2016 Kaikoura Earthquake

Well I said shake, rattle and roll

I said shake, rattle and roll

I said shake, rattle and roll

I said shake, rattle and roll

Well you don't do right

To save your doggone soul

Shake, rattle and roll

- Jesse Stone

Moving to New Zealand, we knew we were moving to a geologically active area of the world. We knew it intellectually, but this week we got to know it viscerally.

In January/February 2014, we came to New Zealand on holiday. We had an idea we wanted to work and live here, so we headed across the Pacific for a scouting trip and for a holiday to experience as much of New Zealand as we could before committing to a contract sight unseen. We had just under two weeks, and we knew we couldn't see everything, so we made plans to hire a caravan and explore the North Island. The caravan idea came about from the suggestion of friend with whom I worked and occasionally played golf. It was on the golf course that he told me about his trip to NZ and about "caravaning".  And it was during that conversation that I first heard about New Zealand and earthquakes. He had been to NZ a couple of years before and had wanted to go to Christchurch during his visit. Unfortunately, he was unable to do so because ChCh experienced a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in February 2011, just before he arrived.

 

The epicenter of the Christchurch earthquake was close to City Centre (10km/6mi) and it was relatively shallow at 5km/3mi underground. The quake only lasted about 10 seconds but it caused massive damage. In the downtown core, 45% of the 3000 buildings were eventually tagged as unsafe and by February 2015, 1240 had been demolished. 170K buildings and homes were damaged and 11.5K required demolition. Six years later, the city has only partially recovered. The economic impact has been nearly equal to that of Hurricane Katrina but because of insurance disputes many people continue to live in severely damaged homes.

On our trip to New Zealand, we didn't experience any earthquakes (that we noticed), but we did take advantage of the fact that NZ is geothermically active. One of our first stops was at Hotwater Beach. Its name comes from the underground hot springs that filter up through the sand. People dig holes in the beach that then fill up with hot water. The water can get so hot as to be unbearable. We didn''t have shovels so digging holes was somewhat laborious. We had a similar experience on the shores of Lake Rotorua and this time we had digging tools. Our beach "hot tub" was so hot we had to dig a channel to the lake to allow cooler water to flow in.

  

I have felt earthquakes in other places I have lived and traveled, but they were more of the "what was that?" kind of experience and then only later finding out there had been an earthquake. Kari has never been through a quake before this week. A few minutes after midnight on 14 Nov 2016, I awoke to the bed shaking. It wasn't much, like someone vigorously scratching an itch, but it was going on a little long and I was getting annoyed. I rolled over to ask Kari "What the hell?" and realised that she wasn't in bed. Just about that time, I heard a rhythmic clacking. It took a second or two to recognize it as the sound of the wooden knobs on the blind pulleys smacking against the wall. I figured out pretty quickly that it was an earthquake. That's when the fun began. The bed started a slow roll, yaw, and heave like a small boat in moderate seas. When the bed started heaving, I actually got a little sea-sick. Afterward, I couldn't help but compare it to the bed scene in The Exorcist ... minus the priests and demons, of course.    

Kari turned on the hallway light just about then and I called out to her to go lie down with Little H. I laid there in bed, heaving and rolling, listening to the house. If I heard anything crash, crack, or break, I would have to get my family out of there. I figured we were otherwise safest lying down on our beds. The entire episode lasted a minute or two, but it felt much longer. I was eventually able to fall back asleep. Kari was up the rest of the night.

Here's Kari's experience in her own words ...      

I woke up during the night for my usual bathroom break ... too much water before bed, after effects of pregnancy, age ... who knows, but this is part of my nocturnal life now. Anyone who knows me is well aware of my eyesight and the fact that it borders on legal blindness. With that being said, I was out on my own ... no contacts, no glasses, "Costco walking" (a Grant term ... ask him about it) and praying I make it the 20 or so feet to avoid the involuntary void. As I reached the bathroom door, I heard this bizarre noise that was clearly affecting our roof. It initially sounded like large rain drops pelting the roof, but then I thought maybe it was someone or something outside our bathroom. This further delayed my appointment with the toilet, as I was truly frightened and did not want to open the bathroom door and proceed. Fear of stress incontinence ruled and I made my way to the toilet (sorry for the visual).

