Cantabrians are learning to live with aftershocks

The aftershocks that are still shaking Canterbury are likely to last for weeks, but will get less frequent and probably weaker, a New Zealand seismologist says.

"As time goes on, the likelihood of very large ones is reducing. But we really can't be sure about this, and I'm just aware that people in Canterbury are understandably very anxious and scared," Dr Warwick Smith of GNS Science told the New Zealand Herald.

He said the number of aftershocks — an estimated 395 so far, including 10 above magnitude 5 — was expected after a 7.1 quake, and would not be stopping any time soon. "We're looking at weeks, I'm afraid," Smith said. The Canterbury earthquake was recorded in great detail by the permanent network of seismic instruments operated by GNS Sciences. Last week, scientists from Stanford University in the US  brought portable seismic instruments to Christchurch to monitor aftershock data.