Christchurch, New Zealand Hit by Magnitude 7.0 Quake: Should Californians Pay Attention? What About God?

Update, February 22, 2011:
A horrific aftershock of magnitude 6.3 struck the Christchurch area yesterday, and dozens of people have been killed. I am saddened by the loss of life and hope the best for the survivors. Some may be wondering why the damage is worse with a lesser aftershock. The quake yesterday was closer to Christchurch and more shallow. That alone can account for the great amount of damage, but building damage is also cumulative. Many of the buildings damaged in September had not been fixed or reinforced, and thus were subject to collapse with the newer quake. Please check here for up-to-date geological information.

The original post follows:

Quick, think of a place in the world where a transform boundary has formed a seriously big fault line, a place where folks are waiting for the "Big One", a place where a magnitude 7 quake is not considered the "Big One" (and think of how people don't really want to think about that)....

Not San Francisco Bay! This is Lyttelton Harbour near Christchurch, New Zealand.

If you are one of my local readers, you will be forgiven for thinking of California, where the San Andreas and many other active faults threaten a large population, and where memories of the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, the 1994 Northridge quake, the 2003 Paso Robles quake, and the 2010 Baja quake are still raw. But this year, we have seen other places where elements of the geology are similar, and where disastrous earthquakes have occurred. Last January, Haiti was devastated by a magnitude 7.0 quake on a strike-slip (horizontal movement) fault zone along a transform plate boundary in the Caribbean Sea, and yesterday Christchurch and other towns on the Canterbury Plain of the South Island of New Zealand were shaken by a magnitude 7.0 event. There are some chilling comparisons to be made between these events (and the 8.8 magnitude event in Chile last February). Chris at Highly Allochthonous has a nice review of the geological background of the earthquake.

I was saddened to hear of the earthquake in Christchurch, and was relieved that there were so few casualties despite the widespread damage. I was privileged to visit there for all of 24 hours back in 2004, but I found it to be a pleasant town in a beautiful geologic setting. My prayers are with those in the region, because although few were injured, the population faces weeks or months of difficult times. Sewers and water lines, gas mains, and other types of infrastructure were severely affected by the shaking, and as many as 20% of homes are uninhabitable.

There are some similarities between the South Island of New Zealand and California: The Alpine Fault is a large scale strike-slip fault system like the San Andreas, which is capable of producing large earthquakes in the range of magnitude 8 (a related fault on the North Island, near Napier, generated a 7.8 quake in 1931, killing 256 people). Like the San Andreas, a bigger quake is expected in the "near" future along the South Island stretch of the fault zone, the so-called "Big One". There are high mountain ranges, the Southern Alps, and the Kaikouras, that might remind some of the Sierra Nevada, although the geological circumstances are different.
Some comparisons are more harrowing. The Baja quake this year and the one in Christchurch both involved few casualties, despite magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.0 respectively. Yet in Haiti, a 7.0 magnitude quake killed more than 200,000 people. Why? There are a number of factors: the Baja quake was in a lightly populated area, for one. But 500,000 people lived in the area affected by the New Zealand quake yesterday. One difference: the New Zealanders have a history of damaging quakes, and have high architectural standards. In Haiti, it had been 300 years since a large earthquake had taken place, and the country is so poor that they couldn't afford to enforce standards even if they had laws on the books.

Another possibility may have saved a great many lives in New Zealand: the quake may have actually been a complex event involving three different quakes. The first quake may have been a 5.8 magnitude foreshock five seconds before the main shock. Five seconds is an eternity in an earthquake, enough to wake people to full consciousness, and enough time for them to make the right survival decision by taking shelter.

It wasn't long before the word "miracle" popped up in relation to the earthquake in New Zealand. I have a real problem with the use of that word in relation to natural disasters. Miracles are invoked if hardly anyone was hurt, as if God (or the gods) were smiling on the folks where the earthquake was happening. But "miracle" is also a term used when rescuers reach a trapped person days after a quake when thousands of others are dead. What does that mean to the families of those who were killed? Why was one person "chosen"? When dealing with natural disasters, we really have to look at the fact that some societies have the resources and knowledge to protect their citizens, and others, whether from corruption or external economic factors, do not. If someone survives a disaster, it is often the result of planning, education, and available resources.

Some of the most despicable people on this planet are the ones like the 'evangelist' Pat Robertson who are so quick to declare that natural disasters are the judgement of God upon people. Mr. Robertson rather stupidly declared that the Haiti earthquake happened because of a pact with the devil 200 some years ago. Why would anyone worship a god so capricious and inefficient that he waits 200 years to get around to punishing the children of the children of the children of the people who committed some kind of sin? Picking and choosing the reasons for a particular natural disaster in regards to the judgement of a deity is a dangerous and evil pathway that will someday come back on you.

My religious and ethical beliefs speak of the equality and value of each human being on this planet, but our planet is not a very equal place. Sometimes, certain citizens of the richest countries have an arrogance and sense of entitlement that is not actually particularly deserved. Any of us could become a victim of a natural disaster at any time. Haiti is still in a desperate place; have you donated anything lately to help?

Postscript: See this article in "Ask The Pilot" for a perspective on "miracles" in plane accidents.

Postscript 2: An excellent post on the fault offsets on the Canterbury Plain, with maps and photos can be found here.

