Correct, there are now three Mosquitoes in the South Auckland area being restored to flying condition.

And yet in the RNZAF the P-40E’s we had were generally known as Kittyhawks, and the K, M and N models all seem to have been officially known as Warhawks (I guess as they were the models used in combat and our squadrons were then under US control).

http://rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=airshow&thread=11068&page=17

Lincoln 7, in NZ we have a Government run body called the Earthquake Commission, which for every private home will pay out up to $100,000 for an earthquake-damaged or destoryed home, and anyhting after that the householder’s private insurance has to pay. This does not apply to commercial properties though, they have to have full earthquake insurance, or suffer the consequences.

In the wake of the September 4th quake the commission paid out around $3 Billion I believe, which came a week or so after the Government had just paid out around $1 Billion to bail out the failed South Canterbury Finance company investors, money the Government and NZ could ill afford in a time of economic crisis. Things were just starting to look a little brighter and now this, and today some British company estimated this will cost NZ around $16 Billion. Our economy will suffer terribly from this disaster right across the country, it’s not just a Christchurch issue.

The relief fund is being run by the New Zealand Red Cross at
http://www.redcross.org.nz/

Apparently the British Red Cross are also collecting
http://www.redcross.org.uk/nzearthquake

If it is your friend in Lyttleton you cannot get hold of it is not surprising. Virtually every single building and structure has been either badly damaged or destroyed in the town. it has almost been wiped off the map. Luckily by co-incidence HMNZS Canterbury was in port and their chefs are now feeding hundreds of folk who have no electricty, gas, water or sewerage, etc. Apparently the community have gathered at a hall and are sticking together but this is one of the worst hit areas and it looks really bad. However there has not been reports of any deaths in the town of Lyttleton yet, though at least one person is reported as killed on the bridle path between there and Christchurch, the rumours saying up to four might be dead on the path, from falling rocks. Such a shame, it was a lovely community. Apparently some of those made homeless slept on a ship that’s in port last night and will again tonight. There’s still no telephone lines in and the road remains very blocked. So don’t panic, they are probably alive and ok but ‘cut off’ a bit. That’s if they were in Lyttleton at the time. If they’d gone into the city it’;s another matter.

Things are very grim. 75 confirmed dead but the police estimate 50 to 100 more dead in the CTV studios building, 22 missing in the Cathedral, 33 missing in the Pyne Gould building that pancaked (though many more have been pulled out), and several other locations have casualties including the main shopping street of Cashel Mall.

And one of the tallest buildings in the city, a 27-or-so storey hotel is listing sideways and expected to fall any time, taking out several blocks of buildings below and probably causing a ripple on the liqiufied ground and much more havoc. As I said, very grim.

To cap it off the poor police who’ve been trying to rescue people had to arrest at least six looters in the no-go cordoned zone. *******s should be shot. Some scammer has also been running a bogus internet donation appeal too. It is sickening.

I’m no expert at all but as I understand it from what reporters have said, it is not related to the main fault line. You might want to check on that though, as I say, it’s only what I’ve heard from the media during both quakes.

It should be remembered that Lyttleton Harbour is a large extinct volcano and there are undoubtely loads of fisures under that area.

PeeDee, that fault line which is well known (and was actually the fault line where the whole concept of techtonic plates was discovered many years ago by a kiwi geologist) is not the line causing these issues. The September quake fault line was a completely new, unknown one apparently, according to many reports after that event. And yesterday they stated in the media it was thought the current quake was different again.