First US Warship Changes Route to Help Earthquake Evacuation in New Zealand

Authorities in New Zealand’s capital are urging people who work in the center of the city to stay home on Monday following a powerful natural disaster.

Foreigners and tourists spent a sleepless night thinking about the consequences, but the natives seem to have accepted such calamities as a part of their day-to-day lives.

China has chartered four helicopters to evacuate nationals from Kaikoura, said Mr Liu Lian, an official at the Chinese Consulate in Christ- church. “The most important thing we can do at the moment is just give them reassurance that the support will be there for them”.

The town has a population of 2,000 bolstered by tourists, mostly worldwide backpackers attracted by the area’s popular whale-watching cruises.

New Zealand military helicopters on Tuesday airlifted around 200 of the 1,200 trapped holidaymakers to nearby Christchurch, and the warship Canterbury will take up to 500 on Wednesday. “The prediction I heard on the news is that there is a high possibility of another 7.0 quake sometime in the next month following a sequence of earthquakes”.

Authorities also managed to clear an emergency inland road to Kaikoura, although it was only open for military vehicles.

The people on this South Island of New Zealand were still recovering from the massive 2011 quake, when on Sunday night, another natural disaster – with a 7.5 magnitude – shook their lives.

The magnitude-7.8 quake struck early Monday, just after midnight.

A tsunami alert that followed sent many rushing for higher ground before the threat was lowered.

On Wednesday, Acting Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said the magnitude was revised after GNS Science reassessed data from stations across New Zealand.

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester said the building would likely have to be demolished.

Twitter users are reporting major tremors in the New Zealand capital of Wellington.

“There are some sites that are really not suitable for certain types of structures”. At least two others are still stranded, according to the New Zealand news site Stuff.

Pictures shared on social media showed buckled roads, smashed glass and goods toppled from shelves in shops in Wellington and the upper South Island.

Brendan Nally, the regional commander for the New Zealand Fire Service, said engineers were completing an inspection of the downtown Wellington office building Tuesday when they found that a major vertical beam had failed above the fifth floor.

Win Clark, of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, said no building was 100 per cent safe, he said.

The announcement comes after Prime Minister John Key expressed fears about the impact of the quake on the tourist town, with State Highway 1 likely to be out of action for months.

“Some very short-term practical issues that need to be resolved, making sure that we’re getting more water, food and ultimately people are here to support the almost 600 people at the welfare centre because the road access points here are blocked off”.