Christchurch new zealand

A strong earthquake struck that New Zea-land on Saturday caused "great harm", although no reports of serious injuries or extensive damage, an emergency official said."It was like a train running through the house," says Chris Monroe, Operations Manager of New Zealand firefighters.The magnitude 7.0 quake was the initial assessment of 7.4, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It hit about 35 miles from Christchurch, a city of about 386,000 people.An aftershock of magnitude 5.7 hit near the epicenter, about 20 minutes later, said the survey.A lot of power in Christchurch, "because the damage is enormous," Radio New Zea-land reported.

"We're just a terrible earthquake," said Paula resident in Christchurch in May. "We have no power. A lot of stuff in the house is on the floor. All the power you have, so I do not see anything." No power in the city. "He said that the house, "we all crawled into the room", and although it looks like the buildings in the region, such as the old masonry-type structures, "everyone I know seems OK."Tim Dower, a New Zea-land journalist, said that the happiness of the earthquake in the dark during the day when people would have been involved."When such a scale is, of course, the people feel, especially when the shallow," he said.There were reports, he said, collapsing walls and buildings, damaged cars and flooding homes."We are no reports of major injuries at this stage."The person who answered the phone at the George Hotel in Christchurch, said: "We clean up now, but I can not disclose further details.

Reinier Eu link, general manager of the Holiday Inn in Christchurch, said that the damage around the corridors and the huge cracks in the walls. ""There was a big big big shock, and the building was moving a lot," he said. The 13-storey building with 150 rooms, about 40 percent occupied, he estimates that 80 or more people staying at the hotel at the time.Loss of power, but the exceptional performance. The people milling around the lobby, trying to warm the cold Southern Hemisphere winter."My room is completely upside down," said Eu-link.The transition from the Christchurch Hospital managers said there was property damage in the earthquake."We are the plans at the moment," he said.The quake was 7.5 miles deep. Struck at 4:35 Saturday (12:35 ET Friday), the survey reported.The earthquake is not likely to generate a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.