Strong quakes of foreshock and aftershock for main tremor of M6.5 (initially reported M6.9 but later down to 6.5) at 2:31 PM NZ time rocked newzealand south island. Epicenter was in the north east tip of south island, which is near to the capital city wellington. On the same area about three weeks ago there was tremor of M6.5 caused several damages. Yesterday there was no any report of even serious injury, many people came down to the ground and evacuated to safe places. several people who trapped in elevators were successfully rescued. There were several structural and non structural damages.
List of tremors recorded by GEONET
New Zealand faced the similar strength of M6.3 earthquake in 2011, area of Christchurch, claimed 185 lives and economic losses of billions in dollars, in city downtown. New Zealand is also in the line of fire so it is in very active seismic zone. They have strong building and other structural codes and their implementations, so for those moderately strong tremors could not take away lives. If such tremors rock in developing countries, we can not predict the death toll. Some photos of damages on this earthquake from different sites are gathered here.
People have to aware and be safe with in safe buildings to down the loss due to such natural disasters, All have to think themselves and decide to invest on the quality structures either it is public or private.
Photos
