Terrifying awakening this morning
 

I was awoken this morning by a very terrifying earthquake that was felt basically throughout the whole of the North Island (The top half of New Zealand) to some extent. We get little tremors here regularly, but this by far, in all of my 4 years living in Wellington, has been the worst one I have ever felt.

I was truly scared for my life, I could see things falling off my shelves and hitting the floor, everything was moving violently from side to side, and I was being tossed around in my bed. :mad: I was so scared, if it had of gone on for any longer I would have had to get under a door-way. :( People working in Wellington City said that they could physically see some of the buildings sway from side to side. No one was killed and I haven't heard of anyone being hurt, but there could well be because it was very violent.

Universal Time: January 20 2005 at 18:56
NZ Daylight Time: Friday, January 21 2005 at 7:56 am
Latitude, Longitude: 41.09°S, 175.06°E
Focal Depth: 30 km
Richter Magnitude: 5.5

30km is very deep for an earthquake to be so strong, and 5.5 isn't a very big reading on the richter scale (we have had 6 point's here before) but I think the reason why I felt it so bad, was because it was centered in Upper Hutt, the town that I live, and my house is directly on top of a fault line, so the earthquake was pretty much right beneath us. :( It was a very scary way to start the day, that's for sure. And we have had some after shocks but nothing major.

wow! :eek: earthquake's are almost just things i read about, cause we only get very tiny ones here if at all. i'm glad no-one has being hurt or killed thus far, that is a blessing. felt throughout the whole island? that is quite large.....glad you're alright. :)

Bad luck.

Geez Hayley...
I hope everyone is ok!!
That must be a TERRIBLE thing to experience, Let alone wake up to!! :(

Lol 30km, thats pritty freggen deep

Yikes! Glad you are OK

Yikes Hayley :eek: that would have been freaky!

Yeah the whole of the North Island was hit, and I have been listneing to the radio and heard that it was also felt deep down in the South Island ... that's pretty bad.

Oh it is, it's awful, and yes to wake up to it was very scary aswell because I was still half asleep and was thinking wtf is going on when I realised it was really bad. It's really horrible. :(

Yeah it's strange for it to be that deep into the ground yet such a powerful jolt, but like I said the reason why it was felt so much at my house was because it was centred basically where we live. :eek:

No other after shocks have been felt, so hopefully that will be it

Hayley, I've never felt the earth shake before, it must have been truly frightening.

I'm really glad that you are OK.

Don't laugh, but night lights are a feeling of security, if you have any remaining fear.

Earthquakes are probably the most frightening feeling ever, because you don't know when it's going to stop, and how strong it's going to get. Nothing more powerful than the force of the Earth.

Yeah that's true. I'm okay though, and my family keeps a kit set up just incase, with torches, water bottels, a radio, first aid kit, that kind of thing where we can get it so we keep that with us whenever there is an earthquake, because you never know what will happen next. Thanks alot. :)

Well its a tiny earthquake in comparison to the one that caused the tsunami but its the second one in only a very short period of time. Strange.........

Yeah it's so small compared to the Tsunami you're right, and many other earthquakes, it must have been absolutley huge for it to be felt all over the country, though. You're right, it is strange.

It was obviously a large earthquake your right to be felt over that large a distance. I guess its lucky in some way the faultline is on land........

Wow, Hayley, I'm glad you and your family are OK. I can't imagine what that must have been like. Some weird stuff's been going on of late, that's for sure.

You mean better than out in the water?

Thanks, Dogstar. :) And yep some weird stuff has been happening, people are starting to talk about that this might be the beginning of the end of the world. :eek: If it is, please, I want to see U2 first! :laugh:

But seriously, it's pretty scary, to have all of these natural things happening at once ...