For those in Wellington

Welcome to our world..... www.stuff.co.nz/national/6081992/Large-e...rattles-both-Islands

Yep Kai - it sure was a cracker of a shake at our place. 5.7 east of Picton. I thought of you guys as I checked the earthquake map and saw you're still getting them daily.
Cheers, Mich.

I have to say I have not actually felt one in weeks. I have heard the house creak a few times and know that is probably one, but that is it.

Yes, I felt the tremble up here near Levin too-was suprised to see it was a 5.7!

OH is working in Wellington, his workmates now think he is an idiot as he didn't even notice it, they think he was just trying to be macho about it.

5.7, 60km deep, not sure how noticeable it would have been on the ground floor - but would have been in felt a multi-storey building. Last one I felt was when the ABs were playing the quarter finals in the world cup (5.5 but shallow and 30km from our place), yet I get all a-jitter at a passing logging truck or the cat scratching on the bed at night.

Wife heard it and then felt it, but I didn't. I was walking from laundry to garage and heard wife freak out asking if it was an earthquake, I heard the garage door rattling and confirmed it was. Wife reckons it was one of the biggest she has felt but I bet it has nothing on the ones in ChCh that are so shallow.

After the September shake, a friend in Chch hung a stone on a piece of string from the ceiling as a monitor. She has 6 year old twin boys and they had been rehearsed in the earthquake drill so knew what to do. They ran under a doorway and stood there. when it was over they yelled out "Stand Down". If they think there might be an earthquake happening, they look at the stone on the string, if it's swinging, they do the earthquake drill.

They were lucky the day of the February quake. They were supposed to go to swimming lessons in town but didn't. The pool they would have been at developed a tsunami and children were washed out of the pool. Some tots were ripped from their mothers arms by it. Very very scary, especially for a tot or child. It rattled the boys enough without the added terror of being swept up by a wave in a pool.

If you have a hanging light rather than a fixed ceiling light, the light swings. That was our guide when we lived in Philipstown. We had a bit of a shake when I was living there. Everyone got under a doorway..... except one, who sat on the couch looking at the light swinging and then went to turn the kettle off first before getting under a doorway. "Never mind the ruddy jug, get under the doorway...... NOW Bardy (her nickname) NOW!

One house I flatted in used to lose the odd brick from the chimney when the wind blew strong, you could hear it hit the roof and slide a bit. Considering the landlord had to step over buckets, bowls, pots and pans in the hallway and living areas to collect the rainwater coming through when he came to get the rent, I doubt if the odd brick falling out of the chimney was of great interest to him. If the house had still been there before the 'quake, it certainly wouldn't be there now.
Try the stone on a string monitor if you are unsure if it's an earthquake or a truck going past. If it's swinging, it's either an earthquake or it's windy and you have a window open.

Yakut

Good advice Yakut. If it's of an evening, I use my wine glass (sloshing or not?) as a monitor. Yes, some of the houses that were barely standing in 2010 are in a sorry state now. It's a bit eerie because until recently, everything was left as was (walls akimbo and interiors exposed) while waiting for insurance decisions.

There was another good jolt in Wellington this morning. Will be a few nerves frazzling, I expect a lot of people in NZ have lost their sense of invinicibility in the last year. I know I have.

I think we all have our own measures.
v-big (June) water empties out of the header tank and comes through the ceiling, though prior to this the pool and pond develop waves (as soon as it finishes, get the saucepans out and head for the spare bedroom to catch the water.
moderate, my hanging pan rack rattles
minor but still easily felt - no time to react, but the sofa goes back and forth
very minor - the leaves on the aloe vera plant wobble.