Hi All
I was up in Hamilton so a long way from the quake. Christchurch was hit hard and are still getting large aftershocks - 5.4 today. The aftershocks are doing more damage.
No loss of life thank goodness but one guy still in intensive care.
All the older buildings have been damaged so the city will never look the same as the old brick buildings have either already fallen down or been condemned. The good thing is that all the modern commercial buildings built to our stringent earthquake regulations have come through unharmed. Some modern houses that had brick chimneys have had the chimneys fall down and in some cases fall through the roof.
Unfortnunately there will be a lot of people without homes for a while and a lot of companies will not be able to start up again in a hurry so people will be temporarily with out work (and some permanently).
here are some photos
http://www.crashbang.co.nz/quake040910/index.html 
