Thanks all for your concern, prayers and pixie dust!
We actually live in Christchurch so are right in the middle of it, we are considering ourselves terribly fortunate that we have no damage other than some broken items in the kitchen - mugs, casserole dishes etc.
Other parts of the city are not so lucky, I have two friends with their chimney's now in their homes. Robert's Mum has her neighbors chimney on her lawn - it just missed the house.
We are still having massive aftershocks and tremors nearly 8 hours later and this could go on for days if not weeks.
A state of emergency has been declared and the city is off limits as many buildings are damaged majorly. I think the airport is still closed but they are hoping to open it soon. They might have to evacuate some neighbourhoods soon though so its not over yet.
Luckily with it happening at 4.30am, there were few people out and about - it would have been much worse if it happened 12 hours earlier when people were in the city on a Friday afternoon!
On the bright side, its a gorgeous day and we have power to our home - much of the city is still without. Water could be an issue in the next few days though!
Thanks for thinking of me...