By Annabelle Jackman
This morning some Christchurch business owners were allowed back in through the city cordon for the first time.
They got to see just what the quake has done, and although they'd seen the pictures on TV, the reality was hard to take.
The message was to stay away from the central business district, and most people did - a shop alarm the only sound in a usually bustling city mall.
But those that did turn up for work, found getting through the cordon wasn't the last hurdle.
"Well the police told us if it had a green sticker we could go in and check things out, but I see on the front door there's a message from our property manager to say that building is closed," says Murray Bradley, Darrochs Limited.
"Told to turn up to work, but we've just arrived now, but we're not allowed in the building," another person told 3 News, "so we are just waiting on our manager to arrive now and let us know what happening."
Others found their businesses accessible but unworkable.
Although Jake van der Kolk hasn't even begun counting his losses, he's confident he'll be back up and running.
"We're optimistic, maybe within a few days it could be possible if the CBD's even open for customers and even businesses, but we're pretty confident we can get it cleaned up quite quickly."
Other businesses are going to be staying closed as the message to stay away is likely to be in place for the next few days while structural engineers assess buildings and damage to downtown Christchurch.
3 News