Magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes near Christchurch, New Zealand – reports

Local website[0] for tracking the magnitude and location of the quakes has it as a 7.5.

Unfortunately it's still the middle of the night there, so the full extent of the damage won't be known until morning. In contrast with the earthquake in 2011, this quake appears to have had a longer duration, and more of a "roll" to it. The 2011 earthquake in Christchurch was fairly short with a violent shake to it.

Judging from Buoy data[1] and recent reports, a Tsunami is very likely.

[0] http://www.geonet.org.nz/quakes/felt/moderate [1] http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

(can someone change the link? the stuff website is probably a better choice, http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/86416304/live-north-canterbu... )