The first thing his family did when they heard the news was contact his grandmother, who lives alone in New Zealand's capital. Thankfully, she was alright.

Butler is one of a number of Brumbies and Canberra Raiders players from the Wellington area.

Brumbies winger Lausii Taliauli is from Wellington, Jordan Smiler is from Palmerston North – just north of the capital – while Raiders and New Zealand players Jordan Rapana and Joe Tapine are from Wellington.

It was one of the cities hit by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that was centered in the South Island and killed at least two people.

Butler grew up in Wellington, but moved to Queensland when he was 13.

"We made sure we got a hold of my Nana and made sure she was alright, she was all good, just a bit shaken up," he said.

"It's crazy, it's one of those things where New Zealand falls on a couple of fault lines so it's always a threat.

"In New Zealand you grow up with little shocks every now and then, but never anything too serious.

"So for that one to happen, especially with Christchurch in the back of everyone's mind – no one wants to relive that ordeal. It's kind of scary, but hopefully everyone will be alright."

The Brumbies will return for pre-season training next Monday and Butler was raring to go.

He was thankful for the break following the National Rugby Championship, when he was able to return to the Gold Coast to visit family.

The 25-year-old will be an important player for the Brumbies next season with David Pocock taking a year's sabbatical.

It opens the way for Butler to battle it out with former Wester Force flanker Chris Alcock for the No.7 jersey.

Butler filled in for Pocock when the Wallabies star injured his knee in 2014 and did such a good job he won the Brett Robinson medal as their players' player.

He said there would be a different feel to the pre-season, with Pocock, Stephen Moore and Matt Toomua all having left the club.

"I think it might be a little bit different in the pre-season this year. I'm really looking forward to getting back into training again," Butler said.

"I've had some time off now and I'm refreshed and ready to get back into it.

"I'll guess we'll just see how it goes. [Assistant coach Dan McKellar] is going to be leading it while [Stephen Larkham] is away and I'm sure he's going to do an awesome job, just looking forward to ripping in."

The Brumbies were due to travel to Wellington as part of an ACT government delegation to Canberra's sister city.

Canberra Raiders chief executive Don Furner was also going, but the earthquake has forced the trip to be postponed.

Furner had intended to discuss the possibility of playing NRL team New Zealand Warriors at Wellington's Cake Tin next season, as well as discussing other possibilities with the Maori Rugby League and A-League side Wellington Phoenix.

He was hopeful the trip might be rescheduled to later in the year, but he'll continue to liaise with the stadium's management.

Furner said the Raiders would contact Rapana and Tapine to check whether the pair needed any support.

They're both with the New Zealand rugby league side in England preparing for the Four Nations final against Australia in Liverpool this weekend.

"Our footy manager will [contact the pair] and they would be contacting their family just to make sure everything's OK," Furner said.