New Zealand imposes curfew for quake-hit city

New Zealand's second-largest city, Christchurch, was placed under night curfew as a storm threatened to worsen more than a billion dollars of damage caused by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

A state of emergency was declared after the quake struck at 4:35 a.m. local time , cutting power, damaging roads, rupturing sewer lines and water pipes and ripping facades off buildings. Christchurch, suffering aftershocks, is now bracing for possible flooding as gale force winds and heavy rains are expected to reach the city , the government said. At least two people were seriously injured when the temblors struck.

"It's a miracle no one lost their life," said New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, as he inspected the damage .

The quake, which has caused an estimated $1.44 billion in damage, comes as New Zealand, whose snowcapped peaks and verdant valleys formed the backdrop to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, struggles to rebound from its worst recession in 30 years.

The country, the biggest global exporter of dairy products and lamb, is affected by about 15,000 earthquakes each year, according to GeoNet, an earthquake-monitoring site.

"It's unbelievable, it's like a war zone," Christchurch resident Tracey Chambers said in a phone interview . "We've got so many big, brick historic buildings here and a lot have caved in, including the restaurants and bars. If the earthquake had happened a few hours earlier, hundreds would have been killed."

Christchurch's population is about 348,000. The Christchurch City Council declared a state of local emergency and said it is assessing damage to buildings in case evacuations are needed. The hospital is operating on generator power, the council said in a statement. Christchurch International Airport was closed until 1:30 p.m. local time.

"There would not be a house in the city that has escaped damage in some way," Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said at a televised news conference . "We have been extremely lucky as a nation there have been no fatalities," Civil Defense Minister John Carter said.

The quake was probably the worst to hit New Zealand in 80 years because it was a "bull's-eye on a major city," Warwick Smith, from the Institute of Geological Nuclear Sciences, told TVNZ today.

Telecom Corp. of New Zealand, the nation's biggest phone company, said its infrastructure appears to have escaped major damage. Power was restored to about 77 percent of Christchurch by noon , the government said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the event didn't pose a tsunami threat.

New Zealand's most powerful recorded earthquake occurred in January 1855 with an estimated magnitude of 8.2, according to GeoNet. It shifted vertically about 5,000 square kilometers of land.

Several aftershocks followed yesterdaySaturday's quake, including one of magnitude 5.7 at 4:53 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website. The strength of the first quake was revised to 7.2 and later to 7.0 from an initial report of 7.4 by the USGS.