A powerful earthquake struck New Zealand early Saturday, sending surprised residents into the streets and causing some buildings to collapse, though there were no immediate reports of any serious injuries or major damage, emergency officials said.
"The house felt like it was on wheels, like it was rolling around on marbles," resident Hadlee Wright told CNN's "Rick's List" just hours after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit near Christchurch, New Zealand.
Pictures that Wright took of the darkened city show collapsed buildings and streets littered with broken bits of brick and rock.
The quake had a magnitude of 7.0, down from an initial assessment of 7.4, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck about 35 miles from Christchurch, a city with a population of roughly 386,000 people.
An aftershock with a magnitude of 5.7 struck not far from the epicenter about 20 minutes later, the survey said."It was like a freight train running through the house," said Chris Monroe, operations manager for the New Zealand Fire Service.
Residents who were injured are being treated at Christchurch Hospital, health officials said.
"We've had a flood of lacerations and minor head injuries, but nothing that could not be handled," said Sebastian Koga, a neurosurgeon.
He said that roughly 100 people are being treated for minor scrapes and broken bones but that he has not seen any severe injuries, nor was he aware of any deaths as a result of the powerful quake.
Koga added that emergency officials in Christchurch are working to assess the damage in the daylight.
The power was out for much of Christchurch, witnesses and Radio New Zealand reported.
One person said the quake "turned his house upside down, with crockery breaking," the station reported, citing Orion, a power company. Sewer lines and water pipes have ruptured, a company spokesman told the station.
A man who was at the international airport in Christchurch described the scene.
"The entire terminal started shaking," he said. "I knew it was an earthquake. There was not much you could do at that point."
Authorities evacuated the airport, he said, adding that he saw minor damage.
Tim Dower, a New Zealand journalist, said it's fortunate the earthquake struck in darkness and not daytime, when people would have been out and about.
"When one of this magnitude comes along, people certainly feel it, particularly when it's shallow," he said.
There have been reports, he said, of walls and buildings collapsing, cars damaged and flooding in homes.
A person who answered the phone at the George hotel in Christchurch said that "we are cleaning up at the present moment" but declined to comment further.
Reinier Eulink, general manager of the Holiday Inn in Christchurch, said there is damage around the hotel corridors and "big cracks in the walls."
"It was a big big long jolt, and the building moved a lot," he said. The 13-floor building, with about 150 rooms, was about 40 percent occupied, and he estimated that 80 or more people were staying at the hotel at the time.
Power was knocked out, but emergency power came on, Eulink added. People were milling around in the hotel lobby, trying to get warm during the chilly Southern Hemisphere winter.
The quake was 7.5 miles deep. It struck at 4:35 a.m. Saturday (12:35 p.m. ET Friday), the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The quake is not likely to generate a tsunami, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
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