Hey Jerry and group,

  no probs :)    the epicentre site of the quake is out on the plains from the mountains by some 40 kms or so  is even still a bit east of the foothills.   The plains are alluvial gravel deposits brought down by the various rivers.  they are of substantial thickness (actual depths escapes me offshand), these alluvials overlay a metamorphic basement, that is thrust to the surface alone the main Alpine Fault,  the plate boundary fault between the Indo-Australian and the Pacific Plates.  There are numerous thrust faults east of the main alpine fault that segments the region into long "block" strips.
This quake occurred one one of those "blind thrusts" buried below the alluvium.

  One of my amateur (Ham) radio friends home is at West Melton (you will find that small village on Google Earth) ~ 6km east of the Darfield epicentre.  his home has been trashed, some structural damage but still liveable.  The TV set in the lounge was tossed 15ft across the room. He was totally thrown out of bed. An aircompressor in his workshop that he can only just lift was tossed aside with ease.
   My 2 kids are ok, daughter Sam has been taking lots of pic for me   hope to see them soon and will share with all   :)  She's still pretty shaken,  hasnt had a lot of sleep over the last 48 hrs. the periodic M5 (+ - a few points) keeps them all edgy.

cheers
Dave




> GPayton  wrote:
> 
> Dave, I am so glad that you answered, being from NZ.  I was hoping that you would.
> When the quake occurred, I looked at Google Earth and it appeared that the 
> area was mountainous, but that software can be misleading sometimes.
> Thank you for the input.  I suspect the ground acted like a "wet sponge"  then.
> Best regards,
> Jerry
> 
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