Can dogs foretell earthquakes?
The dog only gets like this when there's going to be another earthquake.
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Local Govt
We were walking in Lyttelton late Sunday after a day on the harbour when we ran into a friend taking his vintage car for a cruise.
His dog Scooter was in the back seat, and I thought, what an annoying yapper.
“He only gets like this when there’s going to be another earthquake,” my friend told me, twice.
Thus it came, yet again in the wee small hours, another sharp reminder rattled the old villa, a real bang with a short shaking aftertail.
Instinctively we grabbed each other in the dark, wondering how quickly it would subside.
My wife is one of those who must get up and check Geonet.
I opened the front door and took a quick glance at the lawn to check if it was liquefying again.
Nope, ok back to bed.
It was only a 4.7, she says, but it felt like the 5.3 a couple of weeks back which was centred just off the coast from New Brighton.
The radio news says it was 5kms south of the city – they mean 5kms south of the city centre, which puts the epicentre pretty much under Cashmere View St at the base of Cashmere Hills near Princess Margaret Hospital, which these days is used for rehabilitation for elderly folk.
And it was only 5kms deep, which is why it felt so violent.
The quakes keep moving around.
Sometimes they’re inland where the first ones started in 2010 near Darfield, or along the base of the Cashmere Hills, or out to sea.
Lots of texting traffic this morning.
Friends and family checking, comparing notes.
There are a few sirens, no reports of damage.
It will be the main office chatter today.
Just another little reminder on the fifth anniversary of the really big one which flattened our central city.
Something we can’t quite get used to even after 15,000 of them.
GeoNet map showing the epicenter of the 3.32am quake Source: GeoNet. (Click to zoom)
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Chris Hutching
Mon, 29 Feb 2016
Mon, 29 Feb 2016
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Can dogs foretell earthquakes?
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