Earthquaking

*nods and smiles*

Prefer Ken Ring's theory.

All that silt that they are cleaning up, would they be able to reuse it in say a concrete mix for roadways??

Sepp Blatter adds his condolences

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/president/news/newsid=1388138.html?cid=twitter_president

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter has expressed his sympathy and offered moral support to New Zealand after the city of Christchurch was left devastated by an earthquake on Tuesday.

Over 70 people have been confirmed dead, while many more are missing.

"I have been following with sadness the news of the terrible tragedy in your country and I would like to express my deep sympathy to the people of New Zealand and the New Zealand football family," Blatter wrote in a letter he sent to New Zealand Football (NFF) President Frank Van Hattum and his Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) counterpart David Chung.

"On behalf of FIFA, I wish to extend our moral support and to let you know that our thoughts are with the many victims, the injured and their families."

Same here and i'm not even in NZ.
The odd train rumbles past in the night which shakes the apartment a bit.A couple of times i've woken up thinking it was an earthquake.
Never happened before.

I've got to say, as an Aucklander who has only been down here for two days, even those 3-4 magnitude quakes freak the sh*t out of me. I was at a funeral for one of the victims ...

There's another one!

...anyway, so I was at a funeral for one of the victims of last week's quake and the whole chapel started to shake. That was only a 3.5! I hate to think what the much larger ones are like when your nerves are so frayed. The resilience and comradery of people down here, particularly in the hardest hit suburbs is truly admirable.

Not sure, it can also be used as top soil where grass is about to be resown. Apparently it's full of nitrates

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/4729980/Fleming-calls-legends-for-Christchurch-charity

charity match at the Basin Reserve
When: Sunday March 13, 4pm Where: Basin Reserve How much: Adults $15, children $5 (to be confirmed)

Karl du Fresne always got picked last for sport at school and has never gotten over it

Running out of obliging sheep in the 'rapa Karl?

Doh, comments made by a non football fan. Usually is a very good writer but on this subject, out of his depth.

from the Melb Vic twitter page. good on them.

gomvfc is supporting �Dear Christchurch, Love Melbourne� a fundraising party for Christchurch Quake Relief to be held... http://fb.me/IuPkEBpf

Dave Grohl, such a legend.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/4731378/Foo-Fighters-hint-at-Chch-show

This guy has no idea. We all see this as a welcome distraction. If it wasn't for the Phoenix I would have gone insane during the last 6 months of aftershocks. Same with others and their Rugby/Netball/Cricket. I was going to leave a rather scathing comment but can't justify signing up to the service.

I posted, check the link.

And in case he deletes it, I said this...

"Well what an absolute muppet. Probably the most stupid anti-football rant Ive read to date. How are you a journalist? Or is this just a side hobby for you or something?
Natural/political/cultural events are always going to happen... so what, never show an interest in sport?

Who says I cant follow the happenings of my local club at the same time as a national crisis?

By the way, I can guarantee you that Im bidding on more Phoenix Charity items on Trademe than you are.

For all we know youre just writing articles like this for self gain, using the Quake as some kind of platform to advance this 'career' youve got going on.  "look at me Im writing about the earthquake, bad mouthing anyone I can to make it look as though I actually care, when all i really care about is how many page views my blogs gets"

I dont even know who you are, so dont think youre as important as youre making yourself (or your opinion) out to be.

I'll be posting this in the Yellow Fever > Off Topic > Earthquaking thread also (just in case you delete it), so pop along for some LOLs, seeing as you like us so much.

- You. Dont. Know. What. Youre. Doing."

