International warships to help New Zealand quake relief

Elsewhere, strong aftershocks continued to shake New Zealand on Monday, rattling the nerves of exhausted residents.

Experts said the relatively low death toll was because the quake was centred on a sparsely populated area and hit during the middle of the night, when people were in their homes.

Aftershocks have rattled the region during rescue efforts.

A powerful 7.8 magnitude quake struck near Christchurch, New Zealand, around 12 a.m. local time on Monday, killing two. Kaikoura has been cut off from the rest of the nation.

Just hours after the trio of cows were rescued, two more cows found themselves stranded on a raised piece of grassy land, Stuff reported.

Prime Minister John Key flew over Kaikoura by helicopter Monday as aftershocks kicked up dust from the landslides below.

Some flights early Tuesday were delayed by weather conditions, but by early evening about 140 people had been evacuated and the air force expected to fly nearly 200 people to Christchurch by last light, said Wing Commander Scott McKenzie.

The government said it would launch an investigation into why the newer buildings had been unable to withstand the quake.

“It’s quite early days and from what I understand the impact will be more modest”, Leung said.

As for reopening State Highway 1, which was closed between Blenheim and Kaikoura, and Seddon and Chevior, Bayley said, “that’s a major project”.

The military say they have evacuated about 260 people by helicopter and 150 by ship since Tuesday.

He said on his earlier visit on Monday they had seen the northernmost damage.

New Zealand’s official GeoNet said reconnaissance flights had noted between 80,0000 to 100,000 landslips.

Canterbury Civil Defence declared a regionwide state of emergency yesterday.

Generators were being used to keep affected pumps going, but residents were urged to conserve water until power was restored and should boil water as a precautionary measure until further notice.

Mark Solomon, a leader of South Island indigenous Maori Ngai Tahu tribe, which has tourism and fisheries businesses around Kaikoura, said the local marae (Maori meeting place) had received 1000 people since Monday morning.

Brownlee said there would be enough builders, engineers and other workers to cover any rebuild, despite a construction boom in Auckland.

Air Force Wing Commander Scott McKenzie said in a statement that military personnel were delivering food, water, diesel fuel and other basic necessities by helicopter.

Power was back in some parts of the town but nearly everywhere there was no running water or working sewerage.

Mr Brownlee said the New Zealand Navy had already sent HMNZS Canterbury and HMNZS Wellington to Kaikoura and would also send HMNZS Te Kaha and tanker ship, HMNZS Endeavour.

And much of the country is now dealing with flooding, the effects of which are being exacerbated by the quakes’ aftermath.

However, Kaikoura had been spared the worst of the downpour, according to the country’s meteorological service.

Key estimated the quake fix bill would reach billions of dollars but said the first job was delivering much-needed supplies to the town.