Hopefully they can save a lot of the missing. RIP to all those that have died, a truly sad day for a great country
'Our darkest day': At least 65 dead as huge earthquake rocks New Zealand with fears that the toll may rise to 300
* PM John Key: 'It's heartbreaking'
* Up to 100 feared trapped under rubble of collapsed buildings
* Second quake in five months struck closer to the surface - and during busy lunchtime period
* Famous Christchurch Cathedral destroyed
* The Queen sends message of support
Up to 300 people are feared dead after a major earthquake brought down buildings in the centre of Christchurch, New Zealand, during the busy lunchtime today.
The official death toll so far stands at 65 but emergency officials have said that the figures could be much higher and surpass the 256 death toll cause by a 1931 earthquake, the biggest in the country's history.
Rescue workers frantically tried to dig out the many trapped and calling for help beneath collapsed buildings who had been going about their daily business before the quake hit at 12.51pm.
Teams were working into the night after darkness fell on what the mayor described as a 'shaken city.'
The Queen today described herself as 'utterly shocked' by the disaster in a message of support sent to New Zealand prime minister John Key.
Crushed: A car smashed under the weight of a collapsed beam in central Christchurch
Warped: People walk across a buckled road
High emotions: Two women hug each other in front of a collapsed building in central Christchurch
'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,' said the statement.
'My thoughts are also with the emergency services and everyone who is assisting in the rescue efforts.'
It is the second major quake to hit Christchurch, a city of 350,000 people, in five months.
However, today's 6.3-magnitude event caused far more destruction than a more powerful September quake that struck before dawn on a weekend.
When the earthquake struck its epicentre, Lyttelton, at a depth of 5km, it knocked out the city's emergency 111 service and 80 per cent of the city's power.
Carnage: Debris litters the main routes through Christchurch
Little hope: A bus was crushed by falling debris in the quake which measured 6.3 on the Richter Scale
The impact cracked roads and broke water mains, flooding several streets. Hundreds of people are feared trapped in the rubble.
'It is a just a scene of utter devastation,' said Prime Minister Key.
'This may be New Zealand's darkest day.'
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency and ordered people to evacuate the city center.
'Make no mistake — this is going to be a very black day for this shaken city,' he said when asked about possible deaths.
Survivor: A man is blackened and distressed but alive having been pulled from the rubble
Injuries: A woman covered in blood is rescued from inside the Pyne Gould Corporation building following the huge earthquake
The spire of the city's historic cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street toppled into a central square, while video footage showed multistory buildings collapsed in on themselves, and others with walls that had fallen into streets strewn with bricks and shattered concrete.
Witness Gavin Blowman said he ran into the street when the earthquake struck.
'It felt like I was running on jelly,' he said.
'We saw a giant rock tumble to the ground from a cliff - a rock that had been there for millennia.
Sad: The spire of Christchurch's historic cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street has been destroyed
Before the quake: The city's cathedral and surrounding square is a popular place for office workers enjoying their lunch break
'It fell on the RSA (Returned Services Association, a veterans' association) building - it was terrifying.'
Shocked survivors could be seen wandering the rubble-strewn streets, which cracked open as the ground beneath was liquefied by the tremor.
Groups of people helped victims clutching bleeding wounds, and others were carried to private vehicles in makeshift stretchers fashioned from rugs or bits of debris.
Nathanael Boehm, a web designer, said he was standing near a tram track when the quake struck, sending the eaves of buildings cascading onto the street below.
'It was horrific. People were covered in rubble, covered in several tons of concrete,' he said.
Troops were deployed to help people get out and to throw up a security cordon around the stricken area, said Deputy Prime Minister Bill English.
'The government is willing to throw everything it can in the rescue effort,' he said.
'Time is going to be of essence.'
Help us: People have broke windows to prepare to be rescued from a high-rise building in central Christchurch
Devastation: Police said 'multiple fatalities' were expected and many people were trapped under the rubble after buildings and homes collapsed in Christchurch city centre
Warzone: Debris lies strewn across Manchester Street in central Christchurch
Toppled: The four-storey Pyne Gould Corporation building lies in ruins after the earthquake. One local reporter said it felt like a bomb had gone off
Danger: Rescue workers tackle a burning and collapsed building in central Christchurch
The airport was closed, and Christchurch Hospital was briefly evacuated before it was deemed safe and patients were returned.
Power and telephone lines were knocked out, and pipes burst, flooding the streets with water. Some cars parked on the street were buried under rubble.
Some people were stuck in office towers and firefighters climbed extension ladders to pluck people trapped on roofs to safety.
A crane lifted a team of rescuers on a platform to one group of survivors in a high-rise.
Plumes of gray smoke drifted into the air at several points around the city from fires burning in the rubble.
Prime Minister Key held an emergency Cabinet meeting then rushed to the stricken city to observe the scene.
He said eight or nine buildings had collapsed and that officials were working as fast as they can to free an unknown number of people who were trapped.
Some of those stuck were thought to be visiting Japanese students who called their parents back home to say they were in a collapsed building, a Japanese official said.
