An earthquake occurred in Christchurch on at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51  UTC) and registered 6.3 on the Richter scale. The earthquake struck the Canterbury Region in New Zealand's South Island and was centred west of the port town of Lyttelton, and south-east of the centre of Christchurch, at the time New Zealand's second-most populous city. The earthquake caused widespread damage across Christchurch, killing 185 people in the nation's second deadliest natural disaster.