{"id":3473,"date":"2011-02-22T07:58:42","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T14:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/?p=3473"},"modified":"2011-02-26T04:05:39","modified_gmt":"2011-02-26T11:05:39","slug":"new-zealand-suffers-darkest-day-as-at-least-65-killed-in-earthquake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/natural-disasters\/new-zealand-suffers-darkest-day-as-at-least-65-killed-in-earthquake\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand suffers &#8216;darkest day&#8217; as at least 65 killed in earthquake"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 288px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/natural-disasters-in-national\/utter-devastation-christchurch-new-zealand-after-earthquake-picture\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"A building's facade lies in the street after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. (TwitPic \/ bebe33)\" src=\"http:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/_qM6V6-HRzM0\/TWPNj_Es1LI\/AAAAAAAAEWA\/kvIxjfdu_qY\/s288\/2011-02-22_075144.jpg\" alt=\"A building's facade lies in the street after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. (TwitPic \/ bebe33)\" width=\"288\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A building&#39;s facade lies in the street after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Click the image to view a slideshow. (TwitPic \/ bebe33)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Christchurch, New Zealand was struck by a powerful magnitude 6.3 earthquake on Tuesday that wreaked havoc across the nation\u2019s second largest city.\u00a0 Buildings were reduced to rubble and people buried alive in what is being called the \u2018darkest day\u2019 in the New Zealand history.<\/p>\n<p>The quake,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/natural-disasters-in-national\/magnitude-6-3-earthquake-rocks-christchurch-new-zealand-multiple-fatalities\">which struck at 12:51pm local time and at a shallow 3.1 mile depth<\/a>, has been followed by a serious of significant aftershocks.\u00a0 The seven additional temblors have ranged from magnitude 4.1 up to magnitude 5.6.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>On the net: \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/natural-disasters-in-national\/christchurch-new-zealand-earthquake-resources-for-news-and-information\" target=\"_blank\">Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake &#8211; Resources for news and information<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In September the area was struck by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake and recovery efforts from that quake were still underway when the new quake struck.\u00a0 Buildings that were already weakened by last year\u2019s quake, then the initial quake today struggled to hold up with the ongoing aftershocks.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister John Key said, &#8220;It is just a scene of utter devastation.\u00a0 We may well be witnessing New Zealand&#8217;s darkest day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Digging through the rubble to reach those who may yet be buried remained a priority.\u00a0 At least 65 people have been confirmed killed but as rescuers continue to search collapsed buildings and they fear the toll may rise further. \u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 227px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/natural-disasters-in-national\/utter-devastation-christchurch-new-zealand-after-earthquake-picture\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" title=\"Slideshow: 'Utter devastation' in Christchurch, New Zealand after earthquake \" src=\"http:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/_qM6V6-HRzM0\/TWPLKQ0URlI\/AAAAAAAAEVw\/Bp9-d0cfdwU\/s800\/2011-02-22_074121.jpg\" alt=\"Slideshow: 'Utter devastation' in Christchurch, New Zealand after earthquake \" width=\"227\" height=\"294\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Slideshow: &#39;Utter devastation&#39; in Christchurch, New Zealand after earthquake <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Infrastructure across the city has virtually collapsed and hampers recovery efforts.\u00a0 Phone lines have been cut including the city\u2019s emergency 111 system.\u00a0 Water mains broke sending water gushing into streets and neighborhoods, pavement on roads was cracked and split and 80 percent of the city is without power.<\/p>\n<p>The scene in the center of Christchurch was one of utter devastation with buildings reduced to nothing more than remnants of brick and mortar.\u00a0 Cars were buried under the rubble of buildings whose facades fell into the streets below.<\/p>\n<p>The iconic Christchurch Cathedral sustained severe damage as its spire fell into the street.\u00a0 In the Pyne Gould Guinness Building where 200 workers were when the quake struck, an unknown number of them remain buried.\u00a0 Amid cries for help, rescuers continued to pull bloodied people from the rubble.<\/p>\n<p>Queen Elizabeth II sent a message voicing her sympathies to Key.\u00a0 The Queen wrote, \u201cPlease convey my deep sympathy to the families and friends of those who have been killed; my thoughts are with all those who have been affected by this dreadful event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Geologists said today\u2019s quakes were aftershocks of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/natural-disasters-in-national\/new-zealand-digs-out-from-earthquake-call-greatest-disaster-nation-s-history\">a more significant magnitude 7.1 temblor that struck the same area in September<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This story was originally published by the Natural Disasters Examiner. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/natural-disasters-in-national\/tony-hake\" target=\"_blank\">Please visit there for the latest on all types of natural disasters.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christchurch, New Zealand was struck by a powerful magnitude 6.3 earthquake on Tuesday that wreaked havoc across the nation\u2019s second largest city.\u00a0 Buildings were reduced to rubble and people buried alive in what is being called the \u2018darkest day\u2019 in the New Zealand history. The quake,\u00a0which struck at 12:51pm local time and at a shallow &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/natural-disasters\/new-zealand-suffers-darkest-day-as-at-least-65-killed-in-earthquake\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">New Zealand suffers &#8216;darkest day&#8217; as at least 65 killed in earthquake<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[495,144,224,295,496],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3473"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3486,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions\/3486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}