Major earthquake 4th of september 4.30am.
A major earthquake measuring 7, on the richter scale , hit Christchurch Zealand at 4.30am (16.35 GMT)today. There has been no fatalities, apparently because most people were in bed when it struck.
A curfew was imposed on the city's residents of 372,000, between 7pm tonight to 7am tomorrow. The authorities are battling hard to restore water, power and telephone services in the city.
Some eighty police officers were sent from Auckland to the south island to help deal with fighting, serious back logs at petrol stations and traffic jams as people try to leave the city.
According to mayor Bob Parker, the scale of what happened is enormous. Earthquake commission chief executive Ian Simpson estimates the damage could be New Zealand $2billion ($1.6billion US)
The Prime Minister John Key visited the city in the afternoon to assess the damage.
The last major earthquake to hit New Zealand was in 1931, richter scale 7.8, which hit Hawke's Bay area.
