According to official data from the US Geological Survey website, a strong earthquake struck Christchurch at 12:51pm local time and measured 6.3 on the official Richter scale.
Reports of the quake first surfaced on Twitter feeds across the web, with early tweets calling it ‘massive’. Some twitterers threw numbers like 8.0 about; which instead of helping people – can sometimes do the opposite and cause a great deal of unnecessary panic when these disasters happen. Regardless of the official number, it’s still a tragic disaster for the people of New Zealand.
It’s best not to mince words when it comes to earthquakes. According to the official Richter magnitude scale:
It’s interesting to note that it took at least twenty minutes before an official figure was sourced and posted on Twitter – an example of how social media doesn’t always get it right when something big breaks (which is understandable, given the confusion happening).
A number of Geological websites have seismic data available for Christchurch (including this very interesting link to the Christchurch Quake Map), but most of the local sites have not yet updated. The most current and official site for everything Earthquake related is the USGS.gov site – which has all the latest seismic info and more importantly – it’s all up to date.
Painkiller
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 12:09 PMIm watching the unedited news feed straight out of Christchurch right now and I would have to say that the damage is closer to ‘Great’ than ‘Strong’.
Whether it was a 6.3 or a 8 on the richter scale, there is some severe damage to the city, as well as plenty of people injured.
Seamus Byrne
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 12:16 PMIt’s a horrible way to get some learning on how earthquakes work, but it seems the depth was a factor. Shallower quake means a lower intensity can do more damage.
Robert Crosthwaite
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 1:05 PM50 dead in church collapse
acky
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 1:18 PMspire from the cathedral has fallen and crushed 2 bus’s multiple deaths, i think its strong!
Michael Strasser
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 2:13 PMThey don’t use the Richter scale anymore. Read your own Wikipedia link.
Daniel Long
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 2:43 PMI agree, but the scale is still used to quickly identify and show the potential damage range of an earthquake for reasons of speed and clarity. For now, that’s what the media uses until they can find a better way of describing an earthquake on a numerical scale. And yes, science has better techniques for measuring the earth’s activity – but we can’t accurately describe it as a number the same way.
Vernon 'Jatsim'
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 2:26 PMWhy would u refer to Twitter when an Earth Quake has occured, I would Google a suitable Geological website and get my stats that way…
Daniel Long
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 2:40 PMBecause when I broke the story as it happened…Twitter was the only source of information available. No, not even the bulk of geological websites were updated in the first few minutes. And it went to show that you can’t believe everything you read on Twitter straight away, because people were obviously distressed and in panic mode.
Sam Cook
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 4:08 PMHonestly, while the article does have a valid point regarding the classification, it does seem a little in bad taste, considering how recently this has all unfolded. I wouldn’t think now is the time to argue over semantics.
Twitter, same as any other social information medium (such as wikipedia) is only as good as the information put into it. Unless the vast amount of contributors are geologists, then its going to come down to the everyday people who witnessed the event. Looking at some of the photos and stories of the event, I think its fair to say the damage is “significant”, and I can’t blame someone who has been for not having an exact appreciation for quite how catastrophic it is.
Like everything else though – its all relative. An 8+ML quake in the middle of nowhere is clearly not going to cause as much damage as a 5-6ML measured quake only a few kilometres out of town.
Luke
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 5:19 PMWasnt their last earthquake stonger? i think most of the damage here was from the last one leaving buildings with structural damage.
My condolences go to the victims and their families.
matt
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 6:38 PMI believe the origin was higher up, “shallower” also, the epicentre was closer to the city, I think the epicentre of the one last year was miles away.
Vi OnlineWalker
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 6:56 PMLive streaming http://www.abc.net.au/news/abcnews24/
Dennison
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 12:05 AMI know you are trying to be all correct and everything with the classifications.
But in a case like this who really gives a crap that the right term wasn’t used. It’s just like saying a “bad death” is different to a “terrible death”. Wording really doesn’t matter in this situation. Just my opinion.
My condolences go to the victims and their families.
Scott
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 9:04 PMPlease pass on our deepest condolences to the people of New Zealand. We have a lot of Kiwis on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland and I can’t believe I have climbed the Spire and stayed at the old United Service Hotel. It brings a cold reality to everything. Thank you to all the people involved in the rescue operations. Scott Caloundra QLD