Some Christchurch people were heading south last night to flee a city in which they no longer felt safe.
As the death toll rose last night, and with the close relationship between Dunedin and its northern neighbour, more Southerners were sure to be affected by the Christchurch disaster.
Christchurch woman Katey Gibling was yesterday driving south to Dunedin, and safety.
Her Christchurch home was already due to be demolished after the big September earthquake.
Ms Gibling said she had been on the eighth floor of a central city building when the earthquake hit, with ''extremely violent shaking'' to the point it was difficult to stand.
''We left the building by stairs; people were screaming and crying.
''We saw that a building next to us had gone, leaving a cloud of dust.''
Ms Gibling said there was water everywhere from broken pipes and liquefaction, and there was extensive damage, many broken windows and some buildings had been left ''completely flat''.
She saw people in the Price Waterhouse building waving jackets and ''help'' signs, cars stuck in liquefied ground, roads gridlocked and decided to head south immediately where it ''it just feels safer''.
''[It] reminded me of footage of 9/11; everyone trying to call family, crying and dazed, holding hands and not knowing what to do.''
Getting out of central Christchurch had been very difficult, with floodwater up to half a metre deep and silt of the same depth, in which many cars were stuck.
Ms Gibling felt she had been lucky to escape the slow-moving traffic and get out.
There were reports of other people heading from Christchurch to Dunedin last night.
A Dunedin woman, who asked not to be named, talked to family members in Christchurch by telephone shortly after the earthquake.
They had told her of a city in a state of shock.
One had left her workplace in the central business district and passed the bodies of quake victims on the ground, covered by blankets.
The damage was evidently not limited to central Christchurch, with one family member, who owns a video outlet in Halswell, about 6km south of the city, left with counters overturned and stock strewn over the floor.
The family members were not in a state to talk to the media, as they were dealing with the deaths of three people they knew.
''They are very much in a state of shock; no-one can believe what happened, it's such a huge thing,'' the Dunedin woman said.
In Huntsbury, about 2km south of the central city, Sarah Marquet was sitting on her couch when the earthquake hit.
The violent shake ripped open the roof of her rented house.
Ms Marquet was unable to leave the house during the earthquake, as both exits were blocked: one by wine racks ''flying out and smashing everywhere''; the other by flying crockery and glasses.
Last night she returned to pick up some belongings, and plans to stay with family in the meantime.
A planned quiet lunch in a Christchurch cafe before returning to Dunedin turned into a shocking experience yesterday for Otago Museum senior manager Clare Wilson and chief executive Shimrath Paul.
Ms Wilson said the ground shook heavily, items fell off tables and several people dived under tables for protection.
When they left the cafe, in a popular restaurant area near the Avon River, crowds of people took to the streets, many ''quite shaken''.
Some were injured, bleeding after being hit by flying glass.
''A lot of people looked very shocked and very upset.''