As soon as I sat down, the whole room and house started swaying and it felt as if the floor was receiving rolling waves. It only took me a few seconds to realize this was an earthquake. Adrenaline kicked in, and damn it, I could no longer pee. Without meaning to sound dramatic, I found myself unable to call out to Grant, another bizarre moment because I never shut up. I think I can be described as one of the most non-dramatic individuals, so please bear with me ...

I stood to try and make it back down the hallway and to our bedroom. This posed a problem ... I have been on a couple of cruises, and certainly spent many years on the Gulf of Mexico fishing with my late father, but never in what I considered rough seas. What transpired as I walked from the bathroom to the hall would be exactly what I imagine it would be if you were trapped on a boat in a squall or rough seas. I could barely keep my balance. Crawling may have been a better option, but didn't think of it at the time. With the bathroom light off, I turned on the hallway light and set my sights on making it back to our bedroom. It was then that Grant called out to me to go to Little H's room and be with her. As I laid there, the wooden blinds in the windows relentlessly banged against the window and frame. She has a pendulum light in her room and with each sway, I feared it would be broken ... it came that close to her ceiling.

In retrospect, I am sure the quake woke me, not my bladder. This was one of the most eerie and nearly indescribable experiences I have ever been through. Little H never roused, but asked to be woken if there is another quake. I told her I hope there won't be, but if so, I would never wake her ... she would have been terrified. In fact, an aftershock came the next evening while we were watching TV. I also happened to be on the phone with my brother. I turned to Little H and asked if she felt the quake and she said 'yes'. She proceeded to ask if we would be ok, to which I replied 'yes'. She hasn't brought it up anymore and was so brave and helpful when I packed a 'grab and go' bag and parked the car outside of the garage for the night. This definitely was not on any of our bucket lists, but happy to mark it off.

We have been avidly following the news and Geonet online. This event was actually 2 overlapping earthquakes involving 6 fault lines. In total, it lasted about two minutes, but the two events overlapped for about 50 seconds. Interestingly, not only was it two separate events, but the events were two different kinds of earthquakes.  

With more recent analysis, it was upgraded to Magnitude 7.8        

Some of you may know me from another life ... one where I studied Marine Science and worked for an oil exploration company mapping geological structures under the sea floor. Please indulge me while I totally geek out on this stuff. For my non-science/geology/oceanography friends, earthquakes occur when parts of the Earth's crust called tectonic plates rub up against each other. These plates can interact such that one plate gets forced under while the other rides up (Convergent), both are lifted and forced apart (Divergent), or they slide along each other (Transform).

Movements along fault lines are felt as "earthquakes" and are described as a Normal Fault, a Thrust or Reverse Fault, or as a Strike-slip Fault.

The 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake was one of the largest in recent New Zealand history. The Magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred along 6 fault lines and was comprised of two separate events; a Thrust and a Strike-slip. It has had huge environmental and economic impacts. Two people died and there was significant damage to buildings as far away as Wellington (150km/95mi) on the North Island. Multiple slips (rock slides) have cut off the only major road in and out of Kaikoura.  

From the Labour.org website (I could not find photo credit)

Notice the bent railroad tracks ...

 

From NZ Herald website. Left photo credit Mike Scott. No photo credit available for image on Right.

Road damage ...  

From the GNS Science web site. Photo credit not available.

Locally, the rail line between Palmy and Wellington was shut down and roads between here and there were closed. There were some heavy rains South of us, and that combined with the loosening of the ground from the shaking led to some pretty significant flooding. We didn't have any damage, and other than getting a little motion sickness (no puking though), it didn't seem to affect us much, until the consequences of the closures were brought home to me at work the other night.

