Christchurch residents have been warned they may not be through the worst of the strong aftershocks which continue to hit the New Zealand city.
The agency charged with dealing with Saturday’s earthquake is telling residents that aftershocks stronger than any yet experienced, possibly reaching up to magnitude 6, could yet hit the city.
Saturday’s earthquake was measured at a magnitude of 7.1 and left up to a 100,000 homes damaged, with hundreds beyond repair.
The city’s water supply has been given the all-clear five days after the earthquake struck the city.
Intense testing has failed to find any bacterial contamination from quake, so drinking water in the city no longer needs to be boiled.
Canterbury’s health chief medical officer, Dr Alistair Humphrey, says the water all-clear has important implications for the food industry.
Some producers could not meet export orders because they were unable to wash vegetables.
Water supplies are now flowing to almost all homes and businesses.
Three small aftershocks in the region overnight have left locals jittery.
The New Zealand treasury has doubled its estimate of the cost of the disaster, saying the final bill for rebuilding could be as high as $4 billion.
