The last few days of an ageing year traditionally see the media industry in reflective mood. Little surprise then that after more than 4000 earthquakes since September 4 my sub-conscious started trying to put some order back into things.

Ranking these top 10 quakes has been cathartic in some ways, although not all that easy, involving a partly sleepless night. The listing is highly subjective, depending not only on each quake's particulars but also where I was at the time or even if I was awake. It's not exhaustive either, as there will be more.

This, then, is a light-hearted attempt to put the quakes in their proper place.

10: The Phantom Quakes

Tenth place has to go to all the little rattles, wobbles and rumbles over the past few months that alarmed but failed to make the grade, be analysed and given a magnitude by the busy people at GNS Science. The phantom aftershocks were especially interesting – you could hear a roar getting closer but there was no motion to go with it. If GNS needs a highly sensitive instrument for measuring these, our french doors are available – they rattle slightly, even if you can't feel any motion underfoot.

9: 1.52pm, Wednesday September 15, magnitude 3.7

It's unlikely many of you will remember this but I do. I was on a gratefully accepted day off, one of the first after the big quake, and dozing on the couch upstairs. It was a lovely sunny spring afternoon. I was just getting comfortable in that weird pre-sleep world when suddenly... WHAM... no notice or anything, this little bugger hit the side of the house hard and the whole place creaked and shook and kept rattling. I got a hell of a fright.

8: 7.21pm, Sunday November 14, magnitude 4.9

This was a conspicuously wobbly day. The kids and I were in front of the box, watching some toughened Australian vets rescuing saltwater crocodiles from reservoirs near Darwin, when this rolled into our lounge. It rolled and rolled, and kept on rolling for a good 10 seconds or more. The goldfish were trying to catch the big wave in their tank. We had enough time to look outside and see the clothes rack bouncing from side to side and making its way across the deck. It was fascinating rather than frightening. At 1.34am the same day, a magnitude 4.7 quake had struck, the first at night for more than a week.

7: The Aftershock Cluster – 2.07am, Boxing Day (excluding 10.30am aftershock) to 12.10am, Monday December 27

At least the earth had the decency to give us a quiet Christmas Day. This cluster ranks seventh largely for its curiosity value as a statistical blip of activity in quieter times. The 4.2 magnitude shake shortly after 2am ushered in a day of heightened seismic action, an aftershock swarm focused underneath Christchurch that peaked in the damaging 10.30am quake (see No4) and ended with a magnitude 4.4 finale 10 minutes into the following day. Since then, the earth has gone quiet again, at the time of writing anyway.

6: 3.13pm, Sunday October 24, magnitude 4.8

A pretty violent shudder up and down, this one, located just off the coast. It cut power to parts of New Brighton, shook the hell out of trees and houses in that part of town, and frightened the life out of participants and spectators at the Special Olympics trials at QEII Park, including our deputy editor Coen Lammers. Standing in the stairwell in The Press building when it hit with no warning, I was amazed the stairs remained attached to the rest of the structure, so rapid was the vertical shaking. Through a narrow window in a fire door I could see colleagues dashing for cover in the newsroom. Truly a heart-in-the-mouth moment.

5: The awful night of Monday, September 6

We gave up trying to get to sleep after the second major magnitude 5-plus aftershock in 16 minutes, at 11.40pm, and I imagine hundreds of others were also up drinking tea or something stronger around the region. This period should win some kind of trophy at the Earthquake Awards for the scariest night since September 4. The sequence went like this: 11.24pm, magnitude 5.3 followed rapidly by a 4.8; just a minute later, a 4.7; 11.40pm, 5.4; 11.54pm, 4.2; 12.21am, 4.7; 3.24am, 5.5, the strongest aftershock since the day of the big one. That gut-wrenching rumble just kept on coming all night and kicked off a sleepless week for many.

4: 10.30am, Boxing Day, magnitude 4.9/5.0

This earthquake was the peak of the December 26 swarm and took frightened Christchurch residents straight back to the bad old days in the first week or two after September 4. Violent shaking in the central city caused more damage to buildings yet somehow eager Boxing Day shoppers and others avoided injury and even death from falling masonry and breaking glass. When it struck I was lying on the sofa drinking coffee and talking to my 10-year-old son, who opened and closed his mouth in surprise and managed a "what the heck" as the house flexed and the Christmas tree decorations swayed alarmingly. By the time I told him to get under the door – as I was still lying on the couch I was probably not the best role model – it was over. GNS Science said even though it was analysed as a 4.9, it could well have been a 5.0.

3: 11.32am, Tuesday October 19, magnitude 5.0

The strongest ground shaking in this quake was west and southwest of the city, where there were reports of further liquefaction in some streets and damage to goods in homes and shops. The shallowness of this quake, which has been analysed as the 10th strongest since the main event, ensured it was felt powerfully and lengthily in the central city, where alarmed workers and others spilled out of buildings into streets. I was in The Press building, ironically watching a live webcast by earthquake engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, who had been in Canterbury studying the effects of the September 4 quake. The backroom I was in leapt up in the air and shook almost more vigorously than one could imagine as shouts of alarm echoed outside. Faces in the newsroom were drained of colour.

1=: 7.49am, Wednesday September 8, magnitude 5.1

1= : 4.35am, Saturday September 4, magnitude 7.1

OK, this first-equal thing may seem a bit of a cop-out, but I've agonised over whether the shock factor and sheer size of what is clearly "numero uno" outweighs the sense of fear and panic the Wednesday morning aftershock caused.

At 4.35am precisely on September 4 we were still blissfully ignorant of how our lives were to change over the next 45 seconds. It's the noise I can still hear if I think about it – that roar like a jet waking me up and getting louder, and the realisation a huge quake was on the way as the floor began jerking sharply from side to side while the rumble kept building. Then the lights went off as we huddled in the doorways, while the hall started moving like a giant washing machine. "Is this really happening?" my youngest said, being held tightly and still half asleep. That 20 or 30 seconds felt like minutes.

Even in those chaotic seconds I knew it wasn't the Alpine Fault, that the roar was too loud and the motion too violent for a quake centred 200km away from Christchurch. I knew it was centred close, but never thought it would be of the magnitude it was.

The Wednesday morning quake came arguably when people's resistance was at its lowest ebb.

The initial adrenaline rush of the weekend had died out after several sleepless nights, especially the awful Monday night (outlined in 5 above).

The shake was very shallow, only 5km or so deep, very sudden and very violent. It raised fears of a new fault coming to life under the Heathcote-Lyttelton area. Many thought it was the magnitude 6 we had been warned might be coming.

Central city buildings had to be reinspected and more were cordoned off, including The Press.

Deputy chief reporter Warren Gamble, arriving for the morning shift, watched in amazement as the copper turret on The Press building wobbled back and forth. We were under the doors at home watching the wind chimes outside bash the wall and bushes shaking crazily.

It certainly felt as scary as the main event.