Christchurch was rocked by a series of powerful earthquakes this afternoon forcing evacuations, triggering more liquefaction in areas, causing buildings to collapse and sending at least half a dozen people to hospital.
There were reports of people being trapped in a downtown building following the magnitude 5.5 quake which hit at 1pm, 10 kilometres east of Christchurch at Taylor's Mistake Beach, at a depth of 11 kilometres.
The quake was felt along the East Coast from Dunedin to Blenheim. It was also felt in Wellington.
The second quake measured 6.0 in magnitude and occurred around 2.20 p.m around 10 km southeast of the city at a depth of 9 km.
Power was cut to around 10,000 homes with residents -- and their households -- once again thrown into chaos. Commercial businesses, including banks operating throughout the city, closed early.
Prime Minister John Key told journalists at his post-cabinet press conference in Wellington he had talked with Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker, who raised the possibility of declaring a local state of emergency. Key also said his understanding was the Earthquake Commission had been able to get reinsurance in place for the latest quakes, and certainly hadn't had any advice that it couldn't.
Key said it was almost certain today's quakes would be treated as a new event in terms of insurance purposes. A spokesman for Finance Minister Bill English had no immediate comment, directing enquiries to the Earthquake Commission.
Heathcote Valley resident Helen Irvine, among those to lose power, said the ground continued to shake following the second quake, said to be as powerful as the Sept.4 earthquake.
Interest.co.nz columnist Janine Starks, a resident of the Eastern suburbs of Red Cliffs, said traffic along the main road out of the sea side community of Sumner was building up as many residents were packing up and leaving the area.
The earthquakes, which caused the Kiwi dollar fall by around a cent to 81.1 USc, also forced the evaculation of Christchurch International Airport.
The city has been plagued by a series of on-going aftershocks since Sept. 4 when the area was first struck, followed by the deadly Feb.22 quake where 182 people were killed.
The Beehive's bunker used to deal with national emegencies was also activated after the second quake measuring 6.0, with the national civil defence controller arriving to monitor the situation.
Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee was en route to Christchurch at 3 p.m.
Earthquake Commission communications advisor Gordon Irving said it was unclear whether the latest earthquake would be treated as a third event for the purposes of reinsurance, adding that it would become clear in a few days when the extent of the damage was known.
"This is quite serious, it looks like it’ll be treated like another event, but we’ll have some clarity in the next few days.''
While Monday's earthquake brought to 12 the number of earthquakes in their own right since Sept.4, there have been thousands more aftershocks in between.
Although Government signalled that a doubling or trebling of EQC levies could be necessary to restock emergency reserves, Irving said there has been no formal notice of an increase.
Irving said the EQC was sufficiently reinsured to the handle a possible third event but declined to say how much that reinsurance was.
'We've provisioned heavily'
At his post-cabinet press conference in Wellington on Monday afternoon, Prime Minister John Key said “almost certainly” today’s events would be treated as another new incident in terms of insurance.
“But that’s a matter for EQC – they have various rules that determine whether that’s the case or not. Certainly the one the other day that was a 5.5 I think was a new event,” Key said.
“Ultimately we need to work our way through any further claims that come in and take that one step at a time,” he said.
In terms of the government’s budget, Key said it he did not think government would be needing to borrow more than expected prior to the quake, although it was difficult to know what new damage had been caused in Christchurch.
“We’ve provisioned very heavily. It’s hard to know exactly what new damage has been caused – it’s obviously very early on – and whether that’s damage to buildings that will already [have] been destroyed, and homes that will already need to be either substantially repaired or knocked down," Key said.
“So it’s very early days, but it’s clear it’s been a major earthquake,” he said.
(Updated with comments from EQC, PM John Key, Finance Minister spokesman.)
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