Friday, 21 December 2007

Solstice notes

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. I watched the sun rise above the mainland hills at 9.13 am - it is another glorious morning in the islands. It's not cold, by recent standards, with the thermometer at +6C / 43F. Over on the mainland, the mercury is stuck at -7C, which is slightly less cold than recent nights. An Atlantic front is heading our way, which is already pushing milder air ahead of it.

New Zealand was struck by a powerful earthquake yesterday evening (GMT). At 7.55 am local time Friday (that's 8.55pm GMT) a tremor measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook the city of Gisborne. The epicentre was located 50 km offshore. Powerful aftershocks continued to rock the country; the main quake was felt nationwide. One person died of a heart attack, and 11 were injured. Several buildings, mainly older edifices, collapsed. The image (courtesy BBC) shows the scene in Gisborne library, where books were thrown off the shelves.

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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous21 December 2007 at 11:48

    The days fly by.  Hard to believe it is the shortest day already.  Did not know about the earthquake.

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  2. Anonymous21 December 2007 at 11:49

    Here, in Weetabixland it is a bit warmer than yesterday and is currently 1c as opposed to yesterdays -6c. so you are still warmer than us!!! Luv Joan

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  3. Anonymous21 December 2007 at 11:51

    I'm glad there were no more injuries or loss of life than occured in this quake.  It could have been so much worse.  Good grief, can you imagine having to put all those books back on the shelf again?
    Sam

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  4. Anonymous21 December 2007 at 15:55

    Wow that is a lot of shelving.  The last big one we had here, don't remember the year, some of the bookstores took some big hits.  So glad the days will be getting longer.  Joni in Washington State.

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  5. Anonymous21 December 2007 at 17:56

    I can understand why the woman in the midst of all the strewn books has a look on her face as if she is thinking "where do I start?".  Your temperature is much like ours today ~ it is a nice change from the frigid temps we have lately.
    Lisa

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  6. Anonymous21 December 2007 at 23:55

    I'm glad there wasn't a higher death toll. I pity the job of that poor librarian putting all those books straight! Jeannette xx  

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  7. Anonymous22 December 2007 at 00:26

    Oh my, what a mess....
    Happy Winter!
    Linda :)

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