CHRISTCHURCH - Rescuers in New Zealand were scrambling Tuesday to evacuate up to 1,000 tourists stranded by a 7.8 earthquake that has caused "utter devastation" on the coast of the South Island. It has a population of 2,000, bolstered by an extra 600-1,000 tourists attracted by the area's popular whale-watching cruises. State broadcaster Radio New Zealand reported up to 50 civilian helicopters would also be drafted into the rescue effort, evacuating tourists from local rugby grounds. There have also been more than 800 aftershocks, some measuring more than 6.0, further complicating the work of emergency crews. "Purely on the Richter scale, this thing has been bigger than what we saw in the Christchurch quake, but thankfully the loss of life, at this point, is significantly less," he told Sky News.

Source: Bangkok Post November 14, 2016 18:49 UTC