Terror Revisited

This morning, I was woken by another strong aftershock just before 8am, after having also experienced a weaker one just before falling asleep. These were quite a surprise after the eerie stillness/lack of shaking for most if not all of yesterday (during daylight hours at least), though by yesterday evening I getting increasingly anxious that another big shake was inevitably coming along as darkness enveloped the land.

Indeed, I was proven correct.

From Christchurch 4Sep2010 Earthquake

(This photo shows a pattern left on my desk by water splashing out of my cup during the aftershock. Eerily it looks like a stylised face in shock!)

It felt almost as bad as the initial quake, lasting 10-20 seconds I'd guess, shaking things off shelves around me and giving the computer table a good battering. Like with the initial quake, the power cut out instantly again (though was restored again after 15 minutes), and I wondered if this time the quakes had really taken their toll.

However, unlike with the first quake, this happened when there was some daylight around, which made things a bit less scary. No doors were dislodged this time (which was also quite a relief). Also, nothing was broken this time, with most glass/breakable objects having been placed on safer ground, and other items having been rearranged to be less likely to fall.

To illustrate the force of this quake, here are a few examples of things that got moved:
1) the fridge was moved backwards by about an inch, perhaps a bit more than last time
2) the printer was just about knocked off its perch, moving about 2 inches
3) a TV being moved backwards by 2cm (again)

Hopefully these aftershocks die out for good sometime soon (preferably sooner rather than later).