NZ houses are designed with earthquakes in mind, and in the last one, the bad one before this, all those unfortunates killed were in public/civic buildings, not homes. It depends on WHEN the quake occurs, day or night, how people are in the most danger. However, a good deal of the city is/was built on alluvial soil and the local council have condemned quite a lot of sites where the land turned to a species of bogland.
I don't know of any catters there. I have a couple of folkie friends there whose houses suffered damage in the last quake. Stoic people who love the place.
The insurance companies will take another towelling, as we say. Some people who were not satisfied with their payout from the last quake are STILL living in motorhomes and garages.