New Zealand’s geologists have once again been doing an excellent job of explaining this earthquake, and the risks going forward, to the media, and through them, the Kiwi public. Water forced to the surface by liquefaction. The transpressional deformation in today’s earthquake is fairly consistent with the overall sense of motion across the plate boundary that bisects New Zealand. However, strike slip on an east-west trending fault and compression on a north-south trending fault are in fact fairly equivalent in tectonic terms – they can be produced by pretty much the same regional tectonic forces. Superficially, this seems very different from September’s earthquake, which consisted of mainly right lateral motion on an east-west trending fault. The focal mechanism for this earthquake plotted in the figure above, courtesy of the USGS, shows that it is transpressional – a combination of mostly east-west compression, with some right-lateral strike slip motion mixed in – and on a north-south trending fault. When it comes to the impact on people and infrastructure, earthquake magnitude is only part of the story. The proximity of the rupture, combined with the fact that many buildings in Christchurch had unrepaired damage from September’s earthquake, the timing (in the middle of the day rather than the middle of the night) and the ever-looming spectre of liquefaction, which severely magnifies the effects of shaking, have sadly resulted in collapsed buildings, and at least some casualties. This is significantly closer that September’s magnitude 7.0 earthquake, which was 45 km to the west because the energy of seismic waves spreads out and dissipates the further away you are from the rupture point, the shaking experienced in Christchurch today was probably just as, if not more severe, than that experienced in September, even though the quake was smaller in magnitude. The USGS page reports it as a magnitude 6.3, with the rupture occurring just 5 km beneath the surface near the port of Lytellton, only a few kilometres south of Christchurch itself. A few hours ago, Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand, was once again shaken by a large earthquake. International Nursing Review © 2013 International Council of Nurses. It seeks to provide a sense of the experiences and the potential meanings that were derived from being part of this 'moment in time'.Įxamples of innovations in practice emerged during the earthquake response and a number of recommendations for nursing practice are identified. This paper presents an overview of the earthquakes and experiences of nurses working during this time, identifying a range of issues that will benefit from further exploration and research. However, little is known regarding the impact of this, either in personal or professional terms. Nurses played a significant role in the response to the earthquakes and its aftermath. The establishment of an injury database allowed for an accurate picture to emerge of the injury burden, and each of the authors was present and worked in a clinical capacity during the earthquake. SOURCES OF EVIDENCE: This paper developed following interviews with nurses who worked during this period, and draws on literature related to healthcare responses to earthquakes and natural disasters. Staff working in the only emergency department in the city were faced with an external emergency while also being directly affected as part of the disaster. While the highest magnitude quake occurred in September 2010, registering 7.1 on the Richter scale, it was the magnitude 6.3 event on 22 February 2011 which was associated with the greatest injury burden and loss of life. The location of these, around and within the major city of Christchurch, was unexpected and associated with previously unknown fault lines. NZ has experienced earthquakes and aftershocks centred in the Canterbury region of the South Island. To outline the impact of the Canterbury, New Zealand (NZ) earthquakes on Christchurch Hospital, and the experiences of emergency nurses during this time.
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