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Author Topic: Major Earthquake in New Zealand Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 09-03-2010 04:53 PM                     A major quake struck N.Z. this morning at 4:35 local time, 12:35 U.S. eastern time. Lets hope everybody fared well, especially our Film Tech friends.  |  IP: Logged Sally Ann Burgess Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: Queenstown, New Zealand Registered: Apr 2008 posted 09-04-2010 02:24 AM                     Thanks, Bill. Being in Queenstown I didn't actually feel anything, but it's just a miracle no-one died given the damage caused. I rang my friends who manage a multiplex, and when they went over this morning to check it out, one of the digital projectors had fallen over, another one (35mm) was leaning over. Crazy.  |  IP: Logged David Favel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 764 From: Ashburton, New Zealand Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-04-2010 09:09 PM                     I am 75 km from the epicentre. Lots of shaking, but little damage here possibly because we live on an alluvial plain - basically the county is an old riverbed. Christchurch cinemas are mostly not open, due to power/water/sewer outages. 1 death due to a heart attack.  |  IP: Logged James Falloon Film Handler Posts: 72 From: Wigram, Christchurch, New Zealand Registered: Oct 2003 posted 09-05-2010 06:20 AM                     I live approx 30km (19 miles) from the epicentre, I've had plenty of 5's and a 6, but this was much worse than that, this was a real "oh my god if this thing doesn't stop soon the house is going to fall down" kind of shake. It was rough and kept on going. The whole house was shaking and rumbling and bouncing around. I've never felt that kind of fear before. The tremors are slowly thinning out after nearly two days. For most of Saturday I kept thinking the ground was still moving but was probably just my heart racing. Just had another little jolt as I type this on Sunday night. Some parts of Christchurch were severely affected, mostly brick/ stone structures and lots of damage in areas with sandy soils; burst water mains, lamp posts toppled, and lots of chimneys collapsed through roofs and lots of "mud volcanoes" etc. Ironically my area, Hornby, the area of Christchurch closest to the epicentre suffered little damage, power and water stayed on, no problems with phone or internet, there was even mail in the letter box. We got off very lightly. Probably as David pointed out we are on alluvial plains and not reclaimed swampland as the more affected parts are. A state of emergency was declared and there was a 7 till 7 curfew on the central business district to stop looting and general safety concerns about buildings collapsing. Bridges were checked for integrity, the airport was closed while runway was checked. There was major flooding in some areas and a few lucky escapes. Two people seriously injured and one death due to heart attack (very surprised it wasn’t more) Driving to work on Saturday morning to check for damage looked like any ordinary day, the sun was shining, roads were fine. In the candy bar some (about half) of the glass shelves had fallen down and broken, scattering stock all over the floor. But nothing major major. Looked pretty bad but once tidied up actually didn't loose much. A few things in the kitchen had toppled over. Upstairs trailers had fallen off shelves and rolled all round the projection room, one of the platters moved about 2 inches from where it was supposed to be, some projectors had gone for a small slide. Cupboards were open with contents spilled out; I have no idea how the split real ended up where it did. Fortunately none of the films had come off the decks, although one did come close. Again we came off far better than I expected. The other cinemas I have a bit to do with have reported similar situations, nothing important damaged just need a bit of time to get the projectors lined back up again. We had everything sorted out by lunchtime on Saturday, but with continuing after shocks and uncertainty over water quality it was decided not to open. So this folks is what a 7.1 magnitude earthquake does to a projection room. (Apologies about the craptacular quality of my phone camera.) That was lucky, Ill be leaving the brains in from now on I think.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-05-2010 03:31 PM                     Fun pics! Although the brains will help, the trick is not to remove the center ring. If you don't have enough to go around, order more. Actually I don't buy the whole earthquake-slid-my-prints-around bit. This probably wasn't the earthquake at all. It was probably just the prints trying to flip themselves over so they are soundtrack up.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-05-2010 04:00 PM                     I don't buy the "earthquake" either...they just keep their projection booths VERY sloppy!  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-05-2010 04:55 PM                     That was a close one with that Shrek print. It obviously needs some help. Any volunteers? If it had been me, I probably would have just pushed it off to have the satisfaction. Ahhhhh... Glad you are all OK though. I have an Aunt in Christchurch. They started out with no power, water etc then it all came back on but now the water is off again, I hear because of concerns for its contents. She said the quake lasted about a minute. Yikes! She also says she'd had about 50 aftershocks and this was Saturday afternoon.  |  IP: Logged David Favel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 764 From: Ashburton, New Zealand Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-05-2010 09:56 PM                     Thats why I got off so lightly, soundtracks were up.  |  IP: Logged Warren Smyth Expert Film Handler Posts: 158 From: Auckland ,New Zealand Registered: Aug 2003 posted 09-06-2010 08:00 AM                     I have been editing footage of the quake for TVNZ. It is hard to believe that there was no loss of life and with few exceptions, minor injuries only. This was largely because of the time the earthquake struck, when residents were asleep. Also, the standards requiring earthquake resistance in the design of buildings no doubt helped. Many of the older buildings have been strengthened over the years even outside of the earthquake zones. When the Auckland Civic was restored (thats the theatre King Kong demolishes in the film), a large part of the 40 million restoration dollars went into bracing and strengthening. Does anyone know if the old Odeon in Christchurch was damaged? We are thankful the loss wasn't greater. Now the cleanup has begun, we are aware of the devastating impact it is having on the lives of so many including children, who have lost their homes. Our thoughts are with them.  |  IP: Logged James Falloon Film Handler Posts: 72 From: Wigram, Christchurch, New Zealand Registered: Oct 2003 posted 02-21-2011 08:19 PM                     6.3 aftershock at 12:50pm local time 5KM deep, signifigant damage Multiple fatalities reported, two busses crushed by collapsing building multiple Buildings collapsed / fires power out to 80% of city people trapped in buildings a day of very black news for some local state of emergency declared Central city evacuated will keep everyone informed (see pics above - approximately the same) people being rescued no comminication from Banks Peninsula Airport closed described as the nightmare that didn't happen in september Billions more damage, people need help Massive aftreshocks still occouring hospitals are only taking serious cases. search and rescue being deployed, no figures on number trapped, injured, or building dammaged/ collabsed. known to be signifignant roads damaged aircraft used to rescue people from buildings emergency services being bought in from other towns  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-21-2011 09:10 PM                     Terrible news, James. I hope you and your are all safe and well.  |  IP: Logged James Falloon Film Handler Posts: 72 From: Wigram, Christchurch, New Zealand Registered: Oct 2003 posted 02-21-2011 11:33 PM                     65 confirmed dead Littleton (close to epicenter) described as "it looks like it's been bombed" 60% of houses destroyed Was very scary in the projection room. projectors shifting, stuff falling over, no lamps exploded but must have come close. i was between a kinoton FP20A and sound rack and I was hanging on. the kinoton must have been swinging 4 inches side to side at the top, the picture was off the screen in parts. glad the lamp didn't let go. I'm very fortunate that after the september earthquake an extra brace was added from the top of the kinoton to the ceiling otherwise it probably would have toppled over with me under it. And it kept going. very nearly threw the film. those stick on rubber pad things do nothing in a 6.3 earthquake. The two other projectors (bauer U4 and simplex millenium) went for another slide across the floor, and they keept going too, and those prints were seconds away from hitting the floor as well. Shut everything down, straightened the films out, and figured I'd motor through the rest of the movies to not get late for the next set. and see how badly out of whack everything was. After the 2nd aftershock, we GTFO just left, films still threaded, will have to go in tomorrow morning and sort it out. no other damage to our cinema, no ceiling tiles fell down, we were very lucky, we had babies and wheelchairs.  |  IP: Logged David Favel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 764 From: Ashburton, New Zealand Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-22-2011 12:38 AM                     Shit, what a difference 75km makes. Sounds like a job well done in Hornby.  |  IP: Logged Jim Henk Master Film Handler Posts: 364 From: San Diego, CA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 02-22-2011 02:09 AM                     I assume the Red Cross is scrambling for blood (and other) donations? Will check here.  |  IP: Logged Marc Jensen Film Handler Posts: 20 From: Auckland, New Zealand Registered: Jan 2006 posted 02-25-2011 05:09 PM                     The NZ Hoyts website has this to say on it's front page: quote: Due to the recent events in Christchurch we are sorry to report that the following cinemas are closed: Hoyts Moorhouse Hoyts Northlands Hoyts Riccarton Regent on Worcester Hoyts will undertake to return to normal operating hours as soon as possible I haven't heard the extent of the damage to the various cinemas around Christchurch yet, but so far it sounds mostly material where the cinemas and cinema employees are concerned. Structure damage and flooding/liquifaction have been reported. I'm concerned about the ongoing employment side of this catastrophe too. Job losses are highly probable, and evacuations and relocations will likely reshape the market, regardless of how well the complexes pull through. Matt Jones, a union organiser for cinemas in the area has been out delivering supplies and is contactable where Unite members are concerned. The city in general isn't in good shape though. An hour ago the numbers were 123 deceased, and over 200 still missing.  |  IP: Logged

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