N Zealand quake leaves 400 dead

CHRISTCHURCH.
Hundreds of rescuers swarmed over twi-sted and smoking buildings yesterday in a frantic search for survivors after New Zealand’s catastrophic earthquake left nea-rly 400 dead or missing.
Emergency services cordoned off central Christchurch, which was devastated by Tuesday’s shallow, 6.3-magnitude tremor, to hunt for anyone still alive along with an unknown number of bodies buried in the rubble.
Prime Minister John Key declared a national emergency as 75 bodies were recovered, while about 30 people were rescued overnight. About 300 people are still missing after New Zealand’s worst natural disaster in 80 years.
Key said the quake had “wreaked death and destruction on a dreadful scale” in the country’s second biggest city, six months after a 7.0-magnitude quake shook buildings violently in Christchurch but miraculously caused no deaths.
The latest tremor toppled many buildings and left central Christchurch strewn with debris. The city’s landmark cathedral lost its spire, and dozens of aftershocks rocked the city, much of which was without power and water.
Rescuers had to amputate limbs to free some survivors, but abandoned hope for any victims trapped in the flattened CTV building, which housed a school for foreign English-language students.
Twenty-four Japanese citizens were amo-ng the missing, including 11 students at the college along with a South Korean brother and sister in their early 20s.
“This particular site, CTV site, had a number of overseas students in it and my heart goes out to those families that are away knowing that some of their children, family have probably been killed in this incident,” said police operations commander Dave Lawry. – AFP.