By Angela Beswick
A state of local emergency has been declared in Christchurch by the city council and Selwyn District Council.
Emergency operation centres have been activated in Selwyn, Waimakariri and Timaru, according to Civil Defence.
There have been no fatalities or serious injuries, although police have confirmed minor injuries, structural damage and power cuts in the region.
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A state of emergency was declared shortly after 10am this morning, after a meeting between Civil Defence Minister John Carter and the National Crisis Management Centre.
Prime Minister John Key arrived in Christchurch at lunchtime, with Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee and Mr Carter to assess damage.
Mr Carter described the situation as a “significant disaster” and urged Christchurch residents to stay calm.
“I know it’s a difficult thing and people are in shock, that’s understandable,” he said.
“It’s a pretty horrible situation.”
The United Nations has contacted the Government and is being kept informed.
Prime Minister John Key talked to TV3's The Nation this morning after arriving in Christchurch
Aftershocks
Residents are reporting ongoing tremors, with a magnitude 4.0 aftershock reported shortly before 2pm this afternoon.
Immediately after the quake this morning, Christchurch residents took to Twitter, offering live updates of tremors and pictures of the damage.
“I don’t really want to sound like I’m moany or a wimp, but this is not funny. I haven’t been this scared for such a length of time before!” Yuri_Bacas posted.
“Another aftershake. Seriously, this is so nerve breaking. Throat is dry and heart goes pumping, ran to the door frame again. Please, STOP!”
Fatalities
There are unconfirmed reports that at least one person has died after suffering a heart attack during the earthquake.
Injuries
Only one serious injury was reported - a man in his 50s who is in intensive care in Christchurch Hospital. A second man suffered serious cuts, and many had cuts, scratches and broken limbs.
Airport
Christchurch Airport was reopened at 1.30pm this afternoon. Officials this morning had said they were waiting until daylight to assess possible damage.
After the airport runways and infrastructure were assessed for damage, the airport reopened about 1.30pm, before the Prime Minister and other ministers were due to arrive.
Air New Zealand said 77 domestic flights and 11 international flights had been affected by the airport closure, and it was likely to take the rest of the day to clear the backlog of passengers.
Inbound international flights had been diverted to Auckland and Wellington airports, he said.
Hospitals
All of Christchurch’s hospitals are operational, though people are asked only to come in if it is an emergency. They are currently running on generator power.
What should you do in the aftermath of an earthquake? - find out here
Many people were suffering from shock, Mr Carter said. But he urged the public not to flood the hospital with minor injuries, urging them instead to go to their 24-hour medical centres.
“The most important thing we can tell anybody at the moment is please, don’t panic.”
Medical facilities are said to be coping well in the aftermath of the quake.
Christchurch’s three after-hours surgeries – 24 Hour After Hours Surgery at Bealey Ave, Moorhouse Medical Centre and Riccarton Clinic – were seeing steady numbers of patients but were coping well, Canterbury DHB spokeswoman Michele Hider said.
“Health waters relating to water and sewage are now the most pressing,” she said.
The number of cardiology admissions to the hospital was higher than normal, she said.
The central hospital was functioning well and fully staffed, but damage done to Canterbury's other hospitals was still being assessed.
Burwood Hospital's water supply had been restored, and water was running as usual at Christchurch Hospital, but extra water was being supplied at Hillmorton and The Princess Margaret Hospitals.
Christchurch and Burwood Hospitals were no longer using generators for electricity, and mains power was expected to be restored at Hillmorton and The Princess Margaret Hospitals later this afternoon.
Ambulance services were functioning as usual.
However, Lincoln Maternity Hospital and Burwood Birthing Unit will be closed until further notice.
Women who had been intending to have their babies at the units have been advised to go to Christchurch Women's Hospital.
Roads
Reports confirm considerable damage to at least 20 roads. Sumner Rd is now impassable.
Police are warning residents to stay off roads and avoid the central city. All State Highway structures are open to traffic. Lyttleton Tunnel has been checked and reopened, according to Civil Defence.
A major deformation at Bromley has closed the road on SH74, on the ring route to Christchurch.
Damage
3 News reporter Mike McRoberts is in Christchurch. He was filming a piece to camera in Worcester St moments ago, when the building next to him exploded into flames.
Structural damage to houses, gas leaks and broken glass are being reported throughout Christchurch.
