Earthquake In New Zealand

Almost two-thirds of the 160,000 homes in and around Christchurch have been damaged by Saturday's earthquake (4 September 2010). Experts have warned a major aftershock could rock the area in the near future. More than 80 aftershocks have been recorded since Saturday's 7.0-magnitude tremor, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 5.1.
"It is still possible that we'll have a magnitude 6 in the next week, and people ought to be aware of that, particularly if they are around structures which are already damaged," Ken Gledhill of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences told the NZPA news agency.
"For a shallow earthquake like this, they will go on for weeks," he added. "And if a building is badly damaged, it won't take much shaking to push it over."