We have had a number of earthquakes the last few days.  Had a 4.7 on Friday and we just had a 6.5 just a few minutes ago at 5:09 PM.  Then a few minutes later another at 5.5.  I will have to admit they are kind of unsettling.  While in Utah I never felt anything greater than about a 3.0 or something in that range and it was probably 40 years ago.  So this is a new experience for Cathy and I.  I was napping at the time and it brought me right awake.  All of these have been down on the northern tip of the southern island near Seddon in the Cook Strait.

On June 20th we had a severe storm with winds of excess of 100 mph with 124 mph gusts near Wellington. There were reports of 32 foot swells in Cook Strait. 30,000 homes were left without electricity, we were one of them.  We were without electricity for 48 hours and since it was during a winter storm it was cold and wet.  We spent the Saturday over at the mall and library which had electricity to stay warm.  We had 1 candle which didn't really help much, but we threw everything that looked like it could retain heat on our bed at night and ate cold sandwiches and water for our meals.  It was noted in the news that it was the strongest storm to hit the area in 37 years.



This is the entry into the digital camera area, there are 2 cement walls that join and the grout between the two fell out during the earthquake as the two walls moved.

These are probate records that were prepared and laid out to flatten.  During the earthquake they fell off of the shelf onto the floor.  They fell like when you shuffle cards so that the 2 shelves of probates were shuffled together.  Notice the probates to the left didn't hardly move.  This was all of the damage that was done in our area.