Christchurch Curfew, Aftershocks - Update

A curfew will be in place in central Christchurch and Kaiapoi from 7pm today until 7am tomorrow to control looting and civil unrest, the central area will also be cordoned off.

Power is slowly being restored to the city, sparking off a number of fires in buildings damaged in the 7.1 quake.

The two major concerns facing emergency teams and residents are damage to underground services (water supplies and sewerage infrastructure) which may take weeks to repair and hazardous buildings weakened by the quake which have yet to be assessed or made safe.

Around 20 aftershocks have been felt since the initial quake. Residents are advised to boil all drinking water for 3 minutes.

Casualties in the disaster have been mercifully light, due mostly to the timing of the quake that occurred whilst most people were still asleep.

A reporter on Sky News said that people were unprepared for the quake and had no emergency plans in place or disaster provisions, many supermarkets have been subject to panic buying with two hour long queues at one store.

Earlier damage estimates have been revised and are now estimated to amount to 2 billion NZ dollars. Some buildings have been reported to have sunk into the ground by about a metre, probably due to liquefaction of the ground and sand volcanoes (see photo above for an example) have appeared in some places.

Liquefaction maps for Christchurch may be found HERE dated October 2004.The city's Civil Defence Emergency Management Arrangements may also be found on that link.

Christchurch is zoned into three areas for liquefaction - high in red, moderate in yellow and low in green. Much of the central and eastern part of the city is coloured red.

Aftershocks
Aftershocks have been going on most of the day, most recently (source):
* 7:03 pm  Magnitude: 4.6,  Depth: 20 km,  10 km west of Christchurch
* 6:54 pm  Magnitude: 4.3, Depth: 12 km,  10 km south-west of Christchurch
* 6:38 pm Magnitude: 3.8,   Depth: 12 km,  20 km south-east of Darfield
* 6:35 pm  Magnitude: 3.8,  Depth: 5 km,  20 km south-east of Darfield
*  5:07 pm Magnitude: 3.7,  Depth: 10 km, 20 km west of Christchurch
*4:55 pm Magnitude: 5.4,  Depth: 10 km, 10 km south-west of Darfield
* 4:48 pm  Magnitude: 4.3,  Depth: 15 km, 20 km south-west of Christchurch

Update:
Extra police have been drafted in to provide protection in Christchurch as night falls, according to Stuff.co.nz more than 80 officers have been brought into the city and the mayor has asked the army to also provide assistance, more here.

One British resident in Christchurch has just written this on an expats site:

Was woken up at 4.35 due to the violence of the quake, and have to say its the most frightened I've ever been in my life. The house was rocking incredibly, so much so that I'm still amazed its still standing, yet I had little damage apart from smashed crockery and ornaments and the living room looking like we'd been burgled.
The rest of the city hasnt been so lucky, with considerable damage elsewhere. The chinese take away across from me has lost a wall, as has a restaurant further down the road.
Some of the roads in the area have been badly damaged, and wont be passable for days or weeks, and from what I understand the river rose over its banks in some areas to.
The CBD is no-go area, with a curfew and state of emergency in force, and just to kick us when we're down its forecast 130kmh winds and torrential rain, which I'd imagine could compromise some of the precarious buildings around the city.
We're getting constant tremors, and have just had one while I've been typing, and the experts seem to think one of them is likely to hit a magnitude of 6 before we're done.
On a slightly more light hearted note I think I need to brush up my emergency management skills. In my (wine hangover affected) early morning panic I remembered the need to get out of the house and to take something to keep warm and some food, only to come to my senses sat in my car with a pillow case and a jar of gherkins.

Other posts about the quake
Christchurch New Zealand Quake Gets its own Wikipedia Page
Photos of the Christchurch Earthquake
New Zealand in Shock After Massive Quake - reports from the public about how the quake affected them

Massive Earthquake in Christchurch, State of Civil Emergency Declared

 Today's posts - click here

Christchurch, Canterbury Earthquake

A major earthquake has caused devastation to area of Christchurch and outlying towns.


We have covered some of the day's events over on our Wordpress blog, they may be found here.

This evening Kaiapoi and the central part of Christchurch City was placed under lockdown and a curfew is in place until tomorrow morning 7am. Extra police have been brought in to keep the peace.

More details may be found here Christchurch Curfew Announced, Aftershocks - Update




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Second AOS Call Out This Month In Glenfield, North Shore

The armed offenders squad has been involved in what is thought to be the second call-0ut in Glenfield this month.

News reports about the incident vary, the NZ Herald's account says two truckloads of officers descended on James Street and Glenfield Road after a report of gunshots. The report adds that two women were seen coming out of the house and were taken away by police and that a man seen sitting in a parked ute had been lead away by police.  More here


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Apparently police were called after a member of the public heard a gunshot at around 11 am. Three News said that "Members of the public were asked not to walk down Glenfield Road, near the Wairau Rd, in order to avoid getting in the “line of fire” and added the following information:

Two women were escorted from a property in the same street around 1pm this afternoon. Residents were told to stay indoors.  A negotiator was heard yelling through a loud hailer that AOS had the property “completely surrounded”.
AOS on two SUVs and four police cars were seen entering the cordon via James St earlier this afternoon. An ambulance is also in attendance.

Another report on Stuff said that police had been at the property since 8.45 this morning and it published three photographs of the incident.

Earlier this month, less than a kilometre away, there was another AOS call out in Glenfield, searching for the fugitive Daniel Vae,  a patched member of the King Cobras gang. For more see Daniel Vae and New Zealand's War on Drugs.

At the time police played down suggestions that there is a King Cobra chapter established on the North Shore, although there is the taint of gang activity there already with incidents involving the Bloods and Crips at Glenfield College (see news report) and the Killer Beez.

Shortly before the NZ Herald broke the news of the Daniel Vae arrest it published the article  “Police tip bloodshed” saying that armed turf wars between Asian organised crime, street dealers and gangs could result in the spilling of blood.

The Herald reported that police officer DS McNeill had said Vae had allegdly been taxing low-level methamphetamine dealers who were selling drugs near the King Cobra’s Grey Lynn headquarters.

Gangs demand $30,00o in taxes for dealing on their patch, failure to comply would mean the gang would beat-up the dealers and steal their drugs and money. However, a uneasy relationship between the Asian gangs (who import was pseudoephedrine) and local gangs (who buy it to cook meth) was starting to unravel.

“Some of the gangs are ripping off the Asians, who are starting to arm themselves too. So they’re all carrying guns when they’re doing these deals. It’s not going to be long before there is a shooting.”

Perhaps that explains why police and AOS officers took this latest incident, and reports of a gunshot in Glenfield, so seriously.

For other Glenfield related crime/drug related stories see:

• Operation Slab - Clan Labs Investigation - 18 August 2010 -"Six Clan Labs that have been actively manufacturing Methamphetamine and Ecstasy have been located and dismantled in a multi police district operation..."

• 10 in Court Following Police Bust - 6 August 2010 - "Ten Chinese people appeared in court today in connection with last month's bust of a financial exchange business that was allegedly laundering money in an Asian drug ring..."

For more about armed police and the AOS in New Zealand click here

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