A small town at the heart of New Zealand’s tourism industry has been

cut off as landslides, destroyed roads and bridges block entry in and out of the coastal resort.

More than 600 residents and 1,200 tourists have been stranded in Kaikoura after the 7.5 magnitude quake rocked the region overnight.

Reports from the area in and around the town say major land slips had completely blocked State Highway 1 with fissures opened up and loose rocks continuing to fall.

A rail line which runs adjacent to parts of the highway had moved about 20 metres toward the sea. And a freight train on the rail line near Kaikoura has been stranded between two slips.

KiwiRail Group General Manager said the company had stopped the train immediately after the slips and airlifted the driver out.

“As soon as we have a slip we stop the train, we used a helicopter to

get him out,” he said.



Prime Minister John Key announced on Monday morning that two people were killed - one man died when historic Elm Homestead collapsed in Kaikoura and another man had a heart attack at his property in Mount Lyford.

Key later travelled with the New Zealand Air Force across the wider Kaikoura region and said the damage was much worse than initially thought.

“It’s pretty horrendous for the people of Kaikoura and there will

be a massive cleanup.”



Key said military from Christchurch would be sent and a boat would be despatched and arrive in several days with resources such as

1000 chemical toilets, as sewerage systems were severely damaged.

Katarina Kroll, from the UK, was on her honeymoon in Kaikoura. She told

the Guardian from Kaikoura hospital that she and her husband were trying to get out.

“We’re stranded here, there’s no access as the state highway is clocked by huge land slips and roads cracked on either side of the peninsula,” she said.

“We’ve signed up to a helicopter register that in theory would take us to Christchurch but not sure if that’ll come to fruition. They’re saying 2 weeks before the roads open.”

Leigh Smith from Goose Bay, 15 kilometres south of Kaikoura, told the Guardian that they were very close to the epicentre of the earthquake.



“The shaking was massive and violent, the noise was horrendous. We live opposite the beach and our first thought once we were able to stand was to seek higher ground in case of a tsunami,” she said.



“We spent the night in our car at the top of a nearby hill, feeling continual aftershocks. Once the tsunami threat was passed we went back to our house which luckily stood solid.

“We spent the day with no power, no phone, no reception, no water, and one hell of a mess to clean up inside.”

Residents and tourists cut off by road were also faced with the stress of not being able to communicate with their loved ones as all telecommunications down.

Some were able to get to Kaikoura Hospital which has wifi, they were able to send out essential messages to let family and friends they were safe.

The quake will be a major blow to Kaikoura’s tourism revenue with New Zealand’s $34.7bn industry just beginning the peak of its season.

The town, which means to eat crayfish in Maori, is an iconic spot for both New Zealanders and international travellers alike.

It is where the snow-capped southern Alps meet the rugged coastline of the Pacific ocean and it offers some of New Zealand’s most striking landscape.



Whale watching tours are a major draw card with more than 100,000 tourists taking boats or planes to see blue whales that make their annual pilgrimage to Antarctic waters to feed. Tourists also see minke, blue, see, fin, killer and pilot whales.

