1888 North Canterbury Earthquake

The 1888 North Canterbury earthquake is the name associated with a severe earthquake which occurred at 4.10 a.m on 1 September 1888 following a sequence of foreshocks that started the previous evening, and whose epicentre was in the North Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand.

In Christchurch, about 100 km southeast of the epicentre, shaking lasted for 40 to 50 seconds. The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated to be in the range 7.0 - 7.3. Severe damage to farm buildings in the epicentral region was reported and the top 7.8 metres of the spire of ChristChurch Cathedral, Christchurch collapsed. It was the first earthquake observed to be associated with mainly horizontal fault displacement.

Read more about 1888 North Canterbury Earthquake:  Tectonic Setting, Damage, See Also

Famous quotes containing the words north, canterbury and/or earthquake:

    I meet him at every turn. He is more alive than ever he was. He has earned immortality. He is not confined to North Elba nor to Kansas. He is no longer working in secret. He works in public, and in the clearest light that shines on this land.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Therefore Lord, not only are you that than which a greater cannot be thought but you are also something greater than can be thought.
    —Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109)

    Through the din and desultoriness of noon, even in the most Oriental city, is seen the fresh and primitive and savage nature, in which Scythians and Ethiopians and Indians dwell. What is echo, what are light and shade, day and night, ocean and stars, earthquake and eclipse, there? The works of man are everywhere swallowed up in the immensity of nature. The AEgean Sea is but Lake Huron still to the Indian.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)