Christchurch hotel ransacked post-quake

Most of the 38 rooms in a cordoned-off central city Christchurch hotel have been ransacked by thieves since the February 22 earthquake.

Hotel Off The Square owner Timothy Nicholls returned to the hotel last week to find suitcases, clothes, computers, iPods, cellphones, valuables and even tennis rackets were taken when the thieves systematically went through the whole hotel, The Press reported.

Following the quake urban search and rescue teams smashed doors open as they searched for survivors. He believed the hotel would not have been boarded up for "several weeks".

Mr Nicholls said other hotels had not been targeted and he believed the building was hit in the first couple of days as police were concentrating on rescue efforts.

Police were investigating the incident, which Christchurch central area commander Inspector Derek Erasmus described as the first burglary "of significance" within the red zone.

- NZPA