reports out of the city of christchurch, which is in the south islands of new zealand. what we do know is there was an earthquake just before 1:00 this afternoon local time here, a 6.3 magnitude quake around 5 kilometers deep. a quake not too far away from the main city of christchurch. some people here describing it as worse than the quake that struck the same area in september last year. that was a 7.1 quake. but already, we re seeing television reports and we re getting reports here in our newsroom of some serious damage to the city. buildings collapsing, people trapped in buildings, and many injuries. we re also getting reports of multiple fatalities that we can t say at this stage, just a number of people who have died in this quake. what s going on in terms of the city itself, the airport is closed, so no one s able to get in or out of the city. cell phones down, so as you can imagine, we re struggling to get information about what s actually going on down there.
that was a 7.1 quake. but already, we re seeing television reports and we re getting reports here in our newsroom of some serious damage to the city. buildings collapsing, people trapped in buildings, and many injuries. we re also getting reports of multiple fatalities that we can t say at this stage, just a number of people who have died in this quake. what s going on in terms of the city itself, the airport is closed, so no one s able to get in or out of the city. cell phones down, so as you can imagine, we re struggling to get information about what s actually going on down there. and the our government here has activated a civil defense center in the capital. thus raising the emergency level to a level three, which is the biggest level for a regional disaster of this kind. so just to just to sort of describe to you the magnitude of this and just how significant that is.
what has happened today? how bad has this earthquake been? reporter: yes, we re getting reports out of the city of christchurch, which is in the south islands of new zealand. what we do know is there was an earthquake just before 1:00 this afternoon local time here, a 6.3 magnitude quake around 5 kilometers deep. a quake not too far away from the main city of christchurch. some people here describing it as worse than the quake that struck the same area in september last year. that was a 7.1 quake. but already, we re seeing television reports and we re getting reports here in our newsroom of some serious damage to the city. buildings collapsing, people trapped in buildings, and many injuries. we re also getting reports of multiple fatalities that we can t say at this stage, just a number of people who have died in this quake. what s going on in terms of the city itself, the airport is closed, so no one s able to get
point it doesn t look like that s going to be necessary. very good news, especially you know, just a month away from what we saw in haiti, with mass destruction. this looks much, much different. but of course for the people who are experiencing, those pictures that we re seeing now, of buildings collapsing, it could be a dire situation in pockets of cities and towns. yeah. michelle, you know, you bring up haiti, you ve been there. you helped cover the aftermath of that quake. in terms of what you re seeing from these pictures coming in, as compared to haiti, i remember so well that vantage point of you standing on a hill, and then there was a ravine between your post there and the other hill that looked like it is literally slid away. all of the buildings. we re not seeing that kind of damage here, thus far. is that because of topography? is that because of infrastructure? can you give me some perspective on that? yeah, we still have to be careful at this point because
in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this is cnn breaking news. breaking news tonight, two devastating natural disasters are unfolding right now. we re just beginning to get a sense of the destruction from a powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck central mexico rocking the capitol of mexico city about 75 miles away from the epicenter. at least 57 people are dead, but that s just a very preliminary account. there s accounts of buildings collapsing, cars crushed, people trapped. also breaking a pulverizing hurricane is barrelling towards millions of americans, the third catastrophic storm impacting u.s. citizens this month. maria approaching two u.s. territories, the virgin islands