New Zealand quake sparks state of emergency

Before-and-after images of damaged buildings on Victoria Street in Christchurch, New Zealand.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Authorities declared an overnight curfew for Saturday after a major earthquake hit New Zealand's second-biggest city.

Christchurch and its neighboring small towns bore the full force of the quake, which brought down power lines and bridges and wrecked roads and building facades. However, no deaths and only two injuries were reported.

"The damages are incredibly frightening. The only thing you can say is it's a miracle that no one lost their life," Prime Minister John Key told Television NZ after the quake struck with a magnitude of 7.0 from a depth of 6 miles at around 4.35 a.m. local time (12:35 p.m. ET Friday).

He said early estimates for the cost of repairs were around NZ$2 billion ($1.4 billion).

A curfew was slapped on the central business district of Christchurch between 1900 and 0700 (3:00 a.m. ET and 3:00 p.m. ET). Earlier, a formal state of emergency was imposed in the city of around 350,000 to coordinate recovery operations. A few looters broke into some of the damaged shops, authorities said.

"The damage is immense, it's something that has affected every family, every household...the hit on our infrastructure, the pipes that deliver the water, the waste water, the bridges, the power supplies ... has been very significant," Christchurch mayor Bob Parker told reporters.

Roads had been blocked by rubble, gas and water supplies disrupted, while chimneys and walls had fallen from older buildings, Parker added. He warned that continuing aftershocks could cause masonry to fall from damaged buildings.