News, pictures of devastated city's ordeal travel around world

News agencies around the world reported the damage in Christchurch. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The seismic shift in the South Island made headline news around the world.

In Australia, Sky News provided full bulletin coverage as the enormity of the damage became obvious.

Sydney Morning Herald headlines included "Picking up the Pieces in Shaken Isle", and the Age in Melbourne wrote of the quake that "shut down Christchurch".

In Britain, Guardian headlines told of the "Curfew in quake-hit Christchurch", after police told residents to stay indoors overnight to avoid aftershocks. It also mentioned that Kiwi schoolchildren regularly have earthquake drills.

"NZ declares emergency as quake hits" was the most-read story on the Times website yesterday.

The newspaper ran a main photograph from Christchurch and a gallery of 18 pictures on its website.

The Guardian also ran a gallery of photographs and the story featured on the most-read lists of the Telegraph and Independent.

The BBC, which had the quake as the fourth story on its website, reported on the aftershocks rattling Christchurch and the Skydive New Zealand plane crash that killed nine people at Fox Glacier.

Several other media organisations also reported on the crash.

In the US, the Los Angeles Times, in a story headlined "Buildings collapse in NZ quake", reported how chimneys were knocked to the ground, residents were knocked off their feet and roads were split open.

The San Francisco Chronicle described how the earthquake smashed buildings, cracked roads, twisted railway lines and ripped a new 3.5m fault in the earth'ssurface.

It quoted Victoria University earth scientist Martha Savage as saying New Zealand's building codes meant its buildings were strong compared with Haiti, which suffered widespread damage and fatalities in a 7.0 quake this year.

The quake was the second most popular story on CNN.

The Times of India also reported on the earthquake, and the Himalayan Times quoted John Key as saying it was a miracle no one was killed, citing 29 aftershocks so far recorded.

In Canada, the Edmonton Journal referred to New Zealand as the "Shaky Isles" before saying that their "denizens feel rude awakening".

The Straits Times of Singapore said stringent building codes were responsible for the lack of injuries and deaths.

Closer to home, the quake also featured on the front page of the Weekend Observer in Samoa, which suffered its own big shake last year.