Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011
THEN
December 24, 1953, Christmas Eve, 151 passengers are killed when the Tangiwai rail bridge is destroyed by raging floodwaters just moments before the Wellington to Auckland express train arrives. There are 134 survivors. The sudden water surge occurs when debris containing unusually high waters in Crater Lake in Mt. Ruapehu volcano collapses, releasing about 12 million cubic feet of water. The flow of volcanic mud, water, and rocky debris is known as a “lahar.” The last time Mt. Ruapehu erupted was 1945. Since then, water in the crater slowly rose until the 1953 disaster.
NOW
Friday, 10 months after the 6.3-magnitude earthquake killed 182 people in Christchurch, New Zealand, two powerful earthquakes—5.8- and 5.9-magnitude—again struck the city. The tremors terrify residents, bringing back traumatic memories of the devastating February 22 quake that destroyed or damaged roughly 100,000 buildings leaving many residents homeless. Despite the stress of Friday’s quakes, initial reports indicate that it caused no deaths and mostly minor injuries.
