Christchurch: Violent Tremor Rattles Shock-Weary Inhabitants

Violent aftershock follows the thousands of tremors felt since the September 2010 quake. Martin Hunter/Getty Images

Christchurch was shaken by a 5.3 magnitude aftershock in the early hours of this morning.

There have been thousands of aftershocks in the city since the 7.1 magnitude quake that struck on Sept. 4, 2010 and the catastrophic Feb. 22, 2011 quake.

Today’s aftershock was the largest tremor since the Sept. 4 quake last year. It recorded a depth of 15 kilometres and was centred 20 kilometres west of Christchurch, the Christchurch Press reported.

“At 3:04 a.m.the whole house went up in the air and went ‘gazump!’ Then it did it again, twice. I thought it was building into a real big one,” said Eric Robinson, a Christchurch resident.

Last week the Chief Coroner officially reported the deaths of 181 people from February’s earthquake.

The GeoNet website said the quake was felt widely around the Canterbury region, according to the Press.

Christchurch inhabitants are living in limbo, Mr. Robinson said. “The people here are thinking, “When is it going to stop. How do we know how to go on?”

The early morning shock was followed by a magnitude 3.4 tremor at 6:06 a.m., and a 4.1 magnitude shake at 9:09 a.m., said the Geonet website.

The Christchurch police said there were no reports of injuries or further damage the Press reported.