National Emergency Declared In New Zealand After Christchurch Earthquake

By Peter Fowler at 3 Sep 2010

The New Zealand city of Christchurch has suffered considerable damage following a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The quake struck at 4.35am at a depth of 33 kilometres about 30 kilometres west of Christchurch, but no Tsunami warning is in force.

About three hours after the quake struck New Zealand's third largest city strong aftershocks were continuing.

Civil Defence says the national crisis centre has been activated.

Police have cordoned off the central city area where some of the worst damage is being reported so far, with the facade of some buildings completely destroyed. Eye witnesses said there were collapsed buildings and loose masonry and rubble.

There were no reported casualties about an hour after daybreak but Civil Defence said it was aware of widespread damage.

There have been reports of looting.

Power is out through 75 percent of the Canterbury region, with transformers being tripped off. Power company Orion say they have staff checking the electricity infrastructure and making damage assessments, and they should be able to say when power will be restored by mid morning.

Considerable road damage has been reported with many streets blocked by rubble and power poles down across the road with gas leaks and police say it is very unsafe to be out.

Lots of water and sewer pipes have been broken and there are reports of flooding in the city.

Police are concerned about the safety of bridges and people being told not to drive around.

Christchurch airport has been shut down as authorities check the runways for damage.

All hospitals in the area are up and running on generators, but people are being told not to come to hospital unless it is an absolute emergency. Reports say some people have been coming to hospitals with minor injuries.

Near the epicentre in the small town of Kaiapoi there are reports of buildings damaged with "cracks in the road you can put your foot in."