A state of emergency has been declared in New Zealand's second largest city of Christchurch Saturday after a powerful 7.0 earthquake caused widespread damage, Mayor Bob Parker said.
"We've decided to declare the state of emergency in the city. It just makes it a bit easier for us now to move people out of buildings if necessary, close streets down," Parker announced on national radio.
Parker said he was "horrified by the amount of damage", which was considerably worse than first thought.
Roads were blocked by the facades of buildings which crashed down and crushed parked vehicles, electricity supplies were cut, several bridges were down and roads were littered with glass from broken windows.
Civil defence officials said it was fortunate the quake struck before dawn when there were few people on the streets -- otherwise the impact could have been much worse, they said.
Only two people, both men in their 50s, were seriously injured. One was hit by a falling chimney and the other was cut by falling glass.
Geological agency GNS Science says the earthquake was 33 kilometers below the earth's surface.