Six Chinese tourists airlifted out of quake-hit town

A first batch of six Chinese tourists has been airlifted from the worst-hit town of Kaikoura to Christchurch after a deadly quake rocked much of New Zealand early on Monday.

Staff with the Chinese consulate general in Christchurch, the country's second largest city, said that "altogether 21 Chinese tourists, including one slightly injured in the head, have been found trapped in Kaikoura so far, and they are all safe now".

The six evacuees are three pairs of mother and child and the youngest child is five years old. They arrived at Christchurch at around 3 pm, said Consul General Jin Zhijian.

"The injured has received proper medical treatment and is doing well," he said.

A magnitude-7.8 quake hit just after midnight on Monday, leaving two dead.

Some 1,000 tourists were reported stuck in Kaikoura, a popular tourist destination famed for its coastal scenery and whale-watching activities, which is some 100 km away from the epicenter.

The quake-triggered landslides have left the town isolated. Helicopters are now the only means of transportation available for the outside world with the small town.

The Chinese tourists posted their plight on social media and called for help before their smartphones ran off power. With the information, the consulate general staff, who flew to the town soon after the quake with food and other relief goods, found them later.

Related: 'Utter devastation' after major quake

Wellington becomes a virtual ghost town with workers ordered to stay away from city

A powerful magnitude-7.8 earthquake pummeled central New Zealand on Monday, killing at least two people, damaging roads and buildings and setting off hundreds of strong aftershocks.

Emergency response teams flew by helicopter to the region at the epicenter of the tremor, which struck just after midnight some 90 kilometers northeast of Christchurch in the South Island, amid reports of injuries and collapsed buildings.

"It's just utter devastation, I just don't know ... that's months of work," New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee after flying over the coastal town of Kaikoura, according to Brownlee's Twitter account.

He described landslips in the area as "just horrendous". In a statement, Key said of the likely damage bill: "You've got to believe it's in the billions of dollars to resolve."

Power lines and telecommunications were down, with huge cracks in roads, land slips and other damage to infrastructure making it hard to reach the worst-affected areas.

A tsunami warning that led to mass evacuations after the original quake was downgraded after large swells hit New Zealand's capital Wellington, in the North Island, and Christchurch.

Wellington was a virtual ghost town with workers ordered to stay away while the city council assessed the risk to buildings, several of which were damaged by the tremor.

Hundreds of aftershocks, the strongest a magnitude-6.2 quaked at about 1:45 pm, rattled the South Pacific country, fraying nerves in an area where memories of a deadly 2011 quake are still fresh.

State of emergency

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

New Zealand's Civil Defense declared a state of emergency for the Kaikoura region, centered on a tourist town about 150 km northeast of Christchurch, soon after Monday's large aftershock.

"Our immediate priority is ensuring delivery of clean water, food and other essentials to the residents of Kaikoura and the estimated 1,000 tourists in the town," Brownlee said.