Strong quake strikes near Christchurch, New Zealand

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12570841

 

24 February 2011 Last updated at 22:21 GMT

 

First New Zealand earthquake victims named

 

Officials in New Zealand have released the first four names of the 113 confirmed victims of Tuesday's earthquake in the city of Christchurch.

 

They include two adults and two infants - aged five and nine months.

 

Rescue workers are still combing through rubble but no survivors have been found since Wednesday afternoon.

 

Police say 228 people are missing, including 122 believed to have been in one smashed building where it is thought no-one survived.

 

Civil Defence Minister John Carter said that five bodies had been recovered in central Christchurch overnight.

 

"We are still hopeful there will still be people rescued but it is becoming unlikely," he said at a news conference in the capital, Wellington, on Friday morning.

 

"It is not until you are down in Christchurch that you have an appreciation of the devastation - it is unbelievable," Mr Carter said.

 

The 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) early in the afternoon on Tuesday, when the South Island city was at its busiest.

 

It was Christchurch's second major tremor in five months, and New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster for 80 years.

 

'Agonising wait'

 

Police have released the first names of confirmed victims. They are:

 

Jaime Robert McDowell Gilbert, 22

Baxter Gowland, five months

Jayden Harris, nine months

Joseph Tehau Pohio, 40

All are from Christchurch.

 

These are the first victims' names officially confirmed by New Zealand police, but other countries have begun releasing names of their nationals who they say were killed.

 

The UK's foreign office said two Britons died in the earthquake, and New Zealand media have published tributes to a number of people who relatives and friends say were killed, though their names have not been officially released.

 

It is not clear how baby Baxter Gowland was killed, but Jayden Harris was crushed by a falling television set at his home, the New Zealand Herald said.

 

"He hadn't even started to crawl," the boy's grandmother Linda Nash told the Herald. "But obviously he didn't get the chance."

 

Officials said it was taking time to release victims' names because rigorous identification procedures were being followed to avoid mistakes.

 

"We know it's an agonising wait for families desperate to find out about their loved ones, but there is a legal requirement for this work to be completed according to standards set by the coroner," said police disaster victim identification commander Mike Wright.

 

Christchurch Coroner Sue Johnson has appealed for families of missing people to describe any distinguishing marks on their relatives such as tattoos, and the clothing and any jewellery they were wearing, so the information can be compared to bodies in the mortuary.

 

Prime Minister John Key has said 200 people were feared to have died.

 

'Optimistic'

 

Ten foreign teams, from countries including Australia, Japan, China, Britain and the US, were helping New Zealand crews look for survivors and victims.

 

The leader of a British team said they were still hopeful of finding survivors.

 

"We are very optimistic that we could still come across live casualties," said firefighter Scott Imray.

 

"Obviously the longer it goes on, the less chance there is of survivors being found, but people are quite resilient and they can last a considerable period without food and water if they are in a reasonably safe area within a collapsed structure."

 

About 600 search and rescue workers are using sniffer dogs, sound detectors, thermal imaging equipment and cameras to detect any signs of life.

 

The influx of foreign specialists has allowed crews to broaden the search area to buildings and districts that have not yet been checked.

 

Police have already said there was no chance that anyone survived within the collapsed Canterbury Television building, where up to 122 people are thought to have perished, including at least 80 students and staff of an English-language school.

 

The building contained the offices of a local TV station, a nursing school and the King's Education school.

 

Studying at the school were dozens of Japanese, Chinese and Filipino nationals who are missing.

 

Between 16 and 22 people, most of them tourists, are now believed to have died when the spire of Christchurch's landmark cathedral collapsed.

 

The city's tallest building, the badly-damaged Hotel Grand Chancellor, has remained standing despite fears it could collapse from the sizeable aftershocks which continue to shake the area.

 

Many buildings were already damaged by September's earthquake, which was more powerful but was centred further from the city and at a greater depth.

 

A JP Morgan analyst has estimated the insurance losses at $12bn. A number of major roads, bridges and tunnels have been damaged and are closed.

 

Engineers are starting to go through the city district-by-district to assess damage.

 

Officials say the electricity supply has been restored to 75% of the city and water to 40%. Residents are being advised to conserve water and boil it twice before drinking.

 

Hundreds of portable toilets have been set up and more are on the way and water tankers have been deployed at 14 locations throughout the city to allow people to fill buckets and bottles.

[Cascading Waterfall]

I've just had a look at the article via that link. The article says 103 victims confirmed, I noticed you wrote 113.

[nancyk58]

I've just had a look at the article via that link. The article says 103 victims confirmed, I noticed you wrote 113.

 

 

1) I copied the article from BBC World News and posted it here.

 

2) After reading your post I clicked the link, and copied it again:

 

Officials in New Zealand have released the first four names of the 113 confirmed victims of Tuesday's earthquake in the city of Christchurch.

 

It says 113 confirmed victims just as when I posted the article earlier tonight.

[Cascading Waterfall]

Sorry about that.

 

The one I was looking at just before says 103. It could be 113 now.

 

Officials in New Zealand have released the first names of the 103 confirmed victims of Tuesday's earthquake in the city of Christchurch.

 

I've copied and pasted this from the article.

[Cascading Waterfall]

Now there's 123 confirmed dead.

[nancyk58]

News on 25.2.11 from Swedish and German text-tv in relation to the earthquake in New Zealand

 

Swedish SVT: Criminals in action after powerful earthquake in New Zealand's second-largest city, Christchurch

 

There are reports of homes having been looted and of people claiming to be from the authorities trying to get hold of the victims' things of value.

 

Rescue teams are still searching for survivors. A group of Australian doctors attending a conference in Christchurch when the earthquake occurred volunteered to help and were forced to carry out amputations of limbs with simple tools such as pocket knives and files.

