Christchurch Earthquake

Wow what a scary weekend. Saturday morning we woke to hear that there had been an earthquake in Christchurh, the news originally said 7.4 on the richter scale, later they said that it was actually 7.1. Last time we had such a big earth quake in New Zealand was in 1931, called the Napier earthquake and that reached 7.8, 10:47 am on Tuesday February 3, 1931, killing 256 from what I can tell from historical evidence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_Hawke's_Bay_earthquake
This one hit the Christchurch CBD (central business district) at 4.30am on the 4th of September 2010. Thank your god there have been no fatalities presently. One man was awfully hurt from a chimney collapsing and an old colleague of mine advised that another man had a heart attack. (I think I would have as well)
Auckland is far too far away and we did not feel a thing here. I contacted mum who is living near Picton, they did not feel a think. Mum advised that Aunty Barbara felt a little bit as she is a bit closer to Christchurch. Mums husband Hugh was a bit worried for his daughter who lives in Christchurch though as they were having trouble contacting her.
The CBD in Christchurch is rather destroyed and has been closed for assessment of the damage.
If the earthquake had hit during business hours instead of 4.30am this would be a very different story.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10671407&gallery_id=113693#7075994

I have a feeling that out of these ashes will be the rise of New Zealand financially pulling us out of the recession. People will be more optimistic with work being needed to help Christchurch get back on its feet.