CHRISTCHURCH – A “severe” magnitude 5.7 earthquake has hit the New Zealand city of Christchurch almost five years after a deadly tremor devastated the region.

The quake was the largest since May 2012 and hit with enough force to fling items off shelves and walls and push up liquefaction in the city’s streets. Aftershocks continued through the night, the biggest a 3.5 tremor at 4.33am.

GeoNet Science, the official New Zealand earthquake monitoring service, warned of aftershocks following the “severe intensity” quake.

There have been more than 40 aftershocks, GeoNet reported.

A police spokesman said there were no reports of damage or major injuries, although the tremor did cause “some major rocks to be dislodged into the sea” near Sumner.

The Christchurch City Council said cliffs collapsed in several places along the surrounding coast, spreading spectacular large clouds of billowing dust across the sea and hills – videos and images of which have been posted widely on social media.

All the cliff collapses were away from houses or in areas still cordoned off from the public since the February 2011 quake with the help of large containers designed to stop falling boulders.

“Obviously with a 5.7 magnitude earthquake so close to the eastern coast of Christchurch, it’s certainly been a big shock for the city, a setback in terms of people’s confidence and feeling of security,” Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel said.

“Our city is stronger than it was five years ago. There are going to be a lot of people out there feeling very vulnerable.”

Several buildings were evacuated in Christchurch as a precaution.

Jenny Krex, the manager of a coffee shop in the seaside suburb of Sumner, told the New Zealand Herald items broke in her shop after the quake struck.

“Everyone got a big fright, we had everyone running out,” she said. “I made sure everyone was okay, it was quite a big shock. It’s crazy out here at the moment.”

The quake struck a week before the fifth anniversary of a deadly magnitude 6.3 tremor which killed 185 people and caused billions of dollars of damage in one of New Zealand’s deadliest disasters.

GeoNet said the epicentre of the latest earthquake was 15 kilometres east of the city at a depth of 15 kilometres.

The earthquake is a huge setback for the confidence of the city but it has been lucky to escape with no major damage, Mayor Dalziel said.

“It really is a real set-back psychologically for the city,” she said. “It struck very sharply and very unexpectedly. I’ve kind of got used to hearing an earthquake coming but this came ‘bang’, without warning.”

An organisation set up to help Cantabrians cope mentally after the two big quakes says some people will struggle following the strong tremor.

‘All Right?’, run by the Canterbury District Health Board and the Mental Health Foundation, said the 5.7 quake will have been a big setback for some residents’ mental recovery.

Public health specialist with the board Lucy D’Aeth said some people would feel like they had lost a lot of ground and would revert to worrying about whether there would be more big quakes.

“People will be very shaken up, it’s a horrible shock just before the fifth anniversary – we haven’t had a shake like this in a long time and it will have given people a hell of a fright.”

She said the jolt may have reawakened feelings experienced after the first two big earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Recovery from natural disasters such as the previous two damaging big quakes can take up to 10 years. - PNC sources

Kiribati looks at lifting islands

TARAWA – The outgoing President of Kiribati says he will be asking the New Zealand government if they would like to join other countries in finding an engineering solution to the plight the atolls suffer at the hands of climate change.

Anote Tong is in New Zealand attending a Pacific Climate Change Conference at Wellington’s Victoria University.

Tong said he had been discussing various solutions to the problems Kiribati faced when it comes to being inundated by the seas.

He said lifting the islands by fortifying them with walls and other structures was being looked at as well as creating floating islands similar to the concept of oil rigs.

“It’s being studied right at this moment. We’ve had the United Arab Emirates visit together with dutch engineers.

“I have been talking to a number of countries to see if they are interested in partnering the United Arab Emirates in doing this, but I think it is an exciting initiative.

“One that’s breaking new ground. One that will bring hope to where there is hopelessness.”

Anote Tong said he also wanted to discuss immigration and employment solutions with regional leaders, including New Zealand.

See more on next page.

- RNZI