A SERIES OF strong earthquakes hit the New Zealand city of Christchurch yesterday, sending goods toppling from shelves, causing rockfalls and driving terrified residents from buildings 10 months after a quake killed 182 people in the city.
Christchurch police said there were no reports of casualties or widespread damage, although one person had been reported hurt at a shopping mall and taken to hospital.
An initial 5.8 magnitude earthquake was centred 20km (12 miles) north-east of the city at a very shallow depth of 8km (five miles), according to New Zealand’s civil defence. It was followed by a series of strong aftershocks, one of a 5.3 magnitude, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The tremors struck as shoppers thronged malls in the lead-up to Christmas and prompted many residents to flee the city, clogging roads.
Christchurch, the largest city in New Zealand’s South Island, is still recovering from a quake measuring 6.3 in February and caused up to NZ$20 billion (€11.85 billion) in damage. A strong but less damaging quake struck Christchurch in September last year.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the series of shakes had shattered the nerves of people who had been slowly getting their lives back to normal.
“It has been a long hard road, 15 months . . . and people had dared to hope that the aftershocks were over,” said Parker.
“I think there will be more damage to buildings, nothing significant, no major collapses, just little bits of more debris.
“It’s terrible timing, you can’t underestimate the impact of this on people on the psychological level. They’ve been exposed to so much and it felt like it was getting better, and it just puts the work back, the repairs back, the rebuild back.”
Ambulance services said they treated 18 people for panic attacks and anxiety.
Large areas of Christchurch’s central business district are still off-limits after the February quake, which toppled the city’s famous cathedral, as well as shops, homes and office buildings.
About 6,000 homes in the city were condemned after the February quake.
The region’s main power supplier said up to 15,000 customers were without power.
Christchurch International Airport was evacuated as a precautionary measure while the terminal and runways were checked but was later reopened on one of its busiest days of the year.