The defense force said it had started to ferry people out by military helicopter at about 9 a.m. A navy ship that left from Auckland is due to arrive in the area on Wednesday morning.
The magnitude-7.8 quake struck the South Island early Monday. It left two people dead and triggered a small tsunami. It also brought down rocks and mud that swept across highways and cracked apart roads.
Home to about 2,000 residents, Kaikoura is a popular destination for travelers taking part in whale-watching expeditions or wanting a stopover with mountain views. But the quake knocked out water supplies and sewerage systems and left people with no easy way out.
“From all directions, Kaikoura has essentially been isolated,” Air Commodore Darryn Webb, the Acting Commander of New Zealand’s Joint Forces, told The Associated Press. “There’s a real imperative to support the town because it can’t support itself.”
Webb said the military was using four NH90 helicopters that could each transport about 18 people at a time out of the town. He said the ship could potentially pick up hundreds of people if weather conditions allowed.
“We’re going to get as many people and belongings out as quickly as we can,” Webb said.
He said the operation could take several days and that if needed, a C-130 military transport plane could drop fuel, water, food and other supplies to the town.
Elsewhere, many people returned to work in the capital, Wellington, after the quake shut down much of the central city on Monday. But some buildings remained closed and heavy rain and flooding compounded the difficulties for others.
Strong aftershocks continued to shake New Zealand, rattling the nerves of exhausted residents. The country was largely spared the devastation it saw in 2011 when an earthquake struck the city of Christchurch and killed 185 people. That quake was one of New Zealand’s worst disasters, causing an estimated $25 billion in damage.
Monday’s quake caused damage in Wellington and was also strongly felt in Christchurch. Residents said the shaking went on for about three minutes.
Police said one person died in Kaikoura and another in Mt. Lyford, a nearby ski resort. Several other people suffered minor injuries in Kaikoura, police spokeswoman Rachel Purdom said.
Prime Minister John Key flew over the destruction in Kaikoura by helicopter as aftershocks kicked up dust from the landslides below. Cars could be seen lying on their sides and parts of the road were clearly impassable.
“It’s just utter devastation,” Key said.
He later toured the area and met with locals. He estimated the cleanup effort would run into the billions of dollars and said clearing the debris and blocked roads could take months.
Kaikoura resident Terry Thompson said he was out of town when the quake struck but managed to reach his wife on her cellphone before the phone died.
“She said the glass exploded right out of the double ranch-slider,” he said. “The neighbor’s chimney was gone, there were breakages and things smashed everywhere.”
Thompson said his wife helped a 93-year-old neighbor and a tourist into her car and drove to higher ground.
“They stayed in the car all night but couldn’t sleep,” Thompson said. “They’re all very, very tired and concerned about the state of their property.”
Video taken from a helicopter near Kaikoura showed three cows stranded on an island of grass in a paddock that had been ripped apart in the quake. The patch of grass was surrounded by deep ravines of collapsed earth, trapping the animals where they stood.
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