earthquake just hit new zealand

Here is a small info blurb from CNN. Looks like lots of damage, but with how close it hit to a large city, there is a relatively great potential for devastation. Hope they come out of this OK.

A major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit New Zealand in the early hours of Saturday, striking only 35 miles from Christchurch, a city with a population of around 386,000 people. So far although there is widespread damage there are no reports of any serious injuries and severe damage seems to have been avoided.
The U.S. Geological Survery initially measured the quake at 7.4 magnitude but this was later downscaled to a 7.0, still a very major earthquake. It struck at around 4:35 am local time at a depth of 7.5 miles. Around 20 minutes later there was an aftershock with a magnitude of 5.7, according to CNN. Radio New Zealand reported “extensive damage” around Christchurch resulting in power outages and it’s also being reported that some sewer lines and water pipes have burst.

The operations manager for the New Zealand Fire Service, Chris Monroe, described the earthquake as “like a freight train running through the house.” Radio New Zealand also reports that there was structural damage with broken glass throughout Christchurch and authorities also evacuated the international airport there.

For more on this go to cnn.com. Are you in Christchurch or any of the surrounding area and felt the earthquake? We’d be interested to hear about your experiences of it so please do send in your comments and thoughts on what happened.