NSF Geophysicists Blogging from Haiti

Photo from NSF Geophysicists in Haiti

I'm channeling Lee at Arizona Geology, but not all of our readers overlap, I'm sure. A team of NSF geophysicists is on the ground in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, doing some research on ground movements related to the horrific earthquake a few weeks ago. They are also blogging about their experience, and a quick look shows they are describing life on the ground for the Haiti community in the aftermath of the quake as much as they describe the GPS work they are doing. The pictures are both hopeful and heartbreaking. Check it out! And give; we can't forget Haiti just because it isn't in the headlines anymore.

UPDATE: Well worth a read; an American survivor of the earthquake writes about the country she grew to love, and the acts of bravery and kindness she witnessed after being trapped in the rubble. Haiti should not be forgotten; help them, not just by giving food for a day, but by helping them rebuild their country.

The Geologist was Crying Inside....

First, a big shout-out to all the geoblogs out there who provided such first-rate coverage of the Haiti Earthquake over the last few weeks. I appreciate Chris at Highly Allochthonous and Stratigraphy.net for the feeds that got all the information in one place. I was participating in a community symposium tonight about the earthquake in Haiti and needed a powerpoint presentation in a hurry on the geology of the quake, and I found all the info I needed in a few minutes.

The presentation went pretty well. 150 people came out on a rainy Friday night and most stayed for the whole two hours. We had a historian who spoke about Haiti's difficult birth and the difficult conditions that have held Haiti back over the centuries. I was speaking on the geology of the quake, and the implications for a place like California, so towards the ending I tossed up the graphic shown above to see the relative scale of plate boundary relationships in the Caribbean and California. There is no direct correlation, with California part of the American mainland and Haiti an island on oceanic crust, but the idea of a complicated boundary of multiple strike-slip faults leading into a convergent boundary is valid.

It was the last part of the evening that got to me. On the one hand, I was talking to a bunch of Californians and Americans who were interested and upset about what happened in Haiti when the earthquake struck, but despite anything we could say, the country is still pretty much remote from our everyday concerns. On the other hand, three young women sat in the front row listening to our academic discourse. They are MJC students, attending under the auspices of the Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships, the goal of which is to prepare foreign students to return home with personal, academic, and technical skills which will enable them to continue growing professionally, share the benefits of their training with others, and make positive contributions to the development of their countries. Needless to say, these three young ladies were from Haiti. They had lost friends and relatives in the quake, and had to live in fear for days before finding out the fates of their own parents and siblings.

They spoke briefly to the crowd, telling of their pride in being Haitian, and showing pictures of the best of their country, the places of beauty and magnificence, many of which have been lost. I can't imagine what it was like for them; in this country for only a little over a year, learning English almost from scratch, and hearing of the devastation of their home country from afar. And then trying to describe their feelings to an audience of strangers. Sympathetic strangers, but strangers just the same. I tried hard to understand what it was like for them, but the best I could do was to try and imagine what it would be like if the if the situation was reversed. And I felt the tears...

Not to be cynical, but Haiti is going to be gone from the news headlines soon. Some Hollywood star is going to divorce another Hollywood star, or some pro athlete is going to do something stupid, or some politician is going to make some colossally hypocritical assertion. And our collective short attention span will wander to other places. Please don't let it happen. A donation that feeds a few people for a few days is wonderful, but we need to look to the future of the country, and the efforts to help Haitians rebuild an infrastructure that can support the people in the long run. Please consider donating to Habitat for Humanity or other groups that will be participating in the rebuilding of the country.

Hey, I'm Changing Religions: Get Rich Quick!

I'm changing my religion...and there's a really geological connection here, involving earthquakes, gold mining, and diamond mining. You can get really rich if you align yourself with the right deity...

It's taken me a little while to understand the theology here, but apparently there's this God who gets all in a pique about an apocryphal story about the devil from 200 years ago, and sends four hurricanes and a horrific earthquake to smite out the lives of 200,000 great-great-great grandchildren of the person who insulted his sensibilities. On the other hand, a man of "god" spends his life conning money from widows and gullible old people through his television show, and invests the money in gold mining in an African country with the blessings of a bloodthirsty dictator currently on trial at the Hague for vicious war crimes. He also arranges to mine diamonds in another African country with the blessings of another vicious dictator, and uses the planes of his so-called "Operation Blessing" relief organization to ferry the mining equipment. The upshot is that this man, Pat Robertson, is worth $400 million to $1 billion.

OK, I'm not sure I really want to be associated with this kind of god. In fact, all I can say is that Pat Robertson is a repugnant human being. A man who takes credit for diverting hurricanes from his broadcasting center, which goes on to kill or injure many people where it does hit. A man who blames the 9/11 terror attack on liberals and homosexuals (along with another repugnant man, Jerry Falwell, who is dead now). He is a hateful bigot and a charlatan.

I kind of doubt that many of my readers send money to Pat Robertson, but if any do I have to say this: geologic disasters happen. They happen to evil people, they happen to good people. When you start judging people who are the victims of natural disasters, you dehumanize them. It makes it easier to ignore the terribly real pain and suffering that is going on, and will make you less inclined to help.

Please help out. There are many organizations on the ground in Haiti, including OxFam, Doctors Without Borders, and Habitat for Humanity (remember that months from now when we've collectively forgotten Haiti, rebuilding will still need to go on). Give now, and remember to give later when another story steals the headlines. All people are precious, and remember, you could be next. The earth doesn't judge us, it just continues doing the things it has for a long time. Sometimes, unfortunately, people get in the way.

"I hear the crying of the hungry
In the deserts where they're wandering
Hear them crying out for Heaven's own
Benevolence upon them
I Hear destructive power prevailing
I hear fools falsely hailing
To the crooked wits of tyrants when they call

I hear them all"

Old Crow Medicine Show