Christchurch earthquake victims are using the web as a virtual crisis centre, harnessing it for everything from finding and offering accommodation to locating missing people.

The Christchurch Quake Map website presents a time-lapse visualisation of the quake and its aftershocks, "primarily to help those outside the affected area understand what those of us in Canterbury are experiencing". Users can see every quake and aftershock that occurred, along with the exact time and depth.

Christchurch Quake Map brings home disaster with a time lapse visualisation of each quake and tremor.

Another site, eq.org.nz, is taking pressure off emergency services by plotting official and user-generated information and reports on a Google Map. This information includes anything from infrastructure damage to hazard zones to animals in distress.

With hotels around Christchurch filling up, New Zealanders have jumped on to CouchSurfing.com and Facebook to open up their homes to people without a place to stay.