake, then N-S fault direction in the June 13 Quake, to a N-S faults direction in the Pegasus Bay, 23.12.11 Xmas Quake Swarm. Why were crustal quakes bothering us? (Oct 2021. A cell phone app would be developed enabling users to get a few seconds' cell phone warning before quakes. e.g. Wellington Oct quakes where the app worked successfully. But not everyone had a cell phone with the app!)
In the public library that Fri afternoon, during 8 violent minutes, we'd experienced 4 distinct quakes. I was in 4 places in the library when the 4 violent quakes struck: newspaper section, borrow machines, returns shelving, fiction section, yet GeoNet with seismographs only stated 2 quakes for that period. A boffin decided for posterity a squiggly graph line with a cone of mini spikes was 1 quake, instead of 2 or more! Graphic details to seismologists were academic, yet experienced by people on the ground, quakes were massive violence. Terror.
24.12.11. The Press front page headline: M5.8 - M5.3 - M6.0 - M5.0 for the 23.12.11 Xmas Quake Swarm. For the record, we were in the library for the M5.8 - M5.3 quakes, including 2 more violent quakes. Also there were M4.2 - M4.8 - M4.4 quakes between the M5.3 - M6.0 quakes, when we were at Jake's flat & trekking Bealey Ave to London St (The Press & GeoNet).
Never mind the M6.0 quake which bounced us in our car on Barbadoes St, after leaving Jake's flat. All that terror happened within 1 hour 20 minutes: 1.58pm - 3.18pm, Fri 23.12.11. The 25 odd aftershocks post M6.0 quake, mostly during the night, M3-5.1s, were relatively mild.
After 15 months of quakes, we were used to quake violence & terror. But that didn't negate our alertness for danger & self preservation. Leah went into herself & stayed vigilant. Her flight reactions were instantaneous, dive for cover, escape. Both Luke & I became super alert, observant, avoiding danger, detached, absorbing every detail, while time / action slowed during quakes.
Boxing Day, 26.12.11. Leah & I returned to her London St school. Bealey Ave, near the school we saw a ghost house, yellow-lidded, black plastic rubbish bin blocking the front step, 4 letterboxes stuffed full of letters & junk mail. At the 2 storey school, the M6.0 quake had loosened gutters above front & back doors. We saw longitudinal cracks on an E wall & above an E window by school playground equipment. We didn't enter the school bldg, but looked through windows: a toppled computer monitor in one office. In 3 more offices, heavy filing cabinet drawers were opened by the M6.0 quake. We couldn't see into most offices & classrooms due to closed blinds. Top floor not seen. There were minor liquefaction dribbles in the garden & on concrete paths, as in high summer there was little groundwater. No mud digging required, as in previous quakes.
2015-16. Leah's quake damaged school, London St, would be quake repaired. We'd lived in Fairlie then, as Leah would work at Lake Tekapo School for 3 years. While the London St school was repaired, staff & kids would relocate to nearby Richmond School, Pavitt St, which would be closed by MOE during post-quakes restructuring of Christchurch schools.
26.12.11. Library items on floor, M6 quake, 23.12.11, Public Library, Peterborough St
26.12.11. Public Library, Peterborough St: Just as well we'd left when we did on 23.12.11, as the closed library was a mess. I took hazy, flash snaps through front windows: Many more books were flung from shelves onto the carpeted floor, after we'd left. Video shelving was the worst, videos strewn between shelves. The video table which Leah had dived under during the M5.8 quake had fallen in the M6.0 quake, DVDs scattered on the carpet.
26.12.11. Library books on floor, M6 quake, 23.12.11, Public Library, Peterborough St
26.12.11. Fallen DVD table, M6 quake, 23.12.11, Public Library, Peterborough St
*Trekked Peterborough St, Packe St, Bealey Ave, Geraldine St, Perth St, London St, Stanmore Rd. 37 snaps.
Coda.
Tues 21.05.13. The Press would report: "GNS science has since re-analysed the aftershocks on December 23, 2011 and has upgraded the 3.18pm quake from M6.0 to M6.2. It remained the fourth largest since the September 2010 quake." GNS would take 17 months to reckon the magnitude of that quake! The M5 quakes we'd experienced in Peterborough St library were the prelude. Pegasus Bay Fault was the cause. Not a word about Christchurch Fault under Peterborough St library! Was Pegasus Bay Fault not linked to Christchurch Fault?
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Aftershocks 'nothing' alarming (The Press / Stuff Co).
Ouch! Glad I wasn't working that day :(
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