Sites to help you grin and bear it

(This is the Online column, written for The Southland Times)

It’s been a bit of a bumpy old ride during the past few days with the quakes that have been rattling their way around the south.

In fact, it’s beginning to feel like the whole country is having a bad case of indigestion, with quakes up and down our shaky little isles in recent weeks and a grumpy volcano also having a bit of a grumble.

GeoNet is the place to go for all the official data from the clever scientific types who know all about these events.

There’s information on the latest quakes, volcanic gurgles, tsunami possibilities and even landslides.
There’s also plenty of tips on what to do if the big one rocks your world and links to sites that have more information on earthquakes than you can shake a stick (or a seismic drum) at.

Did you know that GeoNet records about 15,000 earthquakes in and around New Zealand each year? Most are small but about 250 are strong enough to be felt.

Oh, and while you’re checking out the site, make sure you take a look at the White Island volcano cam.

Back in 2004 a little pink mascot was glued in front of GeoNet’s camera. Fast-forward three years and it’s still there and attracting worldwide attention.

Now is probably as good a time as any to give yourself a refresher course on what to do in a disaster by visiting Get Thru, featured in those TV ads fronted by the dude who used to be the big boss man on Shortland Street.