On 4 September 2010, it was severely hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, causing immense damage. Consequently, the St Paul's parish church and school which had suffered greatly from the effects of the quake, were forced to relocate their church services to the Marian College chapel and the students to the Catholic Cathedral College site, for the following couple of years estimated that it would take to rebuild. The college accommodated the entire primary school community of St Paul's School for a short time. But the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake (6.3 magnitude) caused far worse devastation to the city than the September 2010 earthquake. Large areas of Dallington were placed into a residential red zone, under which houses were acquired and demolished by the Crown. Parts of Catholic Cathedral College were under the unstable 400-ton dome of the Catholic Cathedral. Because the dome was in imminent danger of collapse, the college left the site and St Paul's School was moved to a site which the Minister of Education made available in Champion St.