DS is younger, but DH has been sitting him down showing the pictures of the earthquake and talking about buildings falling down and people being rescued (DH's family are in CHCH btw).
I'm not sure how much he really understands, but I was a but unnerved by his role-play games with big buildings being damaged and him driving a drigger truck to rescue people. He talks about things being dead sometimes, but it's still just a word to him I think.
I'm really not sure what the best way to deal with it is - I guess being open and honest is right?