New Zealand's Christchurch was Friday rocked by a fresh series of powerful earthquakes

Two shallow quakes of magnitude 5.8 and 5.9 and a series of aftershocksstruck as the town center was packed with afternoon Christmas shoppers, sendingstock tumbling from the shelves and turning the festive mood to panic.
The quakes, which closed the international airport and disruptedcommunications, were the latest in a series that began 15 months ago and havedestroyed much of the inner-city.
Local news media reported people fleeing in fear as the quake and a seriesof aftershocks rattled the city, leading to liquefaction and flooding in some suburbs worsthit by previous earthquakes.
Liquefaction is caused when shaking loosens the bonds between soilparticles, turning the ground into a quagmire.

"It was very frightening there for a wee moment," one resident,Brian Cornish, told National Radio.
"Everybody out in the car park was flung on the ground, liquefactionstarted up in the car park, the building rocked like crazy; all the cars werebouncing up and down on their springs."
"You can't underestimate the ongoing stress this has created forpeople," ChristchurchMayor Bob Parker said, while Prime Minister John Key described the impact as"frightening and disheartening" for the beleaguered residents.
The lives of people in NewZealand's second largest city have been shattered by a series ofearthquakes that began in September last year when a tremor of 7.0 struck.
That quake caused widespread destruction but because it hit just before dawnthere were few casualties.
But on February 22, lunchtime 6.3 quake killed 181 people and reduced muchof the downtown area, including the city's Anglican cathedral, to a pile ofrubble, while in the suburbs thousands of homes were written off.
The cost of repairing the city has been put at NZ$20 billion ($15.5billion), and even after the latest quakes Key said the government's resolve torebuild Christchurch remains unchanged.
Smaller earthquakes in the 3.0-4.0 range have become an almost dailyoccurrence in Christchurch but only a few thousand from a population of morethan 350,000 people are reported to have left the city.
Deputy mayor Ngaire Button said the latest quakes coming at the end of adifficult year, were likely to make more people consider moving elsewhere butshe doubted many would go.
"Every aftershock we've had, there have been people who have felt thatway, we can't blame them for that," she said.
"We do recover, though, and hopefully tomorrow we'll all be feeling alittle bit better again and restoring our faith in the will to live and thewill to live in Christchurch."
One woman, Susan Holmes, told TV3 she had had enough.
"It's beyond devastating, It's happened again. I'm sick of it," asobbing Holmes said as she faced the prospect of clearing debris from her homefor the fourth time in 16 months."
The US Geological Survey said a 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 1:58 pm (0058GMT) Friday at a depth of less than five kilometers (three miles). It wasfollowed 70 minutes later by a 5.9 tremor at about the same depth.
One person was rushed to hospital after being injured in a shopping mall andthe National Crisis Management Center was activated.
Telephone services were cut in many areas and electricity suppliesdisrupted, but police said there were no reports of other injuries orwidespread damage.
The international airport and shopping malls were all evacuated and closedas a precautionary measure.
"I'm pretty sure we will be open again this afternoon," airportchief executive Jim Boult told Radio New Zealand.
Police spokesman Stephen Hill said a few buildings collapsed and people werealso urged to stay away from hill suburbs because of a risk of rockfalls.
Scientists had warned last month of an increased probability that anotherpowerful earthquake would hit Christchurch.
"We knew to expect aftershocks and one in the range around about 6.0was expected over the next 12 months and that appears to have arrived,"Parker said.
New Zealandsits on the so-called "Ring of Fire" the boundary of the Australianand Pacific tectonic plates, and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year.