Haha the f**king cock sucker deleted it already


Karl du Fresne

• Gender: Male
• Industry: Communications or Media
• Occupation: Journalist
• Location: New Zealand

About Me

I am a freelance journalist living in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. In the presence of Greenies I like to boast that I walk to work each day - I've paced it out and it's about 15 metres. I write about all sorts of stuff: politics, the media, music, wine, films, cycling and anything else that piques my interest - even sport, though I admit I don't have the intuitive understanding of sport that most New Zealand males absorb as if by osmosis. I once played in bands and would like to do so again while I still have strength to lift a bass guitar. I've been in journalism for more than 40 years and like many journalists I know a little bit about a lot of things and probably not enough about anything."

Too true.

AJ132011-03-04 21:18:06

We'll see how long mine lasts... lol

This is sort of getting off topic but I've been reading a couple of his other posts. He knows almost nothing about everything. One of his 'expert opinions' was about the media coverage of the quake. I don't know how it's seen from outside the affected area, but from in here it's generally seen as rubbish, uninformative, slow off the mark (see Mark Sainsbury talking right through a 4.5 quake without even mentioning it). Presenters were generally asking the wrong questions, especially on day 1 I remember someone asking whether or not Chch should even be rebuilt. I know a lot of people including myself who are annoyed at the praise given to television media for 'getting across to the people what the situation is really like'.

While I'm at it, I remember Simon Dallow at one point saying "We've just had a shock here which reached 4 on the richter scale and that was really scary, who knows what it must have been like during the initial 6.3 shake." Well I can inform you that approx 500,000 people know what it was like. Pardon my french here but, f**ken c**t.

This.

Like when he wrote songs which were influenced by the Beconsfield Miners on Echos, Silence, Patience and Grace.TopLeft072011-03-04 22:06:55

That blogger's just angry cos he's ginga.

I am cutting everyone a bit of slack as the stress levels are throught the roof here at present.

I don't know if you're referring to just the broadcast media, but the response I've got (being a nzherald.co.nz reporter) on the ground here has been nothing but complementary, particularly in the eastern suburbs. Of course we don't do it for the praise but it certainly is nice to hear. People are actually happy to see us - I thought there may be some anti-media sentiment - but people are just stoked we are there to tell their stories. Many people have told me it will only get worse when the media leave, because more coverage means money donations and we can keep a check on the authority's response.

I think with broadcast media, anywhere in the world, they can struggle to fill time in live broadcasts, no matter how big the story. They often fill the air with waffle and stretch out anything to fill the space. But overall I think the coverage has been great. Many of those reporting have also been affected by the quake, and to be honest it is a really emotional thing to cover, even if you're not down here.

I have to say, no media can really get "across to the people what the situation is really like". You only know if you are here, and even then only the residents truly know how awful this tragedy is.

This. There are so many heroes, in fluoro jackets and without.

I was referring to the television media. I gave up on both TV1 and 3 rather early in the piece and have been looking at theherald.co.nz for all my info. I'm one of the lucky ones who lives in the original quake zone and hasn't been affected by the latest quake (except it was enough to topple my Phoenix coffee mug off the bench and broke the handle ) and I guess I'm still venting some frustration from then as the rural community was largely ignored. TV 1 and 3 quite often went late and finished early from live press conferences which I found quite annoying. TV1 was also late showing the 2 minutes of silence. I haven't listened to much of the radio to be fair, but have heard the coverage was very good from people who didn't have access to a TV for a few days. The big bonus to sources like theherald.co.nz and stuff.co.nz is all the information is right in front of you, so you can choose what you want to see based on need, rather than waiting for important info amongst all the other stuff.

Yep, like that dude who was a water cooler salesman or something, he asked for time off work to continue helping with supplying people with food (hes making no profit btw, if anything hes losing money), his employers said 'no', so he quit. Its the dozens of people, if not hundreds, like this, and not dipsh*ts commentating from half way up the country behind a computer.

Its funny how Karl douche Fresne is more than happy to criticise, but whats he actually doing to help out?  He hasnt said sh*t.
AJ132011-03-04 23:45:54

Not just hundreds AJ13, thousands. 1500 farmers from all over Canterbury (and possibly further afield?) have travelled into the city in tractors or with a shovel and barrow to help remove the silt, and what's even better is they're working together with god knows how many students which is just moving things along so quickly. None of these guys are getting paid for what they're doing, they just do it in their time off, I'll be joining the farmy army tomorrow on my first day off since the quake. Get in!

