Sentinel Blog

It's been an active start to month in the capital with earthquakes shaking things up in Wellington and surrounds. We've been able to provide dozens of buildings and response teams with data to put people at ease and guide the next step in the earthquake plan. We've received reports of some minor non-structural damage, and a few engineer callouts have been prompted. In contrast, one facilities manager was happy to share she had a relaxing Sunday morning cheese scone while Sentinel guided the team of exactly what had happened at their buildings, and exactly what the team needed to do! We love hearing our Sentinel service is reducing the uncertainty associated with earthquakes and aftershocks. 

This morning we generated a test earthquake to support practise drills across New Zealand for ShakeOut 2022. The test event was triggered with shaking intensity equivalent to an MMI 7, "severe" shaking. Shaking levels experienced in recent damaging earthquakes. Those using the Sentinel App received notification at 09:30am of this test, and we populated two demonstration buildings with the shaking data. 

The demonstration building data presented compares a measurement of the shaking with either an earthquake prone building or an earthquake resilient building.  

At 09:30am Thursday October 27th, organisations across New Zealand will run preparedness and response drills for earthquake and tsunami. ShakeOut takes place  to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake. Drop, Cover and Hold. You can also practise a tsunami hīkoi (evacuation) if you're in a coastal area.

A widely felt earthquake impacted central areas of the country last night. Sentinel notified subscribers of shaking at their subscribed location, immediately identifying if the level of measured shaking was significant, and what to do next. 

Yesterday marked the 11 year anniversary of an event that forever changed lives. At Canterbury Seismic Instruments we take a moment to reflect on those lives that were changed by the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. We consider those lost and those who lost, we thank those who worked (and continue to work) towards recovery, and we celebrate those who work toward better tools for resilience. This time every year is a reminder why we created the Sentinel Earthquake Resilience Service to enable use of more data in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake. 

At 09:30am Thursday October 28th, organisations across New Zealand will run preparedness and response drills for earthquake and tsunami. ShakeOut takes place  to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake. Drop, Cover and Hold. You can also practise a tsunami hīkoi (evacuation) if you're in a coastal area.

M7.1 earthquake, off the east coast of the North Island.  Friday, March 5 2021 at 02:27 am

A milestone reminder of the importance of having a plan

Natural disasters – like earthquakes, floods or pandemics – can have massive, sometimes disastrous, impacts on businesses. For example, when the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes struck Canterbury, we weren't as ready as we should have been, and the impact was devastating. It begs the question: if the use of data and technology had been more widespread at the time, would it have lessened that impact?

Take the quiz now