Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake In New Zealand Kills At Least 2

MEP: At least two people lost their lives after a powerful earthquake measuring 7.8 magnitude struck west of Kaikoura, New Zealand midnight Monday.

The quake was followed by a second tremor of 6.2 that struck the country’s South Island, according to officials.

The quake also left several people moderately injured.

A large river dammed up by a landslide has now breached its banks sending a “large wall of water” downstream, the New Zealand news site Stuff said.

Prime Minister John Key posted a short video to YouTube after surveying the damage.

I visited Kaikoura this afternoon to see how locals are coping after today's earthquake & see first-hand the damage.https://t.co/AguYWcE2hU

— John Key (@RtHon_JohnKey) November 14, 2016

The ministry of civil defense immediately issued a warning saying that a “destructive tsunami” with waves of up to five meters (16 feet) was possible. The ministry treated the possibility of a tsunami as “an event of life-threatening or national significance.”

Kaikoura, a town of about 2,000 people, in the South Island, has been almost completely isolated with roads closed and phone lines down. There is a state of emergency in place for the town.