M 7.8 hits New Zealand

Reports of an M 7.8 earthquake in New Zealand.
This could be bad.

EDIT: Initial reports are that casualties have been light, for a quake of this significance. Only two fatalities reported and the tsunami warning has been lifted. See article in the Guardian.

Seems like very light casualties indeed. That's very fortunate. I don't have much of a sense as to how well prepared the NZ'ers are for this beyond the BBC article.

http://temblor.net/earthquake-insights/mw7-8-earthquake-shakes-new-zealand-causes-tsunami-1762/

A fairly detailed report comparing this event with the 2015 Nepal quake. Still reporting an astonishingly low number of fatalities...

I think they have been getting better prepared. They no doubt got lots of incentive from the 2011 Christchurch quake, which killed 185 people. While that was "only" an M 6.3, it was very shallow, and some other local geologic features (such as liquefaction) contributed to the large death toll. I suspect their emergency response capabilities are quite good. But like many areas around the world, a lot of older buildings were constructed before modern seismic building codes were in effect.

EDIT: The Wikipedia article on the 2011 Christchurch quake makes interesting reading. More than half of the dead were in a single building which collapsed and caught fire. More than 220 people were treated for major trauma and more than 6000 for less serious injuries (learn those First Aid skills!). The last survivor was pulled from the ruble the day after the quake (the person most likely to save you is your neighbor!).

This is why CERT training and participation is likely to help a lot when western North America takes its turn in the barrel...