Christchurch quake a disaster for locals but wine region mostly unaffected

The earthquake which devastated Christchurch this week left the Waipara wine region to the north west of the city largely unaffected with only minimal damage to some wineries. The quake's epicentre was to the east of the city in Lyttleton and its shallow depth (3 miles) caused widespread damage to the city centre. The current death toll is 113 with another 228 people missing and the hopes of finding survivors is diminishing day by day. Only 6 people have been identified and named. The earthquake measured 6.3 on the Richter scale and is the country's worst natural disaster in 80 years when an earthquake in Napier in the North Island killed 256.