- A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Christchurch and the central Canterbury region at 4:35 am on Saturday 4th September 2010 at a depth of 10 kilometres. It caused widespread damage to the city and minor injuries, but no direct fatalities luckily due to the time of day.
- Nearly six months later on Tuesday 22 February 2011, a second earthquake measuring magnitude 6.3 struck the city at 12:51 pm. It was located closer to the city, near Lyttelton at a depth of 5 km (3 mi) and caused 185 fatalities. Although lower on the magnitude scale than the previous earthquake, the intensity and acceleration was amongst the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area.
- Rescue crews from all over the world came to help. There were crews from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Australia, China and Singapore.
- The cost of the Canterbury Earthquakes weighs in at up to $40 billion NZD, with recovery still ongoing.