dimanche 12 février 2012

Earthquake... in Switzerland

Our region of Zurich was rocked last night by an earthquake which triggered hundeds of phone calls to the police:

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Source: http://www.seismo.ethz.ch/index_EN

You may wonder how much damage was caused or if there were any injuries due to this major event in Switzerland. Be relieved, nothing was declared so far, this mainly because the low amplitude of the seissm.

With a scale of 4.2, the earthquake features very high and well in red in the Swiss map of earthquakes. But compared to New Zealand – and this especially since the terrible events around Christchurch, it’s daily business:

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Source: http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html

Feeling the ground shaking is always a special occasion, and while we were in New Zealand, we only felt the stronger quakes – above 5. We only seldomly felt earthquakes around 4 of magnitude, and last night in Zürich wasn’t an exception to this.

dimanche 11 décembre 2011

Mercer Quality of Living Survey

As reported by Le Temps end of November, it’s time again for the Mercer Quality of Living Survey 2011. No major change, this year, with Auckland and Wellington being in the overall top 15.

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The most obivous difference between Zurich and New Zealand cities is for us the ease of travelling. Not that Kiwis aren’t travelling, but it’s each time an journey despite Air New Zealand doing a fantastic job compared to almost all carrier here in Europe.

The real point for us is the facility to visit Lucern within an evening, go to Basel during an afternoon or cross the alps and be in Locarno in less than 4 hours with the train. Same thing – with the high-speed train or the plan – for French, German or English cities.

dimanche 30 octobre 2011

Article du New York Times à propos de Wellington

Le New York Times a publié début septembre un excellent article qui montre une fois de plus la face culturelle et cool de Wellington, en vous recommandant d’y consacrer bien plus qu’une nuit lors de vos vacances en Nouvelle-Zélande:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/travel/in-wellington-new-zealand-a-new-life-for-flyover-country.html

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On y apprend pèle-mêle que

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