A very good friend's daughter and s-i-l work in the area (but are safe). Relief for them, but not good for so many others.

I'm watching all those aftershocks on the map linked above (I think it's fascinating), and how they're accumulating in one area - and getting shallower, too, on average. I'm not a geologist, but I did interpret aerial photos for a living once upon a time.

It looks to me like something is trying to reach the surface on the edge of the flooded caldera near Lyttleton.

It might just be a fault, but I don't think I'd want to be anywhere near whatever-it-is when it does!

Paws