It drives me mad when they cut off early from the press conferences! They'll be halfway through something interesting and then cut out so someone can prattle nonsense. Annoyed me even more when I was in Auckland and was following the pressers for info and they'd always cut out early - if they show them at all!

Not hard to find interesting stories down here from a media perspective.
Step 1: Find person.
Step 2: Introduce yourself.
Step 3: Listen.
Step 4: Write and file story.

Exactly. Although some people I imagine just want to be left alone, a lot of people want to talk about what they've seen and what they are/were going through and find it lifts a huge weight off their shoulders. Although I was never interviewed by the media, I did take part in an IMG promotional video about their earthquake response in September, and just having the opportunity to explain to people what it was actually like being thrown around, freaking out as the power in the cow shed was going off and coming on several times before it went pitch black, whilst looking at the 'light polution' from Chch doing the same thing at exactly the same time, cows stampeeding in the yard, seeing the other farm hand come back as pale as a ghost after nearly being thrown off his quad bike. All that sort of thing is interesting, stuff I imagine people want to try and understand, not 'Is it worth rebuilding Christchurch?' I guess that's another disadvantage to the television media, that they're quite restricted to the amount of air time they can give any interviews made.

Anyway, time for me to focus on the positives to come out of this event. My family are all alive, football season is close at hand (hopefully) and I'm off into town tomorrow to help those less fortunate.

Yeah i dont think id be too keen to talk about sh*t if it happened here aye, not on TV anyway

Someone came up with this for those who want to chat/rant/vent/talk about the quake or anything else:

http://www.facebook.com/AdoptACantab

Think it's a great idea

Sky News has been the best IMO.

NZDT: Sat, Mar 5 2011 7:34 pm

Magnitude: 4.8

Depth: 11 km

Details: Within 5 km of Lyttelton

Sure felt that one. Hope everyone's ok?

That one freaked the sh*t out of me! Actually had me running for the door frame. I don't know how you Cantabs cope, to be honest. Incredible!

So now they are talking about a fund raiser at Wembley English Olympic side v All Whites.
www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-news/sport/4736497/All-Whites-could-play-Wembley-fundraiser

Be interesting to see how effective that would be. As an alternative, If Ryan Nelsen and NZF had a chat with Air NZ, they would probably fly all the stars to NZ for free. Thoughts?
RedGed2011-03-06 12:44:26

The first one had me running for the door, I was sitting on my bed, when it started shaking, and I went 'sh*t! earthquake!' and ran for the door, but by the time I got there it had already stopped, but I stayed there panting for a few seconds. lol.
But the second one, I kind of just woke up, and went 'ugh, whaat?' and put my duvet over my head.
Intelligent, that'll protect me from falling bricks.

I dont think it's the cost of the flights that's the problem,more the length of the flight itself.

Guess wembley is sensible. More money potentially,easier for players.

Yeah, I thought this initially too about Wembley  but then is AW's v an U23's team a significant enough drawcard to get a crowd? At least in NZ with a serious World XI coming out, we would probably pack a stadium.
It would be a long flight direct, what about a stopover if reqd?

I was at my cousins apartment on the 3rd floor just outside the CBD. Didn't have me running for the door but sure is the biggest I've felt for a while. The TV was bouncing around the cabinet.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=359664338&ed=true

If only I had a bit of money

Friedns of mine, expat cantabs all, have started a fundraising event for Chch Plunket- a massive jumble sale of kids toys and clothes

There is an event in Auckland and Wgtn on Sat 19 March

Spread the word to your frends with young families- there'll be bargains galore:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1103/S00352/the-christchurch-rumble-jumble.htm