Death toll expected to rise after quake devastates Christchurch

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An injured man is carried from the rubble of a wrecked building in quake-hit Christchurch. Picture: AP Source: AP

AFP/THE AUSTRALIAN - February 22, 2011

AT least 65 people are dead after a 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch in New Zealand and authorities warn that number is expected to rise.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said "at least" 65 people had been killed in the earthquake, which hit the South Island city at 12.51pm today.

"We may be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day," Mr Key said during a visit to the city, where he said the damage was much worse than in last September's massive quake.

“It's an absolute tragedy for this city, for New Zealand, for the people that we care so much about,” Mr Key said.

Rescuers frantically searched for survivors after the quake destroyed parts of the city, pancaking some newer buildings and reducing some older structures to rubble.

Many of the buildings had been weakened by last year's 7.0-magnitude tremor, which shattered buildings but did not claim any lives.

While it was not as powerful, the fact today's quake was much more shallow contributed to the greater amount of damage.

Thousands of panicked and tearful residents thronged the city's streets after the latest quake struck.

Police warned of "multiple" fatalities. One office building housing 200 workers had collapsed, while Christchurch Cathedral's spire tumbled.

Rescuers were trying to reach more than 30 people trapped in the Pyne Gould Group building in the CBD, where one person was reported to have died.

Local station TV3 said dead bodies had been pulled from a hostel, and a tourist had been crushed to death in a van. All flights across the country were briefly suspended after Christchurch control tower was damaged.

“This is the central city at a very, very busy time where you've had a massive earthquake and seen violent shaking on what was already probably weakened infrastructure,” Mr Key said.

Declaring a state of emergency, Christchurch mayor Bob Parker said: "Everybody needs to understand that this is going to be a very black day for this severely shaken city.

"I've had reports of buses that are trapped under fallen buildings, car park buildings that have taken significant damage, collapsed or partially collapsed. In some of the inner-city streets we have people trapped in buildings.''

As several strong aftershocks pummelled the stricken city of 340,000, which has endured continuous tremors since September's disaster, bleeding and limping survivors emerged from damaged buildings.

A fire brigade spokesman said the major concern was the rescue effort, with scores of people trapped in damaged and flattened buildings. The threat of aftershocks was also hindering rescue efforts.

The city had run out of ambulances to ferry injured people to hospital reports stated, and several makeshift triage centres were set up in the CBD to help with the injured.

Twenty people were trapped on the 12th floor of a Christchurch building. One of those trapped, Gary Moore, said he and 19 other colleagues were stuck on the 12th floor the Forsyth Barr building, in central Christchurch, because the stairwell collapsed.

"The details that we have are extremely sketchy. But the worry and fear of course is that this earthquake has taken place at a time when (residents) were going about their business,'' Mr Key said.

"We watched the cathedral collapse out our window while we were holding onto the walls,'' Mr Moore said. "Every aftershock sends us rushing under the desks. It's very unnerving but we can clearly see there are other priorities out the window. There has been a lot of damage and I guess people are attending to that before they come and get us.''

The Pyne Gould Guinness Building, a multi-story building containing more than 200 workers, had collapsed and an unknown number of people were trapped inside.

Television pictures showed rescuers, many of them office workers, dragging severely injured people from the rubble. Many had blood streaming down their faces. Screams could be heard from those still trapped.

Live video footage showed parts of buildings collapsed into the streets, which were strewn with bricks and shattered concrete.

Footpaths and roads were cracked and split, and hundreds of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered through the streets as sirens blared throughout the city.

People fled the city centre as emergency services rushed to the area to evacuate those trapped in buildings.

New Zealand police said in a statement that there were reports of multiple fatalities in the city, including a report that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings.

The police statement said there were other reports of fires burning in the city and people being trapped in buildings.

The airport was closed and Christchurch Hospital was evacuated. Power and telephone lines were knocked out, and pipes burst, flooding the streets. Some cars apparently parked on the street were buried under rubble.

Mr Parker said an emergency operation was being set up in the city centre.

"This is obviously a dreadful, dreadful aftershock, it felt more like a new quake to me,'' he told Radio NZ.

Christchurch Hospital was being evacuated, a spokeswoman for the hospital said. Witnesses have told local reporters there would be "deaths'' this time.

"It was terrifying," a witness, who said she was in the city centre when the quake hit, told Sky News. "I thought I was going to die. I just want to get out of the CBD."

Power was out in Christchurch and phone lines were down.

The New Zealand Herald reported that the jolt was felt in the capital Wellington to the north and the city of Dunedin to the south. Residents say it lasted about a minute.

Tarmac on the road was cracked and water mains had burst, flooding the streets with water.

"It was incredibly violent, very very scary,'' one visitor to the city, Philip Gregan said while on the phone to AAP.

"We're all standing out on the street with sirens going off around us.

"Oh no, there's another one,'' he said while on the phone. I want to get out of here.''

"It was just unbelievable, it was so strong, nothing like I've ever experienced before, just horrible,'' local shopkeeper Julian Hogday told TV3.

The US. Geological Survey said the temblor was centred 5km from the city at a depth of 4km.

A priest told New Zealand's TV3 that he feared people were trapped in the rubble.

``It's just huge, it is huge,'' he said. ``The building's a building. The really important thing is the people.
``We just don't know if there are people under that rubble. I fear there are.''

Mr Key saidthe city would recover from the tragedy.

“We will get through this, New Zealand will regroup and Christchurch will regroup but at the moment it's a very, very dark day,” he said.

Agencies
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