The earthquake on Wednesday night surprisingly caused very little damage. It was a big earthquake, 7.8 on the Richter scale. This is the biggest earthquake recorded this year anywhere in the world. However, it was in a very isolated part of New Zealand, in the south west of the South Island, where it is mostly mountains and there are no towns. People living in the nearest city, Invercargill, felt the earthquake but there was only minor damage. Nobody was hurt. Now, after-shocks are a worry to people living in Invercargill. There have been more than 100 after-shocks, some as big as 5.6 and they could continue for the next few weeks.

Scientists don’t know why this earthquake caused so little damage. Perhaps it’s because this area has soft rocks.

This earthquake is a reminder to people living in New Zealand that we can expect earthquakes at any time and we need to be prepared. Our worst earthquake was the Napier earthquake in 1931 which killed 256 people. It was also 7.8 on the Richter scale.

Read the inside back page of the Yellow Pages phone book to see what you should do in an earthquake.