Many people who have fled north after the earthquake say they will not be going back to Christchurch.
Marae in Kaikoura and Picton are open for displaced families and are also providing showers and food to dozens of people heading north.
Bronwyn Gemmel, who is staying at Kaikoura's Takahanga Marae, says she will return to Christchurch only to get clothes and shoes for a job interview in Auckland.
She owns a habitable house but says many others have nowhere to live, and whanau further north want relatives out of Christchurch immediately.
Another family at Takahanga Marae will move to the West Coast, while a third is headed for Australia.
At Picton's Waikawa Marae, a civil defence sector manager says many distressed evacuees want to get out of the South Island for good.
