Its weird as some people felt it but I didnt. My home seems to be fairly stable, well its on solid, flat clay.
People that live in other areas though that have uncertain foundations, would have felt it.
The reason Christchurch was quite devastated was because it was built on swamp land. So when the earth shook there, there was something called liquefaction and the houses pretty much fell down.
I cant imagine an earthqauke striking somewhere thats really built up, like say a city that has skyscrapers etc. That would be terrifying, because people living in high rise buildings have no way to get down. They cant even get out in a fire let alone an earthquake.