Cathy Strong riding out New Zealand earthquake

At 5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16 Akron time, Cathy added this Facebook post:

Follow NZ quakes on geonet.org.nz, but only moderate ones overnight. Amazing that Wellington's 6.2 quake and myriad of 5.5s yesterday caused disruptions, but no one hurt and minimal structure damage. The city is built for earthquakes!

Former Beacon Journal State Desk reporter Cathy Robinson Strong (in 1970s) is dealing with a 6.5-magnitude earthquake that today struck New Zealand, where she lives. 

The epicenter was near the northern tip of the South Island, 14 miles south of the town of Blenheim. Cathy lives near and works in Wellington, which is on the southern tip of the North Island, so the quake has to cross a relatively short distance of water to shake, rattle and roll Cathy’s house on Te Horo Beach, which is about an hour north of Wellington, where Cathy is on the Massey University’s Wellington Journalism School faculty.

New Zealand consists of two large islands, the North Island and the South Island. 

Says Cathy on her Facebook page: “Ok I will keep quiet till the house falls down. I just felt three more quakes -- 5.5, 5.7, 5.5. The house is rolling constantly. I should have stayed in Wash. DC.” Cathy just returned from a visit to Washington.

Occupants had to be freed from elevators that stopped operating in Wellington.

New Zealand sits at the southwestern edge of the Pacific "ring of fire," an area of high seismic and volcanic activity that stretches up through Japan, across to Alaska and down the west coasts of North and South America.

In February 2011, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake toppled buildings in the South Island city of Christchurch, killing 185 people and injuring several thousand. 

Two years later, BJ newsroom retiree John Olesky, 1970s State Desk reporter Paula Stone Tucker and retired BJ photographer Don Roese saw damage still visible during their March 2013 visits to New Zealand and Cathy. 

St. Mary’s Cathedral in Christchurch remains uninhabitable. Businesses are operating out of cargo containers.

To read CNN’s report on the New Zealand earthquake, click on http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/world/asia/new-zealand-quake