Earth: Highlights of 2011 — New Zealand: after 8,000 aftershocks. When will it stop?

Alexandria, VA — “You know you are from Christchurch when…” you manage to keep your sense of humor through a year of nonstop hardship. This phrase, coined by Christchurch native Bruce Raines, exploded on Facebook and takes on a multitude of equally morose and light-hearted endings. These phrases accurately capture the spirit of the local inhabitants after a series of earthquakes and aftershocks rocked the city, dramatically changing life for all Cantabrians.

On September 4, 2010, a magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck 40 kilometers west of Christchurch, New Zealand near the small town of Darfield. No sooner had communities begun to rebuild when disaster struck again: this time in the form of a magnitude-6.3 earthquake much closer to the city. While the first quake caused more damage than harm, the second quake claimed the lives of 181 people.

In the December issue of EARTH magazine, learn more about how the citizens of Christchurch are coping with the disaster, one aftershock at a time. Find out more about this story online at earthmagazine.org.

Check out this story and more in the December issue of EARTH Magazine available online at http://www.earthmagazine.org/digital/. Learn about the “Big Crew Change” as a generation of geoscientists prepares to retire; discover the secret of Africa’s killer lakes; and vindicate a family of extinct creatures, the dinnocarids.

Stay up to date with the latest happenings in Earth, energy and environment news with EARTH online at http://www.earthmagazine.org/. Published by the American Geosciences Institute, it’s your source for the science behind the headlines.