Mother Nature

Last night (Tues), after the kids were in bed, Ben and I were watching Dumb and Dumber when a big "gust of wind" hit the house. Ben looked out the window to see a calm, windless night and we knew then we had just felt an earthquake. Luckily, our house is 100 years old and planted on a huge slab of rock and has seen its fair share of quakes. So we feel safe here...it's just the houses around us that are stilted on the hills that worries us in the event of a big shaker. Needless to say, I'm going to get all our supplies together so we feel prepared for anything.

4.5 Earthquake Jolts Wellington

www.stuff.co.nz

"Police received a large number of calls from spooked residents after an earthquake jolted Wellington last night.

Panicked people rushed from their homes and into the street or called for help.

"Lots of people who live by themselves, they're really just calling because they don't have anyone else to talk to, and we just tell our staff to be patient - there's a lot of very nervous, worried people out there," police spokesman Mark Oliver said.

The 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck at 10.07pm, according to GeoNet. It was 40 kilometres deep, and centred off the Kapiti Coast, 20km northwest of Wellington.

Lower Hutt resident Sunil Kumar felt the tremor strongly on the fifth floor of his apartment building.

"We felt a tremor. It was not a small one, it was quite a rattle. We rushed down the stairs. When we got to the street we saw other people standing outside."

Everybody was on edge after the Christchurch quake, Mr Kumar said.

"That's the problem."

GNS duty seismologist John Ristau said the quake was felt as far north as Whanganui, and as far south as Marlborough.

It may have been strong enough to knock items off shelves.

Dr Ristau said the tremor was "quite typical" for the area, and there was unlikely to be any connection to the 6.3 earthquake which has devastated Christchurch.

On Twitter, people reported feeling the Wellington tremor as a moderate shake.

"Did we just have a quake in Welly cos my home got 2 shaking?" All Black Cory Jane wrote from Upper Hutt.

Labour MP Kris Faafoi was also on edge after the tremor. "There goes the decent night of sleep," he wrote.

A Fire Service spokeswoman said there were no reports of damage.

Christchurch continued to be rocked by aftershocks last night.

A shallow 4.6-magnitude aftershock – bigger than Wellington's jolt – struck at 10.42pm, 10km west of Lyttelton, at a depth of 5km.

No damage was reported."

This morning (Wed), Caroline and I dropped off Calvin and Mary Katherine at school then dropped off the car to the service station for a new WOF (warrant of fitness). We had to take the bus back home and while there overheard a man talking on the phone about the ferry. It's been crazy windy and rainy weather today and quite scary. Well, I asked him what was going on and he told me the ferry had lost power and was in trouble. He was getting updates on his phone, all while it was happening. It was so surreal to hear what was going on, as well as see the harbour from our bus stop. We could see the Interislander hugging the coast to keep from the choppy, rough middle waters of the bay and we saw an ambulance and several police cars racing to aide the evacuees. We made our walk back to the house and I'm just wondering...what can be next???

Wellington passenger ferry strife

www.stuff.co.nz

"LATEST: A passenger was swept overboard after a Wellington ferry was swamped by a large wave this morning.

Police said all 43 passengers had been rescued from the East by West ferry, which broke down off Worser Bay in Wellington Harbour about 8.40am.

Scot's College pupils were some of those on the ferry, and the school said it was aware of the problem.

Some of the students are from St Andrew's College in Christchurch and are attending Scot's College temporarily after relocating due to the earthquake.

About 25 Scots College pupils were on board the ferry, including one Year 9 St Andrew's pupil who had escaped the earthquake zone to stay with family in Eastbourne, headmaster Graeme Yule said.

"All the boys are back at school, everyone is safe and accounted for and we don't have any injuries."

The boys had been give a cup of milo and some food, and many would go home - though some wanted to remain at school. A lot of their school bags were still on board, Mr Yule said.

The pupils had "handled themselves very well", with some helping fellow passengers off the boat, he said.

"One or two of boys in particular just took the situation in hand and got things sorted."

Pupils did not appear too shaken by the incident, he said.

"Teenage boys are pretty robust."

Passenger Mark Blackham said he was sitting behind the ferry's driver when a "massive" wave smashed a window and showered the driver with glass and water.

"It swamped the whole cabin."

At one point a passenger fell overboard and was drifting away, but was rescued by the police vessel Lady Elizabeth IV, he said.

The ferry had been in a trough when the wave hit.

"It just seemed to be timed badly for us."

Connor McRae, a Scot’s College student, said the situation was crazy, with water coming through the windows of the boat. Another student said he knew things were rougher than normal and was glad to get off the ferry safely.

The boys were taken to the lifesaving club to get warm and then left.

Witness Peter Kundycki, who lives on Karaka Bay Rd, said he saw the ferry coming in towards Seatoun.

“It was off Karaka Bay when it hit a bit of a freak wave. The nose went down, then lurched back and it looked like it almost rolled over.

“It righted itself and it started drifting. I could tell immediately it was in trouble.”

Kundycki dashed to Worser Bay beach, aware he may be needed in a rescue effort. The NIWA research boat came to passengers’ aid quickly, along with a surf lifesaving boat and the police vessel within minutes.

There is torrential rain, high winds and extremely rough seas in the area.

The ferry is now tied up in Worser Bay and is listing to the front.

Reports say the ferry got into trouble about 100 metres off Worser Bay Boat Club.

East By West ferries confirmed it was the 8.05am service from heading from Days Bays to Seatoun that was affected.

Severe gales are forecast for Wellington and sourthern Wairarapa this morning but should ease this afternoon, MetService said.

The Eastbourne ferry had 182,034 boardings in the 2009-10 year, up 1.1 per cent from the previous year."