Image: Martin Luff via Wikimedia Commons
The huge 7.1 scale earthquake that shook the south island of New Zealand last week caused few serious casualties, but left widespread structural damage in its wake.
The animation below, created by Chris McDowall and based on information released by New Zealand Geonet, shows how little seismic activity there was in the Christchurch region in the six months leading up to the quake. The data appears to support claims that scientists had little reason to believe a faultline under the city even existed prior to the event.
Watch the video below and wait for the amazing blue explosion depicting the earthquake on September 4.
Visualising six months of New Zealand earthquake data (Apr 1 – Sep 7, 2010) from Chris McDowall.
