Emergency response continues

A state of emergency remains in Canterbury today as aftershocks as large as magnitude 5.4 continued to rumble through the region.

More than 100,000 homes were damaged after a 7.1 earthquake hit at 4.35am on Saturday morning with power, water and sewerage services all disrupted.

A significant number of people remain in welfare centres with the number rising to about 300 last night after two large shocks.

Cordons remain in place around the restricted access zones in the central city and in Kaiapoi. People are able to access through two checkpoints. Those people going through the cordon are being logged in case of evacuation.

About 2000 homes are still to regain power, a significant improvement from Saturday night when 20,000 people were without electricity.

Orion Chief Executive Roger Sutton said between 400 and 500 staff and contractors were working long hours to reconnect power. Mr Sutton said he was very pleased that every dairy shed in the district now had power.

He reminded people to treat all power lines as live and asked that people remember to disconnect the power before demolishing any building.

Around 180 city council staff continue to work to restore the water supply and wastewater infrastructure. There are 60 streets where water mains are shut off affecting all or part of the street. Residents are being asked to boil water for three minutes. The Medical Officer of Health Alistair Humphries reports that testing of water supplies has begun but it will be a day or two before the results are available.

The City Council report teams of structural engineers and public health staff are out in the suburbs assessing homes and talking to residents today.