Just a few short months ago I would have had no clue where Christchurch, New Zealand is. But now, I am keenly aware of what a very important place for travelers to and from the Antarctic Continent. In fact, I have spent the past week with numerous people who have been through there, are on their way, or just recently returned. For them, this is a much more personal disaster. I was watching some of the scenes and devastation from the aftershock which registered 6.3 on richter scale. The original quake was last September and registered 7.1, I believe. Having been through numerous earthquakes, including a very large, devastating one, I can tell you all that it is a very scary, very helpless feeling as the earth begins to shake uncontrollably. The concrete beneath your feet begins to quiver and builds up. Eventually the ground you are standing on begins to undulate and everything you assumed about cement is out the window. I saw metal posts tremor so strongly and so quickly that they literally looked like rubber sticks being shaken by a strong hand. It is a frightening thing to have everything you take for granted, all the buildings and structures around you which you thought so sturdy and strong, exposed as fragile, temporary, and unsafe.
From talking to someone up here who has been through there many times, it is clear that the infrastructure of this city is much more stable due to the high traffic of the scientific community and tourists that pass through there. Quite a contrast to Haiti which recently faces massive devastation from an earthquake. Additionally, that this was an earthquake which stemmed from a previously unknown fault lends proof that the frontiers of science are continually expanding.
So, I've left you all plenty to discover on your own here, whether it's plate tectonics, geography, who was Richter and what is his scale, and what is infrastructure and why does it matter so much. Let me know what you discover.
p.s. Here is the picture of the notothenioid, a.k.a. icefish, that I promised. Pretty cool looking, huh?
The icefish _Chaenocephalus aceratus_, my focus of study in Antarctica. photo credit: Bill Baker