A blog post from US Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, David Huebner, titled, "Kia Kaha Canterbury".
Provides a map, the geological background, describes the effects, both in Christchurch and its surrounding areas, the damage to notable buildings, the financial exposure, the emergency response and relief efforts and the media coverage of the earthquake.
The magnitude 7.1 Christchurch earthquake broke off an enormous chunk of Castle Rock in the Port Hills which has tumbled down towards the Lyttelton tunnel. View from Morgan's Valley (-43.578037° 172.714828°).
Sue Holmes, resident of Seabreeze Close in Bexley, which was built on reclaimed land which has liquefied after the Canterbury earthquake; Dr Tom Wilson, lecturer in Hazard and Disaster Management, from the department of Geological Sciences, Canterbury University; and Bob Parker, Mayor of Christchurch.
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
Rolleston/Burnham, South Island, NZ It's been a busy few weeks! Was away on geology fieldtrips all the previous two weeks, then on Saturday morning 4th September 2010 at 4.35 am we got woken in Westport to a reasonable but very long earthquake. My husband was back in Christchurch at the time and texted me saying "are you ok?". I replied, "yes!"...
None
This one was really flowing out of the ground.
None
These were scattered across the park.
Robbie watches a sand volcano smother his driveway.
Debra points at the beginnings of a sand volcano not long after the big earthquake.
Sand volcanoes put the silt all over the road.
An usual thing to see coming from the ground in Hoon Hay, Christchurch.
The earthquake knocked over the bird bath.
Laura and Max return to Christchurch from their holiday in California and inspect the earthquake-caused sand volcano in their front lawn.
(I righted the bird bath after the initial earthquake. None of the after-shocks were sufficient to knock it over again.)