On Tuesday night, almost 48 hours after the earthquake, I was working in A&E. We got a radio report from one of the medical helicopters that they would be landing at our facility. On board, they had a patient with an ongoing STEMI (heart attack). He had been seen earlier at another hospital to the north of us. His STEMI had been diagnosed and he had been treated appropriately, even given thrombolytics (medicine to open the blockage in his heart) but was continuing to have pain and his ECG (electrical activity of his heart) was still abnormal. They were transferring to Wellington by helicopter to get him to a facility where they could surgically open the blockage.

When it comes to muscle damage from ischaemia (lack of blood flow), time matters. Unfortunately, the weather further South was so bad, it was unsafe for the helicopter to continue flying. Normally in this situation, we would package him up to continue his transfer by ground. However, the roads to the South of us were also closed because of flooding and slips due to the heavy rains and earthquake. There was nothing else we could do for this poor guy but watch him and hope. Just before transferring him to the inpatient CCU (Cardiac Care Unit), he told us that his pain was gone and a repeat ECG showed normalization of the wave forms. It took a while, but it would appear the thrombolytics he was given prior to his helicopter ride finally had an effect.

I always imagined that an earthquake would be like what you see in the movies ... short and violent. From what I have been reading, the kind of long-period wave activity we experienced is more typical of large earthquakes and this one was also unusually prolonged. I have never been through a quake this big before, but I'm glad we did and that everyone is alright. I will learn from this experience ... how to recognize it, what to do, what not to do, and how to be better prepared.



She'll be right, mate ...

Farm to Table

Green Acres is the place for me.

Farm living is the life for me.

Land spreading out so far and wide.

Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.

- Eddie Albert, Theme to "Green Acres"

I have already mentioned the similarities between Palmerston North, NZ and Iowa City, IA (USA). Both manage to offer most of what much larger cities do, yet they are small enough to be easily navigable. They are both made to seem much bigger than they are because of the presence of universities that attract diverse international populations of students, professors, staff, and their families. Another similarity is in their rural surroundings. Whether you are in IC or Palmy, a short 5 minute drive outside of the city puts you in a rural, agrarian setting.

It wasn't that long ago in our history that pretty much everyone had some connection to a farm and a consequent understanding of where our food comes from. As America's population has become more urban, most of us have lost that connection. In a lot of America, that disconnection started several generations ago; but in certain pockets, like much of Iowa, that connection is not so far removed. In New Zealand, it isn't far removed at all.

People here are intimately aware of how life begins, how unfair it can be, where our food comes from, and how it gets here. When Kari and Little H went to the local A&P (Agricultural and Pastoral) fair, they encountered a piglet, the runt of the litter, with a lame leg and some difficulty getting its "fair share" of nursing time. One little boy was lamenting its fate and concerned it might die. As they moved on, his mother stated "That's life on the farm."

This week-end, we ventured out on the Horowhenua Taste Trail. Eight rural businesses opened their operations to visitors for the day. They included working farms, an eel processing operation, a candy factory, and a winery.

    

We started out at Woody's Free Range Farm. They breed and grow 100% pasture-raised Heritage pig breeds and use no antibiotics or hormones. They are a small operation but do have meat packs available online and I can't wait to try what they have to offer. We put on our gummies (rubber boots) and got to tramp around a little bit. Unfortunately, all the rain we have had lately caused their stream to flood and closed off access to a large portion of their farm.

Highland Cattle need to get their bangs cut. They always remind me of that sheepdog from the Roadrunner cartoons.

 

 

Two of the Heritage pig varieties at the farm ... Large Black and Berkshire pigs

 

Once the piglets are no longer suckling, they are called "Weaners" ... Little H (and my inner 4 year-old) giggled.

 

 

Two week old piglets are still cute ... and not nearly as smelly.

 

Farm scenes ... even in the overcast, grey, drizzly conditions, the colours were amazing.

