{A 7.8-magnitude quake hits central New Zealand, killing at least two people and prompting a tsunami warning.}<\/p>\n
A powerful magnitude 7.8-magnitude earthquake has rocked New Zealand, prompting a tsunami warning and knocking out power and phone services in many parts of the country.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister John Key said at least two people were killed in the powerful temblor.<\/p>\n
Officials warned all people along the east coast of the country to get to higher ground as the first waves began to roll in. <\/p>\n
The US Geological Survey said the shallow quake hit 90km from the South Island city of Christchurch, which was devastated five years ago by a 6.3 tremor.<\/p>\n
That quake killed 185 people in one of New Zealand’s deadliest disasters.<\/p>\n
Monday’s earthquake, initially put at 7.4 but later upgraded, struck at 12:02am local time (1102 GMT on Sunday).<\/p>\n
It was only 10km deep and felt throughout most of the country.<\/p>\n
It was followed by a series of strong aftershocks and there were reports of damaged buildings in the small rural township of Cheviot near the epicentre.<\/p>\n
“It was massive and really long,” Tamsin Edensor, a mother of two in Christchurch, told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n
“We were asleep and woken to the house shaking, it kept going and going and felt like it was going to build up.”<\/p>\n
Civil Defence organisation, which is in charge of New Zealand’s emergency management, said it was too early to assess the damage or whether there had been any injuries or deaths. <\/p>\n
“The whole house rolled like a serpent and some things smashed, the power went out,” a woman who gave her name as Elizabeth told Radio New Zealand from her home in Takaka, near the top of South Island.<\/p>\n
The ambulance service said it did not receive any reports of quake-related injuries.<\/p>\n
Civil defence warned people all along the country’s east coast to move to higher ground over fears of a tsunami.<\/p>\n
“The first wave activity may not be the most significant,” it said in a bulletin, adding tsunami activity would continue for several hours.<\/p>\n
New Zealand to demolish iconic cathedral<\/p>\n
Anna Kaiser, a seismologist at GNS Science, said a tidal signal or surge of up to one metre had been recorded in the North Canterbury region of the South Island.<\/p>\n
“That’s reasonably significant so people should take this seriously,” she told Radio New Zealand.<\/p>\n
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, however, said based on available data “a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected”.<\/p>\n
Chris Hill, a fire officer in Cheviot, said officials had gone door to door evacuating residents.<\/p>\n
“Everyone seems okay here,” he told Radio New Zealand. “There’s a lot of debris in houses, but at this stage it doesn’t look like anything too bad has happened.”<\/p>\n
In a brief message the Prime Minister John Key tweeted: “I hope everyone is safe after the earthquake tonight.”<\/p>\n
In September, a strong 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the east coast of New Zealand, generating a small tsunami, but no significant damage or injuries were reported.<\/p>\n
New Zealand is on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, which form part of the so-called “Ring of Fire”, and experiences up to 15,000 quakes a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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