Kaikoura Earthquake 7.8 magnitude, 14 Nov 2016
This page was compiled by Lindel and forms part of the Donegal Genealogy Resources Website
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Just after midnight on 14 Nov 2016, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck my town. The quake ruptured up to 10 fault lines and lasted over 2 terrifying minutes!
At the end of it, my house had lost it's chimney, a large window and frame, the water cylinder, and everything we owned was either broken or in total disarray.
We, my husband and 3 children, were mostly unhurt, as were our dogs - my husband sustained an injured hip and my 18 year old deaf cat died within the following week.
Our town was completely cut off from the rest of the world for weeks afterwards - over 1,000 land slips covered the road and rail line and the sea bed has raised between
6 and 10 feet, making our jetties and harbour inaccessible; electricity, water and sewerage are still on-going problems.
Help came with the first dawn, in the form of Civil Defence and the Red Cross, and the following day, Naval ships, in New Zealand for our Naval celebrations,
started arriving to ferry people out of Kaikoura and donated supplies in. The Naval ships were the American USS Sampson, HMNZ Canterbury, Canadian HMCS Vancouver,
Australian HMAS Darwin and HMNZ Te Kaha, with their sailors and helicopters.
The shed I use for my records and research, as well as to house my collection of Crolly dolls and Donegal-related books, was a mess, with fallen bookcases and
everything on the floor. Luckily, my desktop computer and backup hard drives were undamaged, so no records were lost.
On Christmas Eve I finally finished sorting out the shed, getting everything (that was unbroken) back in place, with the added
extras of many nails and screws to repair and fix items to the walls.
I am now able to do more research and add to my website, though with the continuing aftershocks, that work is often interrupted by
me leaving the shed to get to a more open and safer location!
Below are some photographs of the inside of my shed, taken shortly after the main earthquake (click on them to view an enlargement)
and a scan from the Donegal News newspaper 18 Nov 2016.
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