Photographs supplied to 3 News show the walls on the upper floor of the Daily Bagel Café completely torn down.
3 News has obtained pictures of the extensive damage to buildings in central Christchurch.
Civil Defence are asking people to assess their homes or workplaces for damage, look for and extinguish small fires – if safe to do so – and not overflow phone lines with non-emergency calls.
Watch a photogallery showing the extent of the damage around Christchurch
“We’ve got considerable damage,” says Inspector Mike Coleman.
“There’s gas leaks, there’s been damaged water pipes, we’ve got sewage in houses and a lot of power lines and power poles down. It’s very unsafe to be out and about.”
Christchurch’s AMI Stadium has suffered minor damage, according to Rugby NZ 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden.
“The very preliminary assessment is that there’s no structural damage there, that there’s a heap of minor breakages and what not, but no structural damage.”
The quake comes just days after Rugby NZ 2011 had looked at how such a situation would be handled, if it were to arise during the tournament.
"Last week the group that is responsible for dealing with this type of occurrence had actually run a three-day exercise just dealing with something major and just working through what would happen in these circumstances, so it's certainly something that had already been on our radar in terms of preparing for eventualities and an earthquake's an obvious one," he said.
Buildings crumbled throughout Christchurch and in rural Canterbury, crushing cars and closing roads.
An historic pub in Temuka has also been badly damaged, with the proprietor saying he is unsure when it will reopen.
A large hole had opened up at the Royal Hotel and a big crack appeared in the rear wall.
The front balcony would need to be demolished because of the damage, proprietor Maz Opele said.
“I am still shaking,” she told NZPA.
A crane would be needed to repair the steeple of St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Temuka, which had shifted about 10cm in the quake.
Power
Power outages have been reported as far away as Dunedin.
Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee said he expected power to be restored by this evening.
Earlier this morning Civil Defence said there were power outages northwest of the city, however the CBD is understood to be operating normally.
Water
Water and sewage has been affected in several regions and residents are being warned to conserve water – especially in Rolleston where the supply is contaminated.
Phone lines
Cellphone networks are being restored to normal using both generator and mains power.
Batteries at cell sites for both Telecom and Vodafone had from three to eight hours life after the power cut and both networks said although they did not crash, people were immediately encouraged to stay off their cellphones.
Vodafone is installing 10 generators today with a further 15 being shipped from the South Island, spokesman Paul Brislen said. Another 12 were en route from Wellington and 10 from Auckland to the capital, in case they were needed further south.
Power was being restored area by area, Mr Brislen said.
Telecom spokesman Mark Watts said the network had held up well.
“We’ve got a few sites down and others are running on battery power,” he said.
“But we’ve had 130 to 140 across the region and most are still working fine.”
Mr Watts said power outages were potentially a problem and he advised anyone who had an old-style analogue phone in their home to plug it in and use it rather than one powered by electricity.
He said most people had heeded warnings not to use the networks unless it was necessary.
"The loads haven't been excessive and I think people have acted responsibly."
Mr Watts said Telecom and its partners had several hundred staff in the region who were working on and the company was trying to contact them to ensure they were safe.
Robin Kelly, a spokesman for network maintenance company Chorus, said the fixed line network had remained stable.
"We've had a handful of roadside cabinets go down and they have been using alternative power, but the majority of the network is stable and operating as expected."
Civil Defence
Welfare centres have been opened at Linwood High School, Burnside Welfare Centre and Addington Raceway.
Crime
Police have reported the presence of looting in central Christchurch, cordoning off areas where looters have already been active.
“Shop windows are broken and obviously it’s easy pickings for displays and things,” says Mr Coleman.
Police had taken about 300 calls in the first couple of hours after the quake, Mr Coleman said.
“We’re telling people to check their neighbours and obviously go to their Civil Defence Centre if they feel unsafe in their homes,” he said.
Army
The army has been informed and are ready to mobilise if needed.
Tsunami Warning
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed, based on historical earthquake and tsunami data.
However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generated local tsunamis that could be destructive along coasts located within 100km of the earthquake epicentre.
Footage
Christchurch roads cracked and contorted
A street view of quake damage in Christchurch
CCTV footage captures moment quake struck
Local recalls Christchurch earthquake
Civil Defence Director talks community assistance
NZ EQC discuss Christchurch earthquake
3 News reporter Hamish Clark reports from the aftermath
3 News