By SUNIL Sonkar

Christchurch, September 4 — After the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on saturday early morning at 4.30 a.m., an emergency has been declared in Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand. According to the local residents, the walls of their homes “wobbled like jelly” when the massive earthquake rocked the city.

This was one of the most powerful earquake recorded in the country that had tore jagged fissures in the ground and also destroyed the facades of buildings.

A school principal at Darfield Markham McMullen said that the quake felt like a train had hit his house and which created a strong jolt throwing him and his wife out of bed.

He said, “It just kept coming, it went and on and on… It was absolutely terrifying. We grabbed our daughter, Sophie, from her room and crouched under a doorway. The TV was flying around the room… it was very scary.”

The most affected were the old buildings, which collapsed onto the street and crushed cars.

In the quake only two people have been reported to be injured. The toll would have been more, says Civil Defence officials, if the quake would had hit in daylight.

John Carter, Civil Defence Minister, said: “We’ve been extremely lucky as a nation that there’s been no fatalities … we’re blessed actually.”