Australian pianist Piers Lane got a rude awakening in the early hours of Saturday morning when he found himself in the middle of the New Zealand earthquake.

He was in Christchurch to give a concert with the Doric Quartet. When the quake struck at 4.34am, his first thought was to get out of the hotel as quickly as possible.

In a facebook status update, Lane explained that he "Fled down from the tenth floor of the hotel, cutting my foot on glass in the process. Several of the aftershocks have been scary too and we're told to expect a big one, just one degree lower than the original." But he signed off on a positive note, saying: "The weather today is, however, glorious!"

The Doric Quartet were spared the drama. They had not yet flown to Christchurch and have remained in Sydney.