Christchurch, NZ

I hear on the news tonight that Christchurch has been hit by a serious earthquake and aftershocks today, and the damage is severe. I sure feel for all the people dealing with injury and death of friends and family, and damage to homes, property and businesses.

My prayers and thoughts are with them. I hope our LT friends in NZ are O.K.

To be hit with an earthquake again after five months, I do empathize.

My heart goes out to everyone in Christchurch. What a cruel blow this has been.

It's devastating. The whole country is in shock, really. I stood with my work colleagues, watching the tv - three of the people in the room with me had friends and family they couldn't get through to. 65 dead confirmed and on the rise.

My beautiful country. I just feel sick.

prayers and strength to christchurch!

I am so sorry for you guys. Thinking good thoughts.

I am so sorry to hear this. All of NZ will be in my thoughts.

I woke up to this news this morning and Severn you were first in my thoughts. It's so devastating, I'm thinking of you all and holding you in the light.

click for big

Living on top of an earthquake zone myself, that has had its share of lost lives and buildings, I have lots of sympathy for what has happened in the city of Christchurch, and my thoughts are with all the folks there.

There's something about the interesting geography of many earthquake areas - often where mountains and water meet, where fault lines create bays, and long lakes - that makes them appealing places to live.

But I never forget the fact that, at any moment, my home, my life, and the lives of those I love, could all be lost in seconds - by forces completely unpredictable, and completely out of my control.

I remember the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake mainly because of my absence - I had been working for a new company for less than a year, and was travelling for them, training customers in Alabama. I turned on the news at the hotel at the end of the day, right after dinner, to see the San Francisco local newscasters on the news. I thought not much of it, but remembered I was in Alabama. Wondering what was up, I returned to the television. I tried reaching out to my new girlfriend, now my wife - just a 2-3 weeks into the relationship - and got 'all circuits busy'. This persisted for hours and hours. Finally, she was able to reach me late into the night.

We lost many people that day, and so much property was lost. Even in the dot-com boom times of the following 1990s, it has taken a while to rebuild. Even now, 21 years later, if you look closely, and have an eye for detail, and a good memory, you can see where the earthquake changed things, and what differences came about from it. Note the photo below of some San Francisco streets. You'll see a faint diagonal path through these streets, of many paved over vacant lots, interrupted by a new building or two. This is the remnant of a freeway that cut through that portion of town, ending at the spot near the upper right of the photo. This freeway was torn down due to damage after the quake.

My point in all of this is simply this: The families directly impacted will recover - with scars. The towns will recover - with scars and memories. It will be renewed, but it will be different, and you will never forget this. But you will move on, and discover great strength through the struggle to rebuild.

Bless all of you impacted, and thoughts with everyone. You have a very, very long road ahead of you.

Sadly, this is the second earthquake of magnitude in less than six months. My heart goes out to all of our friends there and I hope at some point we'll hear from them, even as I know it's got to be far from their highest priority.

My heart and thoughts are with those in NZ

Strength to all of our Kiwi friends, not just in Christchurch but all over, since the impact of this sort of devastation goes beyond the physical radius, and touches all communities. We're thinking of you all, hope all is well.

As always, JPB has words of great wisdom, thanks Pea-Bee!

Its so aweful! Thanx for putting it into perspective a bit for those of us who have no experience with earthquakes JPB...

I think the scariest part for me to hear is that there have been over 40 aftershocks & 25 of them have been over 4 on the richter (?spelling?) scale. I feel all out of whack just from having a compactor working here on site at work, I cannot imagine how scary & yuk it must feel to have the earth rumbling under you so often & so severely :(

As to aftershocks: Yes, there are many of them days after the quake. Remember, I was out of town for the 'big one' I referenced - I came back home the following day!

But I felt the aftershocks - so many of them - some of them pretty big.

It's so important to remember that the aftershocks are GOOD things - usually they don't do anything major and the more aftershocks, the more the short-term stress is relieved, and not need relieving until later, when the continent shifts some more.

