Decorah family is in the center of New Zealand earthquake

Up to 100,000 homes in Christchurch, New Zealand, were damaged Saturday by a severe 7.0-magnitude earthquake which hit the xecond largest city in New Zealand.

Dr. Randi Spencer-Berg is from Decorah but she, her husband Matt Spencer, her three kids -- Aidan, Anna and Kaj -- and Decorah resident Jeanine Scheffert are all living in Darfield, New Zealand for five months.  Darfield was the epicenter of the major earthquake.

Randi tells decorahnews.com, "We are fine but felt the earthquake quite strongly when it hit.  The power went out almost immediately so we were in complete darkness throughout the earthquake.   It was difficult to walk or even stand as we tried to get to the kids and gather the family in a safe location.   We spent the next hour in the car waiting for the aftershocks to die down to a level that it felt safe to go back into the house.  We continued to feel at least 50 aftershocks throughout the day.   We had planned to be in Christchurch the morning of the earthquake so we are very fortunate that it struck when it did and not a few hours later." 

New Zealand authorities have declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew intended to protect people from falling debris.

The 7.0-magnitude quake caused extensive damage to buildings and homes.  In many parts of Christchurch and surrounding rural areas roads have buckled, some have fallen away altogether and bridges are down.

Electricity has been restored to most of the city and about 80 per cent of rural areas. But the task of repairing and rebuilding damaged homes, roads, bridges and rail lines is huge.

"It's an absolute miracle that no-one's been killed, because this is a very, very sizeable earthquake in a very populated part of New Zealand," said Prime minister John Key.