Wellington quiet as earthquakes continue
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E-mail Xinhua, July 22, 2013
The center of Wellington was quiet Monday as the series of quakes that included at least two severe tremors on Sunday continued and workers were advised to stay away from the central business district.
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Broken bottles litter the floor of Regional Wines and Spirits shop after a 6.5 magnitude earthquake shook New Zealand capital Wellington July 21, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua] |
"We need to give engineers and building experts time to check the condition of a large number of buildings in the city," Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said in a statement.
"For now it's about being aware, taking stock of your own situation and having a plan worked out if you need to swing into action," she advised residents.
Wade-Brown told Radio New Zealand Monday that engineers were making visual inspections and have identified superficial rather than structural damage.
Emergency management staff were going through the central city, street by street, to assess the safety of buildings after the magnitude 6.5-magnitude quake on Sunday.
The government's GeoNet monitoring service said the quakes were centered about 30 km east of Seddon, at the top of the South Island, with the two most significant on Sunday being a 5.8 magnitude quake about 19 km deep at 7:17 a.m. and a 6.5-magnitude quake about 17 km deep at 5:09 p.m., followed by magnitude-5.2 minutes later.
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