Pipe Networks Datacentre | Blog: In Action Network

The earthquake that struck Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010 thankfully did not result in loss of life. It was a major disaster, comparable in power and effect on the earth’s surface to the tragic Haiti quake of eight months earlier. The epicentre was just 30km from New Zealand’s second largest population centre at a shallow 10km in depth. But while the frightening event made homes uninhabitable and brought the brick facades and plate glass of numerous commercial buildings crashing down on the roadways, physical injuries were few.

Residents Put to the Earthquake Preparedness Test

The Canterbury earthquake struck at 4.35am, a time when most people are tucked up in their beds. That contributed significantly to the absence of fatalities and low injury toll, as did New Zealand’s relatively stringent building codes. Kiwis know we live on a web of earthquake fault lines. While many older buildings remain earthquake risks, our society has standards that help to mitigate the effects of major earthquakes, and systems for enforcing them.

Nevertheless, in any natural event of the magnitude of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, there is inevitably severe disruption to daily life. Inconveniences and hardships by the score confront the people of Christchurch and the wider community as the aftershocks continue, businesses remain closed and services are inevitably slow to return to normal. For affected residents who followed Civil Defence advice and made their basic earthquake survival preparations, the aftermath may be a little easier to bear.