Prime Minister John Key landed in Kaikoura on Thursday to assess the damage sustained from last Monday's deadly earthquake.
Mr Key says the tourism sector in the area will take a while to get back on it's feet.
"Kaikoura is 100 percent a tourist town so ultimately the big draw card has always been whale watching, diving, swimming," he says.
"So we need to get that back up and running straight away.
"You need to do two things, get the boats operational again and that's obviously the dredging work.
"Dredging will clear the harbour so boats can move without getting stuck in debris or raised seabed.
"And secondly get connectivity up and running.
"There may be a number of ways of doing that, the roads are starting to open up [and] air connectivity is another issue to consider whether we can get more flights in and out of here."
Prime Minister John Key and Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee ponder the damaged marine environment near Kaikoura (Emma Cropper/Newshub)
Mr Key says the coming summer season is going to be considerably different for businesses.
"I think for Kaikoura, for this season, it's going to be a very reduced level of activity," he says.
"The big problem will be getting people in and out.
"The real issue is people feeling confident they can get in and out and that facilities are open."
Prime Minister John Key visited a school in Waiau whose students' were affected by last week's earthquake.
Waiau School principal Mary Kimber says the visit made the children feel better about the situation they are in.
Prime Minister John Key hands out toys to student's from Waiau School (Supplied)
"It was like Santa had come early for many of the kids as they gladly accepted the toys," she says.
"They were impressed with Key's entrance, as his military NH90 helicopter kicked up a storm of freshly cut grass as it landed.
"Several of the children told Mr Key how they were living in camper vans or other houses after the quake, most of the kids live on sheep or beef farms in the rural area."
One child said there were lots of cracks in her house, another said their dairy shed had come of its wheels after the quake.
Mental Health Ambassador Sir John Kirwan spoke at the town meeting offering encouragement for the local community.
"It's okay to cry, it's okay to feel a little bit of fear, it's okay to feel anxious," he says.
Sir John Kirwan speaks at the town meeting (Emma Cropper/Newshub)
"I know you'll be worried about sometimes not sleeping.
"Don't worry about anxiety and fear, try and share it with each other.
"You will get through this and things will go back to normal."
A moment's silence was held at the town meeting on Thursday afternoon to remember Albert Edgar, 75, one of two people that were killed in the earthquakes.
Mr Edgar was killed when the Elms Homestead collapsed on top of him in the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck the South Island last week.
The RadioLive Drive team will be broadcasting live from Kaikoura from 2pm-6pm today.
Duncan Garner will be finding out how the earthquake has impacted the lives of people there, and what's being done to help the community recover.
Newshub.