As to earthquake frequency, here is a map of the quakes in California in the past seven days: click here

I also send my warmest thoughts and hopes for all to recover their equilibrium as soon as possible. I also live in an "earthquake" country and know that it is quite unnerving to have the ground shake; and it is so sad to have loss of life and loss of valuable property. I am so sad to see that beautiful church lose its tall spire. I'll keep you all in my thoughts and "hold you in the light".

Mean times, for all of us who live in earthquake countries (areas), this is a good reminder to do those earthquake resistance fixes in our homes. Strap your hot water heater, and all of your bookcases, to the wall, etc. You know the fixes I mean, and if you don't....the internet is your friend.

The thing is...this was an aftershock to a 7.1 earthquake in September. One of 4000. Essentially, a new faultline - the Greendale I think - has emerged. The city was just starting to recover..the aftershocks were fading. And then...bam. This. Less magnitude, but only 5kms from the surface - hence the death and destruction. Death toll is at 75 and rising.

I thought folks might be interested to hear that a couple of New Zealand writing colleagues of mine are putting together an anthology, "Tales For Canterbury", to raise funds for the victims of the recent Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand - Christchurch is in the province of Canterbury.

There is a website here:

http://talesforcanterbury.wordpress.com/

I think this is a great initiative. I'll let people know when the anthology is available.

That fundraising anthology is now available for pre-order:

Friends of mine are editing a short story anthology, "Tales for Canterbury", to raise funds for the victim of the Christchurch (NZ) earthquake of 22 Feb - all funds raised go to the NZ Red Cross.

The anthology is now available for pre-order here:

http://randomstatic.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_10&prod...

Contributors include Neil Gaiman, Gwyneth Jones, Jay Lake, Jeff Vandermeer, Sean Williams, and a good number of NZ authors. Check out the contributors' list here:

http://talesforcanterbury.wordpress.com/list-of-contributrs/

Cheers for that, Tim. :)

"Tales For Canterbury", a short story anthology from which all proceeds go to the NZ Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, is now available as an ebook, and for pre-order as a print anthology. I've blogged about it here: http://bit.ly/mpf4Ws

All the contributors have donated their stories, and among the list of contributors are names such as Neil Gaiman, Janis Freegard, Gwyneth Jones, Jay Lake, Helen Lowe, Tina Makereti, Juliet Marillier, Jeff Vandermeer, Mary Victoria, and Sean Williams.

Tim - I guess I could google, but do you know what $12NZD is in UK pounds or US dollars - roughly?

ETA also is it DRM'd? doesn't seem clear from website.

Thanks for the links.

NZ$12 is only about US$10 or UK6.

>23 reading_fox:, 24: Thanks, reading_fox and choreocrat. I've asked the publishers these questions and will post the answers here when I get a response.

Plus, an update - the paperback version is now available - see http://bit.ly/lUkpl2 for more info.

>23 reading_fox:, 24: Here are the official answers from the publisher:

The price is only in NZ$ - if an overseas buyer purchases with a credit card then the conversion rate will be determined and processed by the card provider. I'd suggest using an online currency converter for an indication such as http://www.xe.com/ucc. Current rates there make the ebook a little under US$10 and approx 6GBP.

All formats are DRM free.

--- and the publisher also responded to someone on Facebook who asked whether it could be read on the Kindle: ---

The mobi format is (I understand) essentially the same as Kindle format only without the DRM. Anyway, you can certainly read it on a Kindle - I've tested. You buy direct from Random Static rather than via Amazon - if you need help getting it onto your Kindle once purchased give me a yell. The pdf version will also work on the Kindle, though less well.

tales for canterbury

I'm about 1/2 way thorugh this now and loving it. It's a great collection of short stories, many are really poignant. Loads of authors new to me, but I'll investigate their others works. Really recommend this to anyone who likes short stories.

>27 reading_fox:, reading_fox: Glad you're enjoying it!

#28 - My review - Really enjoyed all of the stories. In the unliekly event the publishers want to use any of it, it's fine by me.

Don't like e-books generally so I just placed my order for the paperback edition. Tim, thanks for keeping us informed.

> 29, reading_fox: As far as I know, this is the first review that has appeared, so the publishers may well want to make use of your review, especially since it's so positive - I'll pass this offer on to them

>30 AHS-Wolfy:, AHS-Wolfy: Thanks, and I hope you like it!