Like u said, Chch is a small city, but then most of NZ is made up of 'small cities' - Auckland may be the same land size as Greater London but it only has a fraction of the pop... My own home sits in a 'burb of Porirua, "North City", pop 56k. City. 56k.
We're a titchy country on the arse end of the globe (according to the nothern hemisphere) and these things aren't supposed to happen here. Having been here for 12 years, still wouldn't swap it for Andover, tho. And I rather liked Andover...and Calne, and Swindon and Marlborough