 

 

 

We left Woody's and headed to Takapu Farm. First settled as a farm in 1865, the Keeling family that has been working on this site ever since is now into their 5th generation. When Mr Keeling started working the farm in the 1960's, he had sheep, dairy cattle, beef cattle, and he even tried his hand at farming deer. He found that he could not run the farm profitably while being so diversified, so he concentrated on beef and dairy. At one point, he almost lost the farm, but he purchased the adjacent farm and doubled the size of his operation. He thinks the farm will now be sustainable for at least another generation. He runs the beef operation and his son runs the dairy operation but his son is taking over more and more as he slowly steps away. He grew up on this land, running on the hills, swimming in the lake, shooting possums in the woods, and he says that he has found paradise.

The milking shed can hold 50 cows. Twenty-five get milked at a time and it takes about 8 minutes. Each cow gets milked twice daily and produces about 16L/4gal of milk. Cows will continue to have calfs (and produce milk) for 3-5 years, but a few might do so for 10+ years. Once they can no longer calf, "they take a ride in the truck." Little H asked what that means and Kari replied "Steak."

  

  

In autumn, adult Long Fin and Short Fin eels leave the fresh water streams of New Zealand and head out to sea to spawn. No-one knows exactly where they go, but the suspicion is into the deep waters of the Tropical South Pacific. The adults die after spawning, and after the eggs hatch, the larvae float to the surface and drift back to New Zealand. A traditional food for the Maori people, there is also a commercial fishery for NZ consumption and export to Asia and the U.S. 

The Levin Eel Tranding Co has been in operation since 1978. Eel are harvested in nets and transported to their facility. They are held in large tanks for 2 days, then processed. The facility in the picture below is storing about 10K live eels. The eel we tried had a flavour and texture similar to smoked salmon.

 

 

 

As you might imagine, the place smelled like a giant home aquarium. We left the farm animals behind and went to see how Genoese Pesto runs things. This is a local business that grows their basil in Fiji because of the year-round growing season, then cleans, processes, and packages it locally. Unfortunately, they did not allow any photo taking in their factory.

The next stop was a little sweeter, though. A quick stop to RJ's Licorice to satisfy our sweet tooth, then on to Woodhaven Gardens. This small, family-run produce farm started with 50 hectares providing potatos to the U.S. Marine base during WWII and now farms over 12000 hectares. They have employees from 21 different countries, so each day they fly a different nationality's flag "to make them feel a little more at home." When we visited, the Flag of the Day was France.                    

  

  

  

  

 

Food truck culture is huge here. Even some of the traditional brick and mortar restaurants have traveling kitchens. There are trucks in the local town square and they can be found at just about every local event.

 

 

One the many things that struck me when we first moved to New Zealand was the size of the asparagus in the produce stores. Stalks as thick as a pinky finger are the standard and as thick as my thumb are not uncommon. I find the thicker stalks tough and woody and prefer the really skinny ones typical in a U.S. supermarket. At the Tendertips Asparagus farm, we found out why. The larger stalks are preferred by local consumers and the farm's large export market. Too thin for the market and export, the thinner stalks are set aside to be sold in their farm store only. 

Asparagus take 2-3 years to start producing edible stalks and will continue to do so for about 15 years. The picking season is about 100 days long and all of their pickers are young men from the same village in Samoa. The picking is all done by hand, and it is back-breaking work walking the rows, cutting and picking, from about 4:30 am to about 2 pm every day. They are paid by the weight of what they pick and their top picker made about $2000 NZ last week.

The initial sorting is done by hand, then a computer controlled sorter places the individual stalks into bundles. The final bundles are inspected, weighed, and packed by hand. The packs are dipped in a hot water bath to kill any bugs then sent directly to the cooler so they don't have to use any pesticides.

One of our favourite cafes, The Little White Rabbit, had a food truck set up inside the processing plant selling asparagus inspired foods.

 

 

 

It was a pretty amazing day that involved a lot of driving, a lot of walking through muck and manure, and an assault on the nasal senses that will not soon be forgotten. We got to meet some local business people we otherwise wouldn't have and found a few gems that we will definitely continue to look for online and in the produce store. It was also a reminder that there are people out there who we don't normally think about but who also work hard and take pride in what they do.

Peace ...