2007 Gisborne Earthquake
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On Thursday 20 December 2007, at 8.55pm, Gisborne was rocked with a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that lasted 32 seconds. The city centre was open for late night shopping, but fortunately most people had gone home. The tremor had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (severe), and hit mostly the city of Gisborne, but was felt widely across the country from Auckland in the North to Dunedin in the South.
Geological background:
The 2007 Gisborne earthquake occurred under the Pacific Ocean about 50 kilometres off the eastern coast of New Zealand's North Island at 8:55 pm NZDT. The earthquake occurred within the Pacific plate, which is drifting west beneath the Gisborne region in a process known as subduction. It is stresses caused by this subduction zone that create the earthquake.
A feature of deep earthquakes in the vicinity of a subjected place, such as this, is that they often produce more high-frequency shaking than shallower events of the same magnitude. This is reflected in the strong shaking experienced in Gisborne.
Damage and effects it had on the community:
The devastation of the earthquake that was created in those 32 seconds was enormous, but thankfully there were no direct fatalities or fires. However, while the earthquake was initially reported to have caused no deaths, an elderly woman in Gisborne suffered a heart attack and died shortly after the quake. A number of buildings in central business district of Gisborne were greatly damaged. The district was then closed off to allow building inspectors to assess buildings for damage, and found three buildings had collapsed and severe structural damage to others. Casualties would have resulted if the quake had occurred just a few hours earlier when many people were on the streets. There were blackouts immediately after the earthquake hit, with the town clock stopped on 8:55pm.
Economical Effects:
After an assessment of the damage, a state of emergency was declared at 1am on the CBD area. After inspecting all buildings in the CBD and suspect areas made safe, the state of emergency was lifted at 5.15pm on Saturday 22 December. The CBD was trading as normal by Christmas eve.
Over $50m in claims were received by EQC (A New Zealand Government agency providing natural disaster insurance to residential property owners). Approximately $29m of damage claims to residential properties and $27m commercial claims were made, with around 2928 claims for content, 1582 for chimneys and 1799 interior damage claims.
As of 14 January 2008, the Earthquake Commission had received over 3100 insurance claims amounting to $16 million. It was earlier estimated that the cost of damage caused by the earthquake could rise to $30 million.
Article written by Jessie Farrell.
Geological background:
The 2007 Gisborne earthquake occurred under the Pacific Ocean about 50 kilometres off the eastern coast of New Zealand's North Island at 8:55 pm NZDT. The earthquake occurred within the Pacific plate, which is drifting west beneath the Gisborne region in a process known as subduction. It is stresses caused by this subduction zone that create the earthquake.
A feature of deep earthquakes in the vicinity of a subjected place, such as this, is that they often produce more high-frequency shaking than shallower events of the same magnitude. This is reflected in the strong shaking experienced in Gisborne.
Damage and effects it had on the community:
The devastation of the earthquake that was created in those 32 seconds was enormous, but thankfully there were no direct fatalities or fires. However, while the earthquake was initially reported to have caused no deaths, an elderly woman in Gisborne suffered a heart attack and died shortly after the quake. A number of buildings in central business district of Gisborne were greatly damaged. The district was then closed off to allow building inspectors to assess buildings for damage, and found three buildings had collapsed and severe structural damage to others. Casualties would have resulted if the quake had occurred just a few hours earlier when many people were on the streets. There were blackouts immediately after the earthquake hit, with the town clock stopped on 8:55pm.
Economical Effects:
After an assessment of the damage, a state of emergency was declared at 1am on the CBD area. After inspecting all buildings in the CBD and suspect areas made safe, the state of emergency was lifted at 5.15pm on Saturday 22 December. The CBD was trading as normal by Christmas eve.
Over $50m in claims were received by EQC (A New Zealand Government agency providing natural disaster insurance to residential property owners). Approximately $29m of damage claims to residential properties and $27m commercial claims were made, with around 2928 claims for content, 1582 for chimneys and 1799 interior damage claims.
As of 14 January 2008, the Earthquake Commission had received over 3100 insurance claims amounting to $16 million. It was earlier estimated that the cost of damage caused by the earthquake could rise to $30 million.
Article written by Jessie Farrell.