5.7 magnitude natural disaster rocks the New Zealand city of Christchurch

A magnitude 4.0 aftershock was also recorded in the evening and experts suggest that it’s highly likely that New Zealand will suffer another strong quake in next 12 months or so, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The Christchurch City Council said cliffs collapsed in several places along the surrounding coast, spreading large clouds of billowing dust across the sea and hills.

The central business district of Christchurch and large areas of suburbs were destroyed in the magnitude 6.3 quake of February 22, which claimed 181 lives.

The tremor had caused a cliff to collapse causing injuries to those who were staying close to it. GeoNet, New Zealand’s official natural disaster monitoring service, has warned of aftershocks.

The latest quake was measured at 5.8 by the US Geological Survey at a shallow depth of about eight kilometres (five miles) and centred 17 kilometres west of the city.

“You could feel the ground roll for a good few minutes after the shake”.

The quake was felt as far north as Wellington and water mains burst in several areas near Christchurch. The quake had cost New Zealand more than NZ$40 billion ($26.52 billion) to fix the damages and devastation.

“Absolutely they’re linked to the earthquakes five years ago”.

There were no reports of injuries, but streets were clogged as residents tried to return home immediately after the shock.

When an quake in New Zealand collapses cliffs, it can be considered as very severe.

The most severe tremor, measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, struck at about 1.13pm local time on Sunday.