Measurement: Seismologist Winchelle Sevilla points to a graph reading of the earthquake
Nine students and two teachers from the Toyama College of Foreign Languages had been rescued, but another 12 students were unaccounted for and could still be trapped, said the official from
Toyama Prefecture, who declined to provide his name because he was not authorized to give public statements.
New Zealand police said in a statement that reports of fatalities included that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings.
Gary Moore said he and 19 other colleagues were trapped in their twelfth floor office after the stairwell collapsed in the quake. He did not know if people on other floors were trapped.
'We watched the cathedral collapse out our window while we were holding onto the walls,' said Moore.
'Every aftershock sends us rushing under the desks. It's very unnerving but we can clearly see there are other priorities out the window.
'There has been a lot of damage and I guess people are attending to that before they come and get us.'
The multistory Pyne Gould Guinness Building, housing more than 200 workers, collapsed and an unknown number of people are trapped inside.
Television pictures showed rescuers, many of them office workers, dragging severely injured people from the rubble. Many had blood streaming down their faces. Screams could be heard from those still trapped.
Parker, the mayor, said he was on the top floor of the city council building when the quake hit just before 1pm local time, throwing him across the room.
Damage: New Zealand's second-biggest city Christchurch was rocked by devastation after the quake struck Lyttelton, which is thought to be the epicentre
'I got down onto the street and there were scenes of great confusion, a lot of very upset people,' he said.
'I know of people in our building who are injured and I've had some reports of serious injuries throughout the city.'
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicentre was three miles from the city at a depth of 2.5 miles (four kilometers).
Two large aftershocks - one magnitude 5.6 and another 5.5 - hit the city within two hours, and officials warned people to stay away from damaged buildings because of the danger of further collapses.
'When the shaking had stopped I looked out of the window, which gives a great view onto Christchurch, and there was just dust,' said city councilman Barry Corbett, who was on one of the top floors of the city council building when the quake struck.
Water levels: The quake has triggered floods as well structural damage to buildings
'It was evident straight away that a lot of buildings had gone.'
New Zealand Herald reporter Jarrod Booker said the quake lasted approximately a minute and was extremely violent — rocking buildings back and forth.
'I got down onto the street and there were scenes of great confusion, a lot of very upset people,' he said.
'I know of people in our building who are injured and I've had some reports of serious injuries throughout the city.'
A search and rescue team was being flown in from Australia to help in the recovery, and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she had offered Key any other support he requested.
The USGS said the latest quake was part of the 'aftershock sequence' following the 7.1 magnitude earthquake on September 4 last year.
That quake wrecked hundreds of buildings, inflicted an estimated 4 billion New Zealand dollars in damage, but caused no deaths.
A strong aftershock in December caused further damage to buildings. The city, considered a tourist centre, was still rebuilding from those quakes when Tuesday's quake hit.
The USGS said the latest quake hit 'significantly closer to the main population center of Christchurch' than the September event, which was centered 25 miles west of city.
'The critical issue with this earthquake was that the epicenter was at shallow depth under Christchurch, so many people were within 6 to 12 miles of the fault rupture,' said Gary Gibson, a seismologist at Australia's Melbourne University.
'Its effect depends on how close it is, and ground shaking will be severe within 10 to 20 kilometers of the rupture,' he said.
Earthquake shears 30m tons of ice from New Zealand's biggest glacier
The earthquake that struck Christchurch has caused some 30 million tons of ice to break off from New Zealand's biggest glacier.
Tour guides at the Tasman Glacier in the Southern Alps say the quake caused the ice to 'calve' from the glacier, forming icebergs in the terminal lake.
Tourists of Glacier Explorer boats say the icefall caused waves of up to 3.5 meters in height which swept up and down the lake for 30 minutes.
The glacier is about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from Christchurch on the west coast.
Far-reaching effects: Mark Bascand of Glacier Explorers shows passengers one of the many icebergs that caved into Tasman Lake, Hermitage, New Zealand, as a result of the quake
Ecological impact: Icebergs that caved into Tasman Lake seen from above
FAMILIAR DISASTER: NZ'S EARTHQUAKE HISTORY
Earthquakes in New Zealand are extremely common, with more than 14,000 a year being recorded.
The frequency comes from its location on the notorious Pacific 'ring Of fire', an arc of volatile earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches from Chile through Alaska and down through the South Pacific.
Of the thousands of earthquakes every year, only about 150 are felt by residents, with around 20 topping magnitude 5.0, though fewer than 10 do any damage.
However, the country has a long history of hugely destructive earthquakes, many more powerful than this 6.3 event, including the 7.1 quake that struck Christchurch last September.
The biggest recorded quake in the country's history came on January 23, 1855, when Wairarapa was the epicentre of a massive 8.3 disaster.
But the most lethal occurred at Hawke's Bay on February 3, 1931, resulting in the largest loss of life, with 256 deaths, and the most extensive damage in the country's recorded history.
Source: www.geonet.org.nz
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