A 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook New Zealand at around 4:35 Saturday morning, with the epicenter located four miles south-southeast from Christchurch.

A state of emergency was declared by Christchurch mayor Bob Parker, after the tremors caused damages to buildings and other infrastructures. There were also reports of power outages.

The city, which has a population of about 400,000 people, fortunately, did not have any deaths. Doctors at Christchurch Hospital, however, said two men who were seriously injured were treated at their hospital.

The authorities have also arrested a few people who had been looting. Police Inspector Alf Stewart said, “We have some reports of people smashing [shop] windows and trying to grab some property that is not theirs…we’ve got police on the streets and we’re dealing with that.”

Some people were worried that a tsunami might occur anytime soon, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said, “no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed, based on historical earthqake and tsunami data”.

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