Disaster plans for share brokers, as required by NZX, worked well in the aftermath of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake which struck the city at the weekend, says one leading Christchurch broker.

Hamilton, Hindin, Greene, Craig Investment Partners, Forsyth Barr, Goldman Sach JBWere and Macquarie all have offices in Christchurch.

"I have to give a bit of credit to NZX. The NZX makes sure every broker has a disaster recovery plan in place for this type of thing and ours has worked very well," said Hamilton, Hindin, Greene director Grant Williamson.

His firm diverted phone calls to one location and passed them onto advisers who had live pricing and email at home.

"It was almost business as usual," Mr Williamson said.

Senior executives were allowed into the firm's offices in Hereford Street for the first time today.

"The offices are in good shape apart from broken glass and filing cabinets tipped over," he said.

Around the corner in Manchester Street a number of old buildings are badly damaged and a building on the corner of Hereford and Manchester Street has big cracks in it.

Hamilton, Hindin, Greene expected to have a skeleton crew in its offices tomorrow and hoped to be running from its offices by Wednesday.