New Zealand authorities say a strong earthquake that shook the country’s second largest city of Christchurch has caused significant damage to infrastructure, but no deaths.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency Saturday after the pre-dawn quake on New Zealand’s South Island. Government seismologists put the magnitude at 7.1, while the U.S. Geological Survey gave a lower figure of 7.0.

Only two serious injuries were reported – one man hit by a falling chimney and another hurt by glass. New Zealand Civil Defense Minister John Carter says his nation is “extremely lucky” that there were no fatalities.

The earthquake threw people out bed as they slept and sent panicked residents running into the streets. The facades of many buildings collapsed, crushing cars and littering the ground with bricks and glass. But there were no reports of entire buildings collapsing.

The quake ruptured underground utility lines for natural gas, water and sewage. It also damaged bridges and disrupted power supplies and phone networks.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was expected to visit Christchurch to assess the cost of the disaster.
Police reported some incidents of looting at damaged stores in the city, whose population numbers about 350,000. The Christchurch airport was closed after the quake as a precaution but re-opened later Saturday.

Strong aftershocks continued to shake the city during the day, with the largest measuring 5.3. New Zealand is situated on the boundaries of the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates and experiences around 14,000 earthquakes a year, most of them relatively minor.