Strong earthquake rocks New Zealand's South Island

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck off New Zealand's South Island, the US Geological Survey has said.

The epicentre was 55km (35 miles) north-west of Christchurch, at a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles).

Police said there had been widespread damage to buildings and roads as well as power cuts. Two men were seriously injured by falling masonry and glass.

A state of emergency was later declared in Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city with a 386,000 population.

Continue reading the main storyChristchurch resident

New Zealand lies at the southern end of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, and above an area of the Earth's crust where the Pacific Plate converges with the Indo-Australian Plate.

The country experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude in excess of 5.0.

The last fatal earthquake was in 1968, when a 7.1-magnitude tremor killed three people on the South Island's western coast.

Shops 'demolished'

The earthquake struck at 0435 on Saturday local time (1635 GMT on Friday), the USGS said, when most people would have been asleep.

Radio New Zealand reported that the quake was felt as a long, rolling motion lasting up to 40 seconds, and that the area was continuing to feel aftershocks. The USGS said one aftershock had a magnitude of 5.7.