New Zealand earthquake: 65 dead in Christchurch

[samsungster]

---

WELLINGTON – A strong quake hit New Zealand's second-biggest city of Christchurch on Tuesday for the second time in five months, toppling buildings, causing "multiple fatalities," trapping people beneath rubble and sparking fires.

Local TV showed bodies being pulled out of rubble strewn around the city center, though it was unclear whether any of them were alive, but police reported multiple fatalities after the 6.3 magnitude quake struck during the busy lunchtime.

"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," said John Gurr, a camera technician who was in the center of the city when the quake hit.

"A lady grabbed hold of me to stop falling over ... It's not nice at all. We just got blown apart. Colombo Street, the main street, is just a mess ... There's lots of water everywhere, pouring out of the ground - its liquefaction - it's an absolute mess."

Silt, sand and gravel

Christchurch is built on silt, sand and gravel, with a water table under it. In an earthquake, the water rises, mixing with sand.

Unlike last year's even stronger tremor, which struck early in the morning when streets were virtually empty, the streets, shops and offices in the city of almost 400,000 were thronged with people when the shallow tremor struck.

It hit at 12:51 pm (2351 GMT Monday) at a depth of only 4 km (2.5 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey's Web site.

"It's huge, it's just huge," a priest told a TV reporter outside the remains of the city's stone cathedral, part of which had been reduced to a pile of large sandstone blocks.

"I just don't know whether there are people under this rubble," he said, before he appeared to add in a quiet voice: "I think so."

Prime Minister John Key, who called an emergency cabinet meeting for later in the day, told parliament: "This is a very populated time with people at work and children at school. Sadly, I cannot rule out whether there have been fatalities or not. But we are aware of significant damage to buildings that had people in them at the time."
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-fi...ples-buildings

[DeathFox]

Don;t forget the one in New York. And in Manila too >_>

[Hammer_and_Sickle]

hala, kadakong trahedya ani oi,

[peewee_toot]

cge ra mn og quake ngadto. karon lng ang pinaka kusog...

[omniknight]

Di man diay kaayo grabeh..






New Zealand & World News - Yahoo!Xtra News

[AntitaniC]

Eyewitnesses describe their experiences of the earthquake
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

* Christchurch earthquake: Eyewitness accounts
* In pictures: Earthquake rocks Christchurch
* Christchurch earthquake: Your stories

New Zealand's prime minister says at least 65 people have died after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch.

John Key said the toll was expected to rise further, adding: "We may be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day."

The tremor struck at 1251 (2351 GMT on Monday), 10km (6.2 miles) south-east of the city and at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles), causing widespread damage.

Christchurch's mayor has said that at least 200 people are believed trapped under rubble.

The damage is said to be far worse than after the 7.1-magnitude quake on 4 September, which left two people seriously injured but no fatalities.

That quake's epicentre was further away from the city and deeper underground, but still caused an estimated $3bn (£1.9bn) in damage.
Screams from rubble

TV pictures of the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake showed scores of collapsed buildings in Christchurch, on South Island.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

We've had friends in town call us and say there are just bodies lying around; lots of dead bodies outside shops just lying there just covered in bricks”

End Quote Jaydn Katene Christchurch resident

* Christchurch earthquake: Eyewitness accounts

People could be seen wandering the rubble-filled streets in distress.

Local police said there were reports of multiple fatalities, including people on two buses which had been crushed by falling buildings.

There were also reports of fires and of numerous people being trapped in collapsed buildings, they added.

Officials said up to 30 people were feared still trapped inside the Pyne Gould Guinness building, where screams have been heard from beneath the wreckage.

Local television showed bodies being pulled out of rubble strewn around the city centre.

Christchurch Cathedral, an iconic stone building in the centre of the city, was partly destroyed, its spire toppling into the square below.

"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," John Gurr, a camera technician, told the Reuters news agency. "Colombo Street, the main street, is just a mess."
'Like a warzone'

Radio New Zealand reported that its staff had to cling to their desks during the tremor, and that a church near its offices had collapsed.

Christchurch Mayor: "I was thrown around and fell heavily on a table"

Concrete in Victoria Square had risen at least a metre in some places and there are signs of liquefaction around the Avon river, RNZ added.

Power and telephone lines were knocked out, and pipes burst, flooding the streets with water.

The suburbs of Lyttleton and New Brighton are reportedly "unliveable".

Grant Beedie, who was working in a factory in Sydenham, told the BBC that the damage was "massive… like a warzone".

"The entire building just shook. We all just hit the ground and shut our eyes. There were loads of things flying off the shelves," he said. "There were massive machines moving about - it was scary. I was almost in tears."
Aftershocks

Helicopters were being used to put out fires caused by the quake.
A woman is rescued from inside the Pyne Gould Corporation building after the quake in Christchurch on 22 February 2011 The Pyne Gould Guinness building in central Christchurch was flattened

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told the BBC: "We're beginning to get a feeling, from what we've got so far, that a significant number of people are injured and a significant number of people are still trapped in buildings.

"And as we get further into that rescue operation... clearly we're going to be presented with statistics that are going to be bleak."

PM John Key said: "It is just a scene of utter devastation. We have to work as fast as we can to get people out of environments where they are trapped.

"This is a community that is absolutely in agony. We just need this community, as it has done before and as it will do again, to come together, to check and support one another," he added.
Map of New Zealand

"We will get through this. New Zealand will regroup and Christchurch will regroup."

The military has been called in to assist the rescue effort, and the government has accepted the offer of specialist help from Australia.

Civil Defence Controller David Coetzee said "significant" aftershocks should be expected. Some have been as powerful as magnitude 5.

One Christchurch resident, Jaydn Katene, told the New Zealand Herald: "We've had friends in town call us and say there are just bodies lying around; lots of dead bodies outside shops just lying there just covered in bricks."

New Zealand lies at the southern end of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, and above an area of the Earth's crust where the Pacific Plate converges with the Indo-Australian Plate.

The country experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude in excess of 5.0.

The last fatal earthquake was in 1968, when a 7.1-magnitude tremor killed three people on the South Island's western coast.

-for more photos and videos.

source:BBC News - New Zealand earthquake: 65 dead in Christchurch

[Hammer_and_Sickle]

aahhhhh, manimbaot mn pud akong balahibo oi

[peewee_toot]

naa bay pinoy nga na among? maytag wala oi...

[markyroxy]

let us pray nawla ra'y pinoy and that all those casualties may rest in peace.

[Golden Thief Bug]

duha duha na hinoon mi ani migrate to nz, sa christchurch baya ang destination namo tsk tsk tsk