Amrit pal Singh was asleep in bed when he awoke to a car crashing through the door of his bedroom, heading straight towards him.
Emergency services were called to the incident on North Avon Rd in the Christchurch suburb of Richmond about 3.50am.
The driver of the vehicle was transported to hospital in a serious condition.
Pal Singh told The New Zealand Herald the car stopped just a short distance away from where he was in bed.
"I was yelling 'get out, it's an earthquake' but then I saw the car. It was too terrible. I was shocked."
The impact caused everything on his shelves to fall on top of him.
He tried opening the door to get the driver out but wasn't able to so he ran outside and called emergency services.
"I was shocked, I was just in a deep sleep. It took out all of the stuff outside of the room and damaged the bathroom, bedroom and living room.
"It felt just like an earthquake."
The car also damaged many of his belongings, including a laptop, watches, shoes and clothing.
"It is all totally damaged. I don't have insurance on any of it."
Pal Singh lives with two others, Mohit Kaushal and Manish Jindal. He said their property manager is helping them find a new place to live.
The driver of the vehicle appeared to be a young man about 19 or 20 years old, he said.
He was initially unresponsive when pal Singh tried speaking to him but eventually began to respond.
A witness to the crash told the Herald he was three houses down and heard the commotion.
He went outside and heard the fire alarm and people out on the street. He saw a man on the phone with emergency services.
"It was just crazy. it's not every day something like this happens."
He and a few others began trying to help the driver of the vehicle who was still inside.
"It was pretty unsafe, as things could have fallen off the roof, but I had never been in a situation like this before."
He spoke to a man who was driving in front of the vehicle that hit the house.
He had turned left but the vehicle behind him kept going straight into the house, the witness said.
-By Devon Bolger
