New Zealand = Toronto Earthquake Scenario

As usual, I'm not saying we're going to have a big earthquake right under Hamilton. Our authorities make no mention of this! All I'm saying is that the NZ earthquake is the ideal scenario for our M7 (which can't exist).

Looks like a solid rock earthquake, with perhaps 3 earthquakes of slightly less than M7 (M6.5?). Not a speck of damage on firm foundations. Most of the brick damage looks like the brick parapets dragged the brick facing off. All the parapets should be removed in Toronto and NZ!

Lots of soft ground damage with a lot of liquefaction. I'd love to see the accelerometer data, but I have little hope that they instrumented the place. Like I said, I'd guess a firm-ground PGV of 10-20 cm/s, with a max of 100 cm/s on the swamps. I wonder if they used piles for the modern buildings??

Amazing New Zealand Earthquake

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Nobody was out on the street, so nobody got kabonked by the bricks! I guess they roll up the sidewalks at night! :)

New Zealand Earthquake - Fun Facts

Well, here we are again at the start of a new earthquake! Can't tell much about it, but it's on land, and it's shallow, much the same as Haiti. But here's where we get a chance to check the importance of building codes. NZ has strict building codes, well enforced. If I expect a weakness it will be like Chile, which was high-velocity fling on soft ground. The codes are terrible on this!

This is a subduction zone, but I would guess this is a shallow thrust earthquake, like Haiti. But this time we should actually get some PGV readings! If it is a shallow thrust, then it is most likely a 'super' earthquake, or 'Fist of God', as I like to call them. That means you get a high velocity pulse running up the fault. No building stands when that bursts out, but luckily it is usually a small zone. Well, we'll see.