New Zealand Earthquake: Warships Head To Kaikoura

A navy ship was steaming towards the seaside town of Kaikoura, which bore the brunt of the quake that claimed two lives when it struck early Monday.

A military official on Wednesday said crews were loading about 380 people and three dogs onto a navy ship.

Home to about 2,000 residents, Kaikoura was a popular destination for travelers wanting to go on whale-watching expeditions before the quake hit.

Elsewhere, many people returned to work in the capital, Wellington, after the quake shut down much of the central city on Monday.

President-elect Donald Trump has called New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key to pass on his sympathies for the powerful natural disaster that killed two people.

Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive officer Alan Pollard said the country’s apple industry also seemed to have escaped any damage. “They’re very quiet cattle so it wasn’t very hard to do”, he said.

Police said water was running low, power was intermittent and hundreds of people were sheltering in evacuation centres.

The NH-90 helicopters were deployed to deliver emergency supplies and evacuate stranded tourists and residents after Monday’s deadly 7.5-magnitude quake triggered massive landslides that wiped out road and rail links to the South Island town.

An emergency worker patrols a road cordon in Wellington, New Zealand Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, after officials determined a nine-story office building, center, is in danger of collapsing following a powerful natural disaster.

Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s ruggedly handsome South Island, is still recovering from the 6.3 quake in 2011 that killed 185 people.

Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said rescuers had to travel in by helicopter to build up a clear picture of the damage.

Several blocks were damaged by the tremor, including the offices of Statistics New Zealand, which halted the release of economic data and said it would be months before it could use the building.

Key flew over the quake’s epicentre on Monday and said he was shocked to see such “utter devastation”.

Overall 23 apartments were evacuated, affecting 60 people. After the shaking ceased, he quipped: “This time I’ll be more careful about what I say”.

“The soil was quite soft because it had all been tipped over and bumbled around, we managed to get a track in and bring them out”, the unnamed farmer said.

New Zealand lies on the Ring of Fire, the fault line that circles virtually the entire Pacific Rim bringing frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions.

The condition of State Highway 1 either side of the cut-off Kaikoura township remains a major concern for officials, with sizeable slips blocking some parts of the road and ruptures in others.