To give British and other northern hemisphere Word readers an idea of the earthquake devastation in Christchurch, New Zealand, here is a dramatic photo stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28470621@N05/?v=1

More details of the best news links are at Stephen Stratford's Quote Unquote blog, which usually covers literary matters:
http://quoteunquotenz.blogspot.com/2011/02/note-for-overseas-readers.htm...

Keeping it rock'n'roll, here's a clip from one of the New Zealand's most popular beat bands, which emerged from Christchurch in the early 1960s: