I know that most people don’t even know where New Zealand is located in the world, let alone Christchurch, NZ.  You may have heard it mentioned back in September when they were covering the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck there.  Since then, they’ve had a ridiculous amount of follow-up quakes and aftershocks, and the people in that region {Canterbury} have been toughing it out.  Up till now, there had been no loss of life.  Amazing when you consider that the initial September quake was the same size as the quake in Haiti.

Earlier today, Christchurch was struck by yet another quake – a magnitude 6.3 – and there have already been reports of up to 300 people trapped and dead bodies lying in the streets and being pulled out of buses that were crushed, out of buildings, and out of youth hostels.  They’ve already had 10 aftershocks.

And this is just the news from Christchurch.  The actual quake epicenter was in the Banks Peninsula area, and there are grave concerns regarding the safety of residents there as little communication has been able to get in or out.

Here’s a link to a YouTube video showing a building that was just utterly crushed by rocks rolling off the cliffs.  And then another video here that shows some of the devastation:

The video starts out a bit slow, but gets graphic, especially towards the end.  I couldn’t help but tear up while watching.  I know that I would be utterly frantic if we lived in that area and I was separated from Chris or loved ones.  Hospitals in the region have been evacuated to make room for quake victims.  The airport is currently closed, and there are reports of sewage, sand, and water spewing out of cracks in the streets.  The whole area has been labeled as a category 3 emergency – the highest for a non-national emergency in New Zealand.

So please pray for them.  I can’t imagine how it must feel to live in an area that has been literally rocked again and again, and to have gone through so much already with no loss of life to now deal with this.