This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

New Zealand faced a battle to recover from Monday’s fatal earthquake as landslides cut off communities, strong aftershocks hit and thousands were left without vital infrastructure.

The 7.5-magnitude earthquake in the South Island killed at least two people and triggered a tsunami alert for the entire east coast, forcing tens of thousands of people to leave their homes in the middle of the night and seek higher ground.

The Red Cross flagged a huge humanitarian challenge, saying dozens of its volunteers were struggling to get to affected regions. A state of emergency was declared in the town of Kaikoura, a whale-watching destination and home to 2,000 people that has been completely cut off.

Rescue efforts have been further hampered by strong aftershocks – including one of magnitude 6.6 at 1.35pm – and looming warnings of severe weather to come in the evening.

Fears of secondary disasters emerged after a landslip blocked the South Island’s Clarence river. It is rapidly swelling and poses a threat to farms downstream if it bursts.

MarlboroughEmergency (@MarlEmergency) Images as they come in of the #eqnz damage: Slip impact on State Highway 1 pic.twitter.com/KOpahqedg5

The US Geological Survey said the quake hit just after midnight near Hanmer Springs in the north-east of the South Island, 95km from Christchurch which is still recovering from the 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people and destroyed many buildings.



New Zealand earthquake: evacuations as tsunami heads for east coast – live Read more

The prime minister, John Key, said the quake was the most significant he could remember feeling in Wellington.



“I know from the Christchurch earthquakes how much it undermines people’s confidence, but I want to reassure people that there will be support there. It was a very significant shock.”

Key said he was unable to give further information on the fatalities until authorities had confirmed all the details. He said officials had no reason to believe the death toll would rise.

“On the very best information we have at the moment, we think it’s only likely to be two. But of course there are isolated parts of the country which we don’t have perfect eyes on, so we can’t be 100% sure,” he said.

Power has been lost in many small South Island towns and parts of Wellington. The worst-hit areas are the east coast of the South Island. The small, seaside town of Kaikoura, a popular destination for whale watching, has been cut off, with telecommunications down and some roads left unpassable following landslides.



Many roads in the South Island were closed as a result of the landslides and road damage, particularly a number of significant routes connecting the west and east coasts. Widespread damage is reported to bridges, infrastructure and buildings in the northern South island.

There were reports of a train trapped north of Kaikoura, and at least one major building collapsed in the town itself.

Accounts of looting also emerged in the aftermath of the quake. New Zealand’s Newshub website reported that a Christchurch family who fled their home returned hours later to find they had been been burgled.

“They’ve just ransacked the house, it’s horrible, it’s terrible,” said Melissa Mill. [We’re] pretty shaken, pretty disgusted, disheartened.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Residents Chris and Viv Young look at damage the earthquake caused to State Highway One near the town of Ward, south of Blenheim in New Zealand’s South Island. Photograph: Anthony Phelps/Reuters

The quake triggered a tsunamis, and people on the east coast of the South and North Islands were told by civil defence and via emergency sirens to move immediately to higher ground.

Key said officials had decided not to declare a national emergency because the nation’s regions were able to adequately cope with the situation. He said waves of about two metres (6.6ft) had hit the coast but the tsunami threat had since been downgraded to coastal warnings.

The earthquake lasted just over a minute, and aftershocks continue to be strongly felt particularly in the north-east of the South Island and the capital city of Wellington.



In Wellington it collapsed a ferry loading ramp, broke windows and caused items to fall from shelves. It also forced hundreds of tourists on to the streets as hotels were evacuated.

Sharon O’Loughlin’s elderly parents Barry and Kathy O’Loughlin live in Kaikoura, and O’Loughlin spoke to her mother as she was fleeing her house at 12.18am. Her mother only said “hi” before the phone line cut out.



O’Loughlin, who is hundreds of kilometres away in Dunedin, has been unable to reach her parents since, but received a text message from her mother via her brother in Australia, saying: “We are up on the hill, a lot smashed up in the house.”



St John rescue helicopters have been sent to Kaikoura, loaded with intensive-care medical equipment and extra paramedics to be able to treat patients on the ground, and a number of military helicopters have been sent from Christchurch to assess the damage, re-establish communication and deploy search and rescue teams.

The east coast South Island university town of Dunedin issued a state-of-emergency evacuation notice for its northern and southern beach communities just after 4am.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest People gather in a carpark in Wellington after their hotel was evacuated following the earthquake. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Tsunami sirens sounded in the remote villages and emergency services went door to door evacuating residents. The state of emergency was cancelled just after dawn when the tsunami risk was downgraded.



After being advised to head to higher ground just after 3am, thousands of Wellingtonians drove or walked from low-lying areas to Mt Victoria, Mt Cook and the hills above Lyall Bay.

Emily White, 29, a resident of central Wellington, took cover under her dining table with her flatmates during the quake, which White said was “the strongest quake I have ever felt; it was really unnerving”.



The trio then packed backpacks with food and emergency supplies and walked to the war memorial in the suburb of Mt Cook, where they were soon joined by hundreds of others responding to the civic defence advice to evacuate to higher ground. White said the McDonald’s near the war memorial was “packed” at 3am.

Simon Morton and his family were woken by the “super slow roller” quake just after midnight. Morton and his wife, Jo, live in the seaside Wellington suburb of Lyall Bay – just seven to eight metres from the sea.

Morton made the immediate decision to evacuate his family to higher ground and packed the family in his truck and drove them to View Street, nearly 80m above sea level. After 40 minutes and no further serious activity, Morton and his family returned home.

Just as he was getting into bed Morton noticed the tide was the lowest he had ever seen. Fearing tsunamis, his wife said it was “very weird” and the couple made the decision to again evacuate their family.



Morton and his family spent the rest of the night on the hill and were joined by around 100 vehicles packed with evacuees, many of whom has brought pets, coffee and food.



New Zealand lies in the seismically active “Ring of Fire”, a 40,000km arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Ocean. Around 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur within this region.