After the 2010 Canterbury Earthquake, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake near Christchurch, New Zealand, the region has been hit by thousands of aftershocks - many of them widely felt around Christchurch, and some of which have caused further damage. Nearly six months later, just as everybody was getting used to post-earthquake life, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit - just before 1pm on Tuesday the 22nd of February. This time, Christchurch was not so lucky - 185 people lost their lives due to the earthquake, with many more injured. Many Christchurch buildings were badly damaged, with some collapsing and many more requiring demolition or major repairs. Further large "rejuvenation events" occurred on June 13 and December 23 2011, each followed by a period of renewed activity.
The Christchurch Quake Map on this website aims to present a time-lapse visualisation of the earthquake and its aftershocks, primarily to help those outside the affected area understand what those of us in Canterbury are experiencing. It plots earthquake data from GeoNet (note: GeoNet's recent quakes list does not list all quakes) on a map using the Google Maps API, with the size of the circle denoting the magnitude (the higher the magnitude, the larger the circle) and the colour showing the focal depth (see the legend below the map).
When you visit the map, it will start playing through the earthquakes (starting on February 22, 2011) once it finishes loading. You can pause and resume using the controls to the right of the map, and also jump to the start or end, speed up or slow down the playback. The "Jump to" links beside the map allow you to start playback 3, 6, 9, 12 or 24 hours before the current time, so you can see just the latest tremors, and the row of links just above the map can be used to change the overall duration of the map.