All Blacks five-eighth Dan Carter believes New Zealand have been given extra motivation to win this year's World Cup following the earthquake which devastated his hometown of Christchurch.

Carter is in London this week to play the Crusaders' rescheduled match against South African side the Sharks at Twickenham in a first for Super Rugby.

The classy five-eighth Carter told the UK Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that the All Blacks would be determined to win the tournament for the first time since 1987 to bring some cheer to his homeland.

More than 180 people were killed when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocked Christchurch last month.

Destruction from the quake later forced World Cup organisers to cancel matches due to be held in the city.

Carter admitted that the disaster would act as a spur to the New Zealand squad as they aim to lift the Webb Ellis trophy in October.

"That all does add an extra significance to the World Cup to an extent," Carter said.

"To win it would bring a lot of joy to people who've known tough times recently.

"There's motivation to have a big year. Cantabrians are rugby fanatics and for us not to have any World Cup games is just more depressing news for the people here. Obviously, it's been done for the right safety reasons but it's really sad."

The goalkicking wizard revealed he had been in the changing room at the Crusaders training ground when the earthquake struck.

"I was going to take a shower when, suddenly, there was violent shaking and we just had to get out there as fast as we could," he said.

"Outside, we realised it had been a bad one and that we had to get home quick but it was only when I jumped into the car that I realised the extent of the devastation.

"It's something I'll never forget; the shock on people's faces, all the traffic lights out, water gushing out in the streets, cracks in the road, traffic jams.

"It was a pretty scary time."

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