Earthquake monitoring agency GeoNet reported the aftershock struck at 1.34pm at a depth of 35 kilometres, in a similar area to the first tremor. Prime Minister John Key who was flying over affected areas on the east coast of the South Island said it was a scene of utter devastation which would take months to fix and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The New Zealand Defence Force which is using an Orion surveillance aircraft to survey the roads running down the east coast of the South Island has posted photos of the damage online. Inter-island ferry services between the North and South Islands were cancelled, while the terminals were assessed for damage, Kiwi Rail said. "Key described it as a "terrifying night" for a lot of New Zealanders and said it would likely be some time before there could be a full assessment of the quake damage.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 14, 2016 05:47 UTC