Two New Earthquakes Hit Christchurch, New Zealand

Powerful earthquakes rock Christchurch  From Stuff.  Excerpts:

GNS Science is warning of more aftershocks in coming days as thousands of people face a night without power after magnitude 6.0 and 5.5 earthquakes rocked Christchurch.

The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 1pm, 10 kilometres east of Christchurch at Taylor's Mistake beach, at a depth of 11 kilometres, and sent people scrambling for cover. It was followed at 2.20pm by a more powerful magnitude 6 quake, centred 10 kilometres southeast of the city and 9km underground.  (Really shallow, so the shaking is more severe..)

At least 46 people were injured in the earthquakes today Radio New Zealand reported. At least ten people were taken to Christchurch Hospital with injuries due to falling building material after the 1pm quake.
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The quakes are the latest in a series of dozens of aftershocks to hit Canterbury following the devastating February 22 earthquake, where 182 people died, and a damaging magnitude 7.1 earthquake last September. The February 22 quake measured magnitude 6.3 and left 100,000 homes damaged - 10,000 beyond repair.

Christchurch's CBD was left in ruins, with 900 buildings - many in what has become known as the 'red zone' - expected to be demolished.

Some pretty good background information here. 

Christchurch Earthquake: Update, And Eerie Precursors..

From Raw Story via Agence France-Presse.  Excerpts: 

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – New Zealand declared a national state of emergency Wednesday after one of its worst earthquake disasters left nearly 400 people dead or missing.


Rescuers worked frantically to reach survivors under collapsed buildings in the stricken city centre of Christchurch, after recovering 75 bodies. About 300 people are still missing after Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude quake.
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New Zealand's second city was a scene of "incredible carnage", police said.
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"There is incredible carnage right throughout the city," he told Radio New Zealand. "There are bodies littering the streets, they are trapped in cars and crushed under rubble."
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Prime Minister Key, who has described the disaster as possibly "New Zealand's darkest day", said dozens of aftershocks continued to rock the city, hampering rescue efforts.


"There is no reason that can make sense of this event. No words that can spare our pain," he said. "We are witnessing the havoc caused by a violent and ruthless act of nature."
And:
The quake is the deadliest to hit New Zealand since a 7.8-magnitude tremor killed 256 people in the Hawke's Bay region in 1931.
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30m tons of ice set loose from glacier by NZ quake 

WELLINGTON: The 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck New Zealand on Tuesday, killing at least 75 people in Christchurch, also shook loose 30 million tons of ice from the nation’s longest glacier, sending boulders of ice into a nearby lake.

Update coupled with gallery of devastation in the aftermath of the quake.  From the Daily Mail.
Now for some events directly ahead of this quake, noted before the event.

List of Magnitude 4 or higher earthquakes.

A minute by minute description of the quake's first day.

Now the eerie precursors..

This guy got it almost exactly right.  Yeah, he said an 8 magnitude quake, but this 6.3 mimicked an 8, didn't it?  He ties solar flares to an increase in earthquake activity, with the location of the solar flare on the sun's surface effecting areas here on earth that correlate to said location.  His information regarding New Zealand starts at 4:40..

This was an odd, not too realistic bit of news when it broke several days ago.  What to make of it?

107 Pilot whales offed themselves on a New Zealand beach.

SILENCE - do you hear that? At dawn hardly a bird can be heard.  Here's a conspiracy thread from New Zealand started February 17th.

And finally, 9 Members Of US Congress Left Christchurch New Zealand Hours Before Earthquake.  Man!  That was lucky, right?