Quake 'created new fault line'

A powerful earthquake that smashed buildings, cracked roads and twisted railway lines around New Zealand's second city of Christchurch also ripped a new fault line in the Earth's surface.

Mark Quigley, a professor at Canterbury University, said what "could be a new fault" had ripped across the ground and pushed up some surface areas. The tremor, with a magnitude of 7.0, struck South Island in the early hours of Saturday. Mr Quigley, who is trying to pinpoint the source of the quake, said: "One side of the earth has lurched to the right ... up to 11ft (3.5m) and in some places been thrust up," he said.