Christchurch earthquake: at least 65 dead

[Lite]

Rescuers worked through the night to reach people trapped in shattered buildings after a powerful earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand, killing at least 65 people.

The 6.3-magnitude quake struck at lunchtime, when streets and shops in New Zealand's second largest city were packed and offices were occupied. Christchurch was hit last September by a 7.1 magnitude quake that damaged buildings but caused no deaths. This time the quake was deadly.

Emergency crews working under floodlights risked their lives to raise parts of the Canterbury Television building to allow colleagues to look for survivors; helicopters dumped giant buckets of water to try to douse a fire in a tall office building; and a crane helped rescue workers trapped in another office block.

The mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, told local radio that up to 200 people could be trapped but later lowered the number to nearer 100. It was the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in the North Island city of Napier killed 256.

"There will be deaths, there will be a lot of injuries, there will be a lot of heartbreak in this city," Parker told Australian TV. Hundreds of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered through the streets as sirens blared throughout Christchurch in the aftermath of the quake. The tremor, centred three miles (4.8km) from the city, occurred at the relatively shallow depth of 2.5 miles.

After rushing to the city within hours of the quake, the prime minister, John Key, said the death toll was 65 and may rise. "It is just a scene of utter devastation," he said. "We may well be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day."

John Gurr, a camera technician who was in the city centre when the quake hit, said: "I was in the square right outside the cathedral – the whole front has fallen down and there were people running from there. There were people inside as well."

Peter Rutherford, a secondary school teacher, was in Cathedral square, in the heart of Christchurch, when the spire of the city's landmark cathedral collapsed. "We were just passing the cathedral when someone picked up Christchurch and shook it quite hard," Rutherford told the Guardian.

"And it seemed to get quite bad quite quickly. The spire just twisted and started to fall. I turned and ran, then turned around to see a guy pull a woman out from where the spire fell."

Rutherford was walking to a meeting with colleagues when the earthquake hit. They had to go through "broken glass and sludge" back to Catholic Cathedral College, looking for students as they went.

"There were a lot of people just standing dazed and confused," he said. "But I was amazed how everyone behaved. They were obviously really stressed, there were a lot of freaked-out people, but no one doing anything stupid."

Daniel Tobin, multimedia editor at the Christchurch Press, was buying lunch when the quake struck. "I ran out of the shop and the building in front of me came down on top of people, and the building beside it came down on top of people, and the building the other side came down. It was horrific scenes, lots of people screaming," he told the Guardian.

Tobin ran back to the Press's office to collect his camera before heading out to film the immediate aftermath, footage that has since been viewed around the world.

The Press building itself was hit badly. "There were people trapped, I think there's still one person trapped," Tobin said. "They were dragging people out all day. The roof collapsed onto the third floor."

Speaking late on Tuesday night, Tobin described a city in shock. "This evening it's dark, there's no power in the streets," he said. "There's lots of liquefaction, so there's lots of soil and water on the streets. Lots of the roads are badly damaged."

The impact is of a different order to the September earthquake, Tobin added. "It's a completely different mood," he said. "There's just total terror in people's eyes. There's a lot of people leaving town, just to get out of Christchurch. I think people have had enough. We thought it was all over, and we start to rebuild, and then – it's a strange feeling of what next, what are we going to do?"

With phonelines and electricity disabled through much of the city, New Zealanders took to Facebook, Twitter and blogs to seek information about loved ones and share their experiences.

Auckland-based veteran broadcaster Brian Edwards was one of many who tweeted throughout the day seeking information about family in Canterbury. Six hours after his first appeal, made at 3pm, Edwards tweeted: "Just heard – from total stranger on Twitter – that my daughter and family are OK. He went round to her house for me . Kindness in bad times."

Later, he added: "Thanks to all the splendid people who retweeted and helped us get information about our daughter. It was a strange, amazing experience."

All army medical staff have been mobilised, while several hundred troops were helping with the rescue, officials said. Australia sent a Hercules aircraft with 40 rescue specialists and more crews were on their way. The US has also offered assistance.

The toll, in both human and structural terms, was much greater than in September for three reasons, according to John Townend, a seismologist based at Victoria University of Wellington.

First, it struck closer to the centre of the city and was four times closer to ground level; second, the September quake took place in the middle of the night – this latest quake hit in the middle of the working day; third, structures had been significantly weakened by the September tremor and the hundreds of aftershocks.

"We were very lucky in September and perhaps a little bit complacent because the damage was limited to buildings, roads and infrastructure," Townend told Radio New Zealand National. "In general, an earthquake of this size happening so close to a city, even a well-prepared one, is always going to cause major damage."

The Queen expressed her shock in a message to the prime minister: "Please convey my deep sympathy to the families and friends of those who have been killed; my thoughts are with all those who have been affected by this dreadful event. My thoughts are also with the emergency services and everyone who is assisting in the rescue efforts."

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[vin3e]

My heart goes out to them all. Very tragic.

[DreamHaters]

Horrible news, my thoughts are with those who have been affected.

[Atasas]

Condolences to all suffered.

:(

Whole world is a mess, if not one- then other tragedies are just around the corner

[majithia23]

sad...

condolences to all those who lost their dear ones ...

every such incident reminds me of some thing which one of my teacher during school days used to correlate to and teach us ----

Malthus Theory of Population

"Malthus' theory was based on the assumption that the power of population is much greater than the power of the earth to provide subsistence for man. "

prayers and peace ....