I have a couple of friends in separate parts of the South Island , both safe but deeply shocked , one even contemplating coming home and she's been there over 20 years.
A 7.8 quake is no small thing and can bring down a lot of infrastructure, crumble a road system, bring down bridges and damage everything standing beyond repair.
Even the 5 point aftershocks are enough to cause severe damage in built up areas. The occasional 5 point quakes in California cause billions of $$$ damage to structures and networks.
Nasty, but the Kiwi's get on with life.
A good reminder that from a location to live point of view, conditions in the UK are benign compared to many other places in the world.
Kiwis and Maoris alike are used to quakes. We had several when I lived there many years ago (near Christchurch, South Island). NZ is an amazing place.
I'm moving there myself full time. I was there a few months ago and am going back in August to look at properties.
Good luck Harry, I'm sure you'll love it.
We nearly emigrated there...when were first married....had it all sorted job offers for time served carpenters in the Christchurch area were many , housing was just about sorted ,paperwork sorted and a start date .....SS....bottled out , many of my friends who have been there love the place....i sometimes look back and regret my decision , but there you go , a farmer friend had a trip over a few years back and was seriously thinking of selling up and moving there ....then ill health put the mockers on that idea ...