300 still missing after NZ quake
Curfew and cordon thrown around rescue zone in centre of New Zealand city, where 75 are confirmed dead and 300 missing
Hopes of pulling more survivors from the rubble are fading in Christchurch as the city beds down for the second night since being rocked by a calamitous earthquake on Tuesday. Police declared a downtown curfew as aftershocks tested the spirit of a city that had not yet recovered from a quake in September last year.
The death toll from Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude quake has reached 75 and is expected to rise. Three hundred people are missing. Reports of Britons among the dead have not been confirmed. The British high commission, which is providing consular assistance in Christchurch, said it had received no information as yet of any British casualties.
Officials have urged Christchurch people to stay at home unless travel is essential. Locals venturing into the city to view the damage would hamper the rescue operation, said police superintendent Dave Cliff. He warned of the danger of "criminal elements" and announced a strict exclusion zone around the city's "four avenues" from 6.30pm. Six arrests for burglary have been made.
In the afternoon emergency workers were hurriedly evacuated from two blocks around the Hotel Grand Chancellor amid fears that the 27-storey building, which has slumped at one of its corners, could fall.
Up to 100 people are feared dead in the Canterbury TV building. Despite reports that authorities thought the building "not survivable", Ross Dittmer of the fire service said rescuers' pullout from the site was to do with the proximity to the Chancellor hotel rather than any abandonment of hope. Just after 8pm on Wednesday evening television images suggested the rescue effort at the CTV building was being relaunched.
There was rare a ray of hope on a gloomy day when rescuers pulled Ann Bodkin from the remains of the Pyne Gould Guinness building. She had spent a day trapped under her desk. The sun broke out as she emerged. Ac! cording to the Christchurch mayor, Bob Parker, one emergency worker near the site said: "They got Ann out of the building and God turned on the lights."
The New Zealand prime minister, John Key, has declared a national state of emergency, apparently the first in the country's history. It would enable "the strongest possible focus of local, national and international resources working together to achieve the best possible response in the shortest timeframe". He added: "There is no reason that can make sense of this event, no words that can spare our pain."
Power remains off for about half the city and water is yet to be restored for large areas, prompting concerns of a public health crisis. Concern is especially high for the hard-hit suburbs of Sumner and Lyttleton, which remain very difficult to access. Late on Wednesday police confirmed that parts of Sumner were being evacuated.
Roads and pavement are strewn with bricks, cracks, gaping holes and sludge. Traffic lights have almost all failed and army vehicles are parked across intersections.
The airport has reopened for both domestic and international flights. Many foreign nationals have been departing the temporary camps in which they were accommodated including tents in Hagley Park, which had been erected to house the annual Ellerslie flower show.
Structural damage and a lack of electricity and water mean few shops or petrol stations in the city have been able to open. Some petrol stations have reported angry clashes among drivers vying to fill up. A handful of corner shops have kept their doors open despite the restrictions, serving customers in the near-dark.
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