Quake response 'first class'

Police Commissioner Howard Broad has praised the response of Police and other agencies to the Canterbury earthquake during a visit to the region today.

Mr Broad visited cordons around the CBD, spoke to Police staff who had been working since Saturday, and also visited some officers whose homes had been damaged and made uninhabitable.

He was also briefed on the co-ordination between Police and army personnel staffing the cordons around the CBD, and met with the Mayor of Christchurch.

He was due to visit Kaiapoi and surrounding rural areas later today.

Mr Broad says the response to Saturday's earthquake has been seamless:

"From the moment my phone started ringing early on Saturday morning my perception of how Christchurch and Canterbury has coped has been one of an outstanding response."

"I was immediately confident that the planning and preparation put in place over the years had kicked in seamlessly. It was a first class start to something so calamitous."

"There are several generations of engineers, planners and inspectors who have built a city capable of withstanding an earthquake on this scale."

"They are to be commended, as are those who have kept working through the recent days despite themselves facing difficult circumstances."