Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 21

Thread: Christchurch - is it worth moving there?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    193

    Default Christchurch - is it worth moving there?

    I am currently mulling over a couple of job offers - one in Hamilton, one in Christchurch.

    Hamilton job is pretty good, comfortable salary, near wife's family, kind of know the area now.

    Christchurch job is dream job, much more money etc.

    I'm flying to CC on Monday to take a look around, but accept I won't work out how it's like to live there in one day.

    My question to those living there now - i.e. end of August 2011 - is what is it like with aftershocks? I've read or tried to find testimonies online. Simply, I don't like flying, or at least, when the plane moves. Are there regular and scary earthquakes in Christchurch? Or are they rare, and hardly noticable.

    Basically, is it safe and comfortable to live there - or, given the choice, would it be best avoided. Of course, the agency who set up the Waikato job have told me lots of horror stories (btw, not bothered about the economic risk due to the type of job it is), could happen again, woken every night etc. - but then they would, wouldn't they.....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Chch, NZ
    Posts
    2,226

    Default

    I find the frequency of aftershocks are a lot less. For the past 2 weeks, I can only recall 3 noticeable instances but neither enough to wake me out of bed. There's still fear that a +5.0 will happen - even if it does or does not, I still feel Chch is a safe place to live because it may not be for the next 1000 years that Chch will see another massive earthquake. Rationally speaking, a place that is overdue for an earthquake is more risky than one that recently had one.

    The earthquakes hasn't affected my lifestyle. I can still buy the food I want and do the shopping I want (it was not a practise for me to shop downtown anyways). But to a person that enjoys nightlife, pubs & bars, I guess downtown was it.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    North Canterbury to UK
    Posts
    2,755

    Default

    This is the site everyone logs on to these days and you can see from the bottom graph that the aftershocks are diminishing. Indeed sine we've been back from UK for 6 weeks now we've not felt one but in fairness we're 40 k north of the City.

    http://quake.crowe.co.nz/

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    192

    Default

    The 4 year graph is stunning: http://quake.crowe.co.nz/QuakeYears/default.aspx



    Is there any good prediction of when they expect things to calm down, or is it just wait and see?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    37,824

    Default

    I think knowing a good earthquake prediction is probably a bit like the well-known quote: 'If you want to know God's will, wait and see what happens.'

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Christchurch from Scotland
    Posts
    2,226

    Default

    I have to say the answer is hard. DIfferent people are affected in different ways by the earth's movements. I have one friend who was not here for the first two large ones, arrived before the third and was fine with the aftershocks, he was on his own at work in June when the second 6.3 hit. He has stayed but has found them hard to deal with since.

    My OH has been in near enough the epicentre for two of them, as have my kids and they are fine, others further away are not. It is a personal experience and until you feel it you probably will not know.

    The aftershocks are calming, but you will find most of us here take any predictions with a pinch of salt, even from the experts. The frequency is dying down, and mostly we are no longer shaken awake at night, but last weekend it happened twice. But then we live in the south east of the town....and feel them, being near enough situated on the fault line, whereas people in the north west feel less.

    If you want a lively nightlife at the moment it is difficult to find in CHristchurch as there is no downtown. The city is a city of two halves at the moment.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Ōtepoti, Aotearoa
    Posts
    2,736

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by tk1 View Post
    Is there any good prediction of when they expect things to calm down, or is it just wait and see?
    Short answer: NO!

    There are articles, books, web sites on this; however they only use more words for the same.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Ōtepoti, Aotearoa
    Posts
    2,736

    Default CHC residents eye south

    http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/17...ents-eye-south is an article in today's ODT.

    Yes I know the CHC forumites are tough and stay as one poll here indicates! But there are others as mentioned in the above article - and not only there.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Poole, UK to Chch, NZ
    Posts
    2,064

    Default

    There are a few similar threads about this here if you do a search

    Basically.. no one knows. Some people hate the aftershocks enough to leave Chch, and I don't know anyone who enjoys them. That said my 4yo has adapted well enough that she sometimes loads a box with toys, then shakes them all over the place while giggling "earthquake!" I'm not sure whether to laugh or wonder what we did by moving here when I see that, but she doesn't seem to be traumatised and we haven't felt much in the way of rumbles for a while now (yes they're about.. just not that big). Our house isn't perfect, it's got a few cracks, but then we're living in a nice and stable area. If you move here, don't expect to find a home without some eq damage... but depending on the area you should be able to find one with very little.

    I don't know Hamilton, but I do know that we came here after the 4th Sept quake and stayed in spite of Feb and June

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    29

    Default

    Nobody can predict, even with modern sophisticated equipments. On the other hand, many animals show abnormal behavior before big natural disaster - we may learn something from them.

    If I get a job there, will go!

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •