New Zealand suffered 280 earthquake aftershocks

Today New Zealand's Christchurch city is shaken by a 5.1-magnitude seismic. This is just one of more than 280 aftershocks of the September 4 earthquake.

An earthquake of 7.1 magnitude occurs near Christchurch, where about 400,000 people live, at 4:35 am on September 4.

The earthquake destroyed many buildings and paralyzed all activities in the city center, but did not hurt anyone.

Today's aftershock is 6.4 km deep and about 10 km southeast of Christchurch.

Road damaged by earthquake.

Workers cleaning up rubble caused by aftershocks.

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key stood in front of a house spilled by aftershocks in the town of Darfield, near Christchurch, on September 8.

People cleared mud and garbage at home in the suburb of Christchurch.

AP quoted Prime Minister John Key as saying that at least 500 buildings and about 100,000 of the 160,000 houses were damaged by earthquakes and aftershocks.

The cost of rebuilding the city may be larger than USD 1.4 billion.

New Zealand's Institute of Geology and Nuclear Science recorded more than 280 earthquake aftershocks.

Workers dig holes to find water pipes broken by aftershocks.

Every path to the city center is blocked and the emergency will take another 7 days.