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在线翻译:
szdaily -> News
NEW ZEALAND PLANS RESCUE OF TOURISTS STRANDED BY QUAKE
    2016-November-15  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    NEW ZEALAND is planning to send in military helicopters and a navy ship to rescue about 1,000 tourists and hundreds of residents who remain stranded in the coastal town of Kaikoura after a powerful earthquake yesterday cut off train and vehicle access.

    The 7.8-magnitude quake struck the South Island just after midnight. It left two people dead and triggered a small tsunami. It also brought down rocks and mud that swept across highways and cracked apart roads.

    Home to about 2,000 residents and about 100 km away from the epicenter, Kaikoura is a popular destination for travelers taking part in whale-watching expeditions or wanting a stopover with mountain views. But the quake knocked out water supplies and sewerage systems and left people with no easy way out.

    “From all directions, Kaikoura has essentially been isolated,” Air Commodore Darryn Webb, the acting commander of New Zealand’s Joint Forces, said.

    He said the military planned to begin using four NH90 helicopters today that could each transport about 18 people out of the town at a time. He said a ship was also leaving Auckland, which could potentially pick up hundreds of people if weather conditions allowed.

    The first batch of six Chinese tourists were airlifted from Kaikoura to Christchurch and 21 Chinese tourists, including one slightly injured in the head, were trapped in Kaikoura, according to the Chinese Consulate General in Christchurch yesterday. The six evacuees are three pairs of mother and child and the youngest child is 5 years old.

    Elsewhere, strong aftershocks continued to shake New Zealand yesterday, rattling the nerves of exhausted residents. The country was largely spared the devastation it saw in 2011 when an earthquake struck the city of Christchurch and killed 185 people. That quake was one of New Zealand’s worst disasters, causing an estimated US$25 billion in damage.

    Yesterday’s quake caused damage in Wellington, the capital, and was also strongly felt in Christchurch. Residents said the shaking went on for about three minutes.

    Prime Minister John Key estimated the cleanup effort would run into billions of dollars and said clearing the debris and blocked roads could take months.

    New Zealand, with a population of 4.7 million, sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are common.

    The location of yesterday’s quake largely helps explain why the damage was so minimal compared to the 2011 temblor, said Mark Quigley, associate professor of active tectonics at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

    The 2011 quake was located almost directly beneath Christchurch, meaning tens of thousands of people were exposed to the most violent shaking at the epicenter. Yesterday’s quake was centered in a rural area that is home to just a few thousand people.(SD-Agencies)

    

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