NO DEATHS REPORTED AFTER POWERFUL QUAKE STRIKES NEW ZEALAND
Baku, September 4 (AZERTAC). Officials declared a state of emergency Saturday after a powerful predawn earthquake struck near Christchurch, New Zealand, sending people into the streets as windows exploded, water mains broke and buildings crumbled.
No deaths were immediately reported.
The Christchurch City Council declared a state of emergency in response to what it called "significant damage," just hours after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake rattled residents. The order allows authorities to force evacuations and prohibit entry into areas believed unsafe. Officials in Selwyn, a rural district near where the quake hit, also declared a state of local emergency.
A curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. was in place, and the army was assisting local police to ensure there is no looting.
Roughly 100 people were being treated for minor bumps and cuts after the strong quake, hospital officials said. Two people suffered more serious injuries.
"The house felt like it was on wheels, like it was rolling around on marbles," resident Hadlee Wright told CNN`s Rick Sanchez.
Pictures that Wright took of the city before daybreak showed collapsed buildings and streets littered with bits of brick and rock. The facade of one structure was almost entirely torn off.
Power was out in the northwest part of the city, while water and sewage services have been affected in several regions, the Christchurch Civil Defense Group said in a statement. Roads were also damaged.
Images taken by Jimmy Le Comte, and sent to CNN`s iReport, showed flooding in New Brighton, a Christchurch suburb. In one, a giant crack cuts across a road.
The quake had a magnitude of 7.0, down from an initial assessment of 7.4, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck about 35 miles from Christchurch, a city with a population of some 386,000 people on the east coast of South Island.
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