Evastar
Inactive User
Rescuers are toiling overnight in New Zealand to reach scores of trapped people after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake which has claimed at least 65 lives.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker says more than 100 people are feared buried in collapsed buildings in the city.
The disaster struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) on Tuesday lunchtime when Christchurch was at its busiest.
It is the South Island city's second tremor in six months, and the country's worst natural disaster in 80 years.
The mayor has declared a state of emergency and ordered the city centre's evacuation.
“We paid a very heavy price here”
John Key Prime Minister
On a cold and wet night, emergency teams have been toiling under floodlights to reach survivors, as relatives keep vigil outside.
Rescue teams with sniffer dogs have been fanning out across Christchurch.
A series of aftershocks, some as big as magnitude 5, have rattled the stricken city of nearly 400,000 people.
Many power and telephone lines are knocked out, while burst water mains have deluged whole districts.
Up to 30 people were feared trapped inside the flattened Pyne Gould Guinness building, where screams have been heard from the ruins.
Students missing
Trapped under her office desk, Anne Voss told a New Zealand TV station: "I rang my kids to say goodbye. It was absolutely horrible.
"My daughter was crying and I was crying because I honestly thought that was it. You know, you want to tell them you love them, don't you?"
She said she could hear other people alive in the building, and had called out to them.
Streets in the north-eastern suburb of Bexley were flooded as the quake caused water mains to burst, which coincided with heavy rain.
The multi-storey Pyne Gould Guinness Building, which normally houses around 200 workers, collapsed. A number of people were thought to be trapped inside.
The 63m spire of the city's Anglican cathedral was toppled by the earthquake. Built in the second half of the nineteenth century, the spire has been damaged before and the stone construction replaced with copper sheeting.
Much of the city centre was badly damaged, including these buildings on Manchester Street. The quake struck in the middle of the day when many people were out and about.
The city's cathedral lost its spire, while a six-storey TV building housing an English-language school was reduced to a smoking ruin.
A dozen Japanese students at the school have been reported missing.
Emergency shelters have been set up at the city's Hagley Park, a race course, schools and community halls.
The Red Cross has been trying to find accommodation for people sheltering outside in tents or under plastic sheeting.
Glacier smashed
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who held an emergency cabinet meeting before heading to the disaster zone, said: "We paid a very heavy price here.
"We could be looking down the barrel at New Zealand's darkest day."
BBC News - New Zealand earthquake: Rescuers work through night
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker says more than 100 people are feared buried in collapsed buildings in the city.
The disaster struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) on Tuesday lunchtime when Christchurch was at its busiest.
It is the South Island city's second tremor in six months, and the country's worst natural disaster in 80 years.
The mayor has declared a state of emergency and ordered the city centre's evacuation.
“We paid a very heavy price here”
John Key Prime Minister
On a cold and wet night, emergency teams have been toiling under floodlights to reach survivors, as relatives keep vigil outside.
Rescue teams with sniffer dogs have been fanning out across Christchurch.
A series of aftershocks, some as big as magnitude 5, have rattled the stricken city of nearly 400,000 people.
Many power and telephone lines are knocked out, while burst water mains have deluged whole districts.
Up to 30 people were feared trapped inside the flattened Pyne Gould Guinness building, where screams have been heard from the ruins.
Students missing
Trapped under her office desk, Anne Voss told a New Zealand TV station: "I rang my kids to say goodbye. It was absolutely horrible.
"My daughter was crying and I was crying because I honestly thought that was it. You know, you want to tell them you love them, don't you?"
She said she could hear other people alive in the building, and had called out to them.
Streets in the north-eastern suburb of Bexley were flooded as the quake caused water mains to burst, which coincided with heavy rain.
The multi-storey Pyne Gould Guinness Building, which normally houses around 200 workers, collapsed. A number of people were thought to be trapped inside.
The 63m spire of the city's Anglican cathedral was toppled by the earthquake. Built in the second half of the nineteenth century, the spire has been damaged before and the stone construction replaced with copper sheeting.
Much of the city centre was badly damaged, including these buildings on Manchester Street. The quake struck in the middle of the day when many people were out and about.
The city's cathedral lost its spire, while a six-storey TV building housing an English-language school was reduced to a smoking ruin.
A dozen Japanese students at the school have been reported missing.
Emergency shelters have been set up at the city's Hagley Park, a race course, schools and community halls.
The Red Cross has been trying to find accommodation for people sheltering outside in tents or under plastic sheeting.
Glacier smashed
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who held an emergency cabinet meeting before heading to the disaster zone, said: "We paid a very heavy price here.
"We could be looking down the barrel at New Zealand's darkest day."
BBC News - New Zealand earthquake: Rescuers work through night
