Looters hitting Christchurch following quake

A police officer is seen on a street blocked by rubble from a damaged building following the earthquake in central Christchurch. Photo / David Alexander.

Looters are hitting central Christchurch after a devastating earthquake hit the city early this morning.

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck about 30km west of Christchurch at 4.35am today, at a depth of 10km, causing minor injuries, structural damage and gas leaks, cutting power, and rupturing water and sewerage mains.

At least 20 roads had been damaged and some were impassable.

Inspector Mike Coleman said police had cordoned off central Christchurch as it was dangerous but also because looters had already been active.

"There's considerable damage there, and we've already had reports of looting," he told Radio New Zealand.

"Shop windows are broken and obviously it's easy pickings for displays and things."

Police had taken about 300 calls in the first couple of hours following the quake, with many people concerned for relatives.

"We're telling people to check their neighbours...and obviously to go to their Civil Defence centre if they feel unsafe in their houses," Mr Coleman said.

"Stay off the roads and also avoid the central city.

"We've got considerable road damage, there's gas leaks, there's been damaged water pipes, we've got sewage in houses and quite a lot of power lines and power poles down. It's very unsafe to be out and about."

Power is out from Rakaia, 60km southwest of Christchurch, to the Waimakariri River, north of the city.

Orion chief executive Roger Sutton said power was also off across the Canterbury plains, through to the foothills of the southern alps.

All Christchurch Hospitals are operational, though people were asked to go to hospital only if it was an emergency.

For minor injuries, residents could go to the 24 hour surgery on Bealey Avenue.

The Riccarton Clinic and Moorhouse after hours medical centre were open.

Civil Defence and Emergency Management director John Hamilton said the National Crisis Management Centre in the Beehive in Wellington had been activated to monitor the quake, and co-ordinate central government response.

The two-storey 1920s home of Neil and Cathy McPherson, in the suburb of Merivale, had its two brick chimneys demolished and ceilings cracked.

"You couldn't walk, it was so frightening," Mrs McPherson told NZPA.

"We've lost treasures but that is neither here nor there - ornaments and dinner sets."

She said her husband tried to rush to the nearest beam to their bed, but tripped in the dark over a heater that had fallen over and then found his path blocked by about 200 books that had fallen off their shelves.

A man who lives in the southern Christchurch coastal suburb of Southshore described the quake as "incredibly long and tortuous".

He was on the second floor of his house and could feel the house "twisting and fracturing around our ears", and it had been left "on a bit of an angle".

There were cracks and a chasm across his garden.

Photographer David Alexander, of suburban Opawa, told NZPA the aftershocks "just keep coming". His house still had power but street lights were out.

Mr Alexander said his wife was from Japan and had experienced worse shocks but she said this was a pretty good one.

Their 103-year-old villa had withstood the onslaught well but there was broken glass and china everywhere, and "a very frightened cat under the bed".

Christchurch man Chris Hutching said the water mains had burst in his St Albans neighbourhood and that "chimneys are down all around us".

Another city resident said the top of St Joseph's church, in Papanui, appeared to have fallen off.

Christchurch Airport is closed, and a spokesman said they are waiting for daylight to assess possible damage. They expect to reopen by 10am.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed based on historical earthquake and tsunami data. However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generated local tsunamis that could be destructive along coasts located within 100km of the earthquake epicentre, it said.

Civil Defence asked people to assess their home or workplace for damage; look for and extinguish small fires if safe to do so; and not overflow the phone lines with non-emergency calls. They were also asked to check on elderly neighbours.

- NZPA