Strong quake shakes Kaiko¯ura

About three weeks out from the first anniversary of last year’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the Kaiko¯ura Boutique Hotel on the Esplanade shook for about 30 seconds as a 5.4m earthquake hit yesterday.

For employee Warren it was the biggest shake he’s felt since then. For his guests, it was something they won’t soon forget.

‘‘The hotel moved and shook for about 30 seconds, we lost a couple of glasses off a couple of shelves.

‘‘We’ve got eight rooms full – all bar one couple are from overseas and they weren’t sure what it was all about.

‘‘It’s not an experience they get to witness all too often. I wish it wasn’t one that came around too often for me either.’’

The earthquake struck at 5.10pm was 13km deep and 10 kilometres west of Kaiko¯ura, Geonet reported.

Four minutes drive north, Nadine of Henry’s Kaiko¯ ura said the shake was a ‘‘good one’’.

She was serving customers when the quake struck but believed there was no damage to the building or any stock.

‘‘My legs are wee bit funny now, but other than that it was good. We were a bit shocked, it was a good shake and a wake up.’’

However, working inside the local New World on Beach Rd, an employee said the earthquake was little more than a ‘‘jiggle’’.

‘‘No damage, nothing fell off the shelves. There was a little jiggle but nothing like people outside had been saying.

‘‘We had customers doing their usual thing, buying their beers and walking out while we had people running inside asking if we were all OK, and we were like ‘yeah, we’re fine’.’’

People were working in tunnels near Kaiko¯ura when Sunday’s earthquake hit.

North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) community engagement manager Mike Seabourne said they all got out safely and geotechnical engineers had assessed the tunnels. ‘‘They appear to be OK, but they will be reassessed in the morning before the crews go back,’’ said Seabourne.

He said NCTIR was not yet aware of any damage to the roads.

Kaiko¯ura District Council earthquake recovery manager Danny Smith said there were ‘‘quite a few’’ small landslides up in the hills. ‘‘We certainly felt it, but I wouldn’t call it a major,’’ he said. ‘‘I only hope that it hasn’t delayed our road openings.’’

Kaiko¯ ura Mayor Winston Gray said it was the first shake he had felt ‘‘in a while’’.

He said based on Geonet information, the epicentre was probably close to the inland road.

‘‘I can see dust coming off the hills,’’ Gray said. ‘‘I don’t think there’ll be damage [in town], going with what we felt here.’’

There a few small soil slips up in the hills, but the inland road and State Highway 1 south of Kaiko¯ ura are open, an NZ Transport agency person said.