The earthquake in Christchurch has had a major impact on a large section of the New Zealand popualtion. Christchurch is after all NZ's second biggest city.

The media has been focusing alot on the big, dramatic stories centered around the damage to the CBD. Now stories are appearing of the man in the street, and how their lives are affected. This is going to be a lengthy cleanup for alot of people, with some very hard times ahead.

There are some tough questions that I could not bear thinking about if that happened to us. With so many businesses shut, will people still get paid? What about the mortgages - no wages, no income and therefore no ability to pay the mortgage. Will insurance cover the damage really or will it be a battle to just get back to where you were? Would you really want to be rebuilding your house on a section that has suffered such huge ground damage through this amazing phenomenon of liquefaction.
Here is a great site with a fantastic visualisation of the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks overlayed onto a google maps page < http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/ >it is well worth a copy and paste!

UPDATE: The government late yesterday announced a package for small businesses with 20 or so employees whereby they would subsidise the employee's wages by $350 per week as a stop gap measure to help small businesses affected retain their staff.

and then there is the danger of more damage from both a contiuing series of aftershocks, and the process of engaging services again to damaged areas such as electricity and gas.
Here is a clip of just that, the power goes on and a building goes up - all while the Prime Minister John Key looks on.