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Emergency authorities have declared a state of emergency in the tourist town of Kaikoura and nearby areas after a deadly earthquake rocked much of New Zealand early Monday.
Emergency services are trying to restore power and to reopen communications and transport to Kaikoura, on the northeast coast of the South Island.
Roads into the town were blocked by landslides after the 7.5-magnitude quake hit just after midnight.
Medical rescue helicopters and the air force were flying into Kaikoura, a popular tourist destination famed for its coastal scenery and whale-watching activities.
Police confirmed the two deaths, saying emergency services were still working at the scenes.
One fatality occurred at a property at Mount Lyford, north of Christchurch, on the east of the South Island, and the other at a reported collapsed property in Kaikoura.
A New Zealand Police spokesperson told Xinhua that emergency services had no information on how many, if any, overseas travellers were in Kaikoura when the quake struck.
"We don't have any information on specific individuals/groups who are in Kaikoura, but can confirm that Kaikoura is currently not accessible by road -- so everyone there is stuck -- locals and tourists alike," the spokesperson said in an e-mail.
"Government agencies are working together to provide support to people affected by the quake, including those in Kaikoura."
The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) said local state of emergency had been declared in Kaikoura and the neighboring Hurunui district.
MCDEM management director Sarah Stuart-Black said contact with Kaikoura had been difficult, but casualties and building collapses had been confirmed in the region.
"Civil Defence and Emergency Management groups across the country are sending people to the region to help. Search and rescue are on the ground and (the New Zealand Defence Force) is doing an aerial inspection so we can get a full picture of the help that is needed," Stuart-Black said in a statement.
The St John ambulance service said it had two fully crewed ambulances operating in Kaikoura, despite earthquake damage to the Kaikoura Ambulance Station.
Additional paramedics and other ambulance officers had been transported into the area by helicopter, said a statement from the service.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) said it had mobilized at least three aircraft to support the government's response to the severe quake.
Air Commodore Darryn Webb said in a statement that an air force NH90 helicopter was supporting relief efforts and a P-3K2 Orion surveillance aircraft was surveying main transport routes and towns from Picton, on the top of the South Island, to the second city of Christchurch.
Prime Minister John Key and Acting Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said in a televised press conference earlier Monday that it was impossible to rule out further fatalities.
"On the very best information we have at the moment, we think it's only likely to be two, but of course there are isolated parts of the country in which we don't have perfect eyes on, so we can't be 100 percent sure, but we're not aware of any that we're not reporting," said Key.
"We don't have any indications at this point to believe that will rise, but we obviously can't rule that out because what's going to happen now as we have daylight is we can do a proper assessment. Communities will obviously go out and reach out to their neighbors and their friends and their workmates to get a sense of the damage and making sure people get support."
Structural engineers were also checking buildings in the capital, Wellington, where the quake was felt strongly.
The quake was centered 15 kilometers northeast of Culverden, on the east of the South Island, and struck at 12:02 a.m. on Monday, according to the government's GeoNet monitoring service.
The quake was 15 km deep and was felt widely throughout New Zealand.
It is being followed by many aftershocks, the largest of them a magnitude of 6.2.
A tsunami warning remained in place from Wellington, on the North Island, to Banks Peninsula, on the east of the South Island, said the MCDEM.
New Zealand is frequently rattled by earthquakes, most of which do no damage and cause no injuries, but Monday's tremor brought back memories of the 6.3-magnitude quake that killed 185 people in Christchurch in February 2011.
