big earthquake in New Zealand

[LukeA]

Centered near Christchurch.

Please check in with us when you can, Brandon.

[HejiraNYC]

OMG, Christchurch Cathedral collapsed. I once stayed across from the cathedral... lovely area. I hope everyone is okay.

[louielouie2000]

I thought of Brandon immediately when I read about the quake as well... but he's on the North island and the quake rocked the South island. So hopefully he's okay!

[WildHearted]

I hope and pray everyone is okay.

[David]

Preliminary magnitude of 6.3, says USGS.

A very shallow quake--5 km.

Offshore, too. Does that mean it generated any tsunami action in the near field?

[mylittledemon]

all is well here in Wellington... It's very sad, though, as the Christchurch area has been plagued by quakes and aftershocks for the past 12 months... Just when they were getting back up on their feet, this quake has knocked them down again... and this time there are a large number of deaths (which there werent about a year ago when that last major one hit).