CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Feb 22, 2011 (From AFP) - A powerful earthquake killed at least 65 people in New Zealand's second city Christchurch Tuesday, crushing buildings and vehicles and leaving dozens trapped and screaming for help. "We may be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day," Prime Minister John Key said after the 6.3-magnitude quake pummelled the city, just six months after it was hit by a 7.0 quake that miraculously claimed no victims. New Zealand's deadliest tremor in 80 years struck at 12:51 pm, when city streets were packed with lunchtime shoppers, and turned central Christchurch into a rubble-strewn disaster zone littered with dazed and bleeding residents.

The city's iconic cathedral lost its spire, and the six-storey Canterbury TV building was reduced to a smoking ruin. Rescue helicopters plucked survivors to safety from the rooftops of buildings where staircases had collapsed, and emergency workers used giant cranes to pull office workers out of ruined city buildings. Christchurch's mayor Bob Parker said dozens were still trapped inside buildings but media reports said there could be as many as 200. Police drafted in urban search and rescue teams in a urgent attempt to locate survivors. Other churches were partly destroyed in the tremor and the local newspaper's offices were badly hit. Reports said survivors there were frantically texting relatives as they cowered under their desks. Several strong aftershocks pummelled the stricken city. The September 4 tremor, measured at 7.0 magnitude, struck overnight and damaged 100,000 homes but claimed no lives. Seismologists said that despite being smaller, the latest tremor was more damaging than the earlier quake because it was nearer to Christchurch's centre and much closer to the earth's surface. New Zealand sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire", a vast zone of seismic and volcanic activity stretching from Chile on one side to Japan and Indonesia on the other.

Back to top