Christchurch earthquake: Word from the epicentre

Photo / NZPA

This morning's huge earthquake was centred in the small town of Darfield, and nzherald.co.nz asked residents about what it was like when the big one hit.

"Everything was rocking," said Craig Anderson, 44. "The whole house was moving across the piles. All the cupboards and drawers opened and plates were thrown on to the ground.

"The sheer magnitude was unreal."

Mr Anderson is today dealing with broken windows and a sunken deck, as aftershocks continue to roll in and Darfield remains without power.

Cairo Williams says her Labrador alerted her to the earthquake before it happened. "She knew something was up."

Ms Williams, 46, also had to deal with two large fish tanks cracking and "fish flopping around the floor" and the chimney on her 120-year-old house collapsing.

The aftershocks have been intense, says Ms Williams. "One this afternoon was the worst, the ground was actually undulating," she says. "It was very scary."

Jan Redfern, 63, said the sound of the quake was huge.

"You could hear it roaring. My husband and I huddled together [when it hit] but then I thought that was stupid, we should have got under the doorframe.

"It was really, really frightening."