 

 

German ZDF: The costs of reconstruction after the powerful earthquake will be more than 10 billion New Zealand Dollar or 5,4 billion Euro according to Gerry Brownkey who is in charge of the coordination following the earthquake.

 

The local chambre of commerce expects the costs to be three times higher.

 

The search for survivors continues, but the hope of finding any survivors is fading. Up to Friday 25.2.11, 113 dead bodies have been recovered.

 

 

Danish TV2 News: No survivors were found on Friday 25.2.11.

[Cascading Waterfall]

The death toll has risen to 145 and it's expected to rise further.

 

No live rescues today.

[nancyk58]

The death toll has risen to 145 [/color]and it's expected to rise further.

 

No live rescues today.

 

 

Danish TV2 news: The death toll has reached 145. More than 200 are still missing. This morning there were new aftershocks.

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12587041

 

26 February 2011 Last updated at 11:59 GMT

 

Third of Christchurch buildings 'could face demolition'

 

A third of the buildings in central Christchurch may need to be demolished and rebuilt, authorities in New Zealand have warned, following an earthquake.

 

Hundreds of suburban homes damaged in Tuesday's 6.3 magnitude tremor may also have to be pulled down, officials said.

 

Prime Minister John Key said the country may be facing its biggest ever tragedy, as the death toll rose to 144.

 

Rescue efforts are entering a fifth night, but only bodies are being found.

 

Hopes that the 200 people still missing will be found alive are fading, officials say. No survivors have been found in the rubble of Christchurch for more than 72 hours.

 

“I think it's fair to say they [relatives] fear the worst but there is still a glimmer of hope”, said PM John Key.

 

Prime Minister Mr Key said the disaster "may be New Zealand's single most tragic event", outstripping a 1931 quake which killed 256.

 

The prime minister has met relatives of the dead and missing, and announced that a two-minute silence would be held on Tuesday at 1251 local time (0051 GMT), a week after the quake struck.

 

He said friends and relatives of those unaccounted for were fearing the worst because "a significant period of time has elapsed".

 

"I think it's fair to say they fear the worst but there is still a glimmer of hope," he said.

 

Identifying the dead

 

Auckland University structural engineer Jason Ingham told TVNZ said many damaged buildings in the city centre will have to come down.

 

"We've collected some data over the past couple of days and it's looking like about one-third of the buildings (would be condemned)," Mr Ingham told TVNZ.

 

The BBC's Phil Mercer says rescuers from 10 countries, including Britain, Japan and the United States, have been searching broken buildings and piles of debris, as aftershocks continue.

 

Emergency worker Phil Parker said teams of 8 to 12 people were still going into buildings, but said the work was tough and unpredictable.

 

"Obviously we're getting aftershocks so we've got to be prepared for those," he told the BBC.

 

"We won't be going into buildings that are deemed unsafe, that's why we're checking them now, but there's always that danger of the buildings coming down on us."

 

Meanwhile, families of the missing have appealed for the identification process to be accelerated, but officials have asked for patience.

 

A police spokesman, Dave Cliff, said identifying the dead and updating the lists of those missing was a "slow and methodical process".

 

"We are going through it as fast as we possibly can in order to get the deceased reunited with their loved ones," he said at a news conference in Christchurch.

 

"The number of missing people that we have reported for which we have grave concerns, remains at more than 200 and we are progressively going through that list doing all we can to locate and validate the fact that those individuals reported missing by their families remain missing."

 

'Shattering blow'

 

Earlier, Christchurch mayor Bob Parker praised the progress made by emergency workers.

 

"The structure of the city has received a shattering blow, but we're making incredible progress," Mr Parker told BBC World News on Saturday.

 

Mr Parker said energy supplies around the city were running at around 50% capacity, and that the rest of the city would be connected within days.

 

For many residents, it is all too much, and there is an exodus from Christchurch, our correspondent says.

 

Officials believe up to 22 bodies may lie beneath the rubble of Christchurch Cathedral; as many as 120 are thought to have been killed inside the collapsed CTV office block, including Japanese, Chinese and Philippine nationals; many others are presumed dead inside the destroyed Pyne Gould Guinness building.

 

Relatives of missing foreign nationals have also been arriving from overseas.

 

Power has been restored to most of the city but water supply remains a problem, with residents being urged to boil water for drinking or cooking due to contamination fears.

 

The quake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) early on Tuesday afternoon, when the South Island city was at its busiest.

[Cobalt]

Y u use danish news and such? Y u no use news closer to the situation, and, quite franky, more accurate? I have seen quite a few inconsistencies and errors in the stories you choose to post ('LOL NEW ZEALAND HAS WINTER AT THE SAME TIME AS EUROPE').

[nancyk58]

Y u use danish news and such? Y u no use news closer to the situation, and, quite franky, more accurate? I have seen quite a few inconsistencies and errors in the stories you choose to post ('LOL NEW ZEALAND HAS WINTER AT THE SAME TIME AS EUROPE').

 

 

Hey Emma. Thanks for your comment - much appreciated. :)

 

On a daily basis, I look at news from the sources from which I post articles - Scandinavian, German and English news (text-TV or live) and from time to time also American CNN. I admit that in case of natural disasters in Australia and New Zealand my sources are far away from the places of the disaster in question. But often these media have their reporters / correspondents on site. The best contributions come from people on site whether these are correspondents or even better residents in that area.

 

That is why I am very pleased when you and other coldplayers from areas closer to the places where the disaster occurred are posting news. Please continue to do so.

 

You mention inconsistencies and inaccuracies - and you are right. That happens from time to time and often in terms of the death toll and the number of people injured.

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12589611

 

27 February 2011 Last updated at 07:30 GMT

 

Christchurch quake: New Zealand holds church services

 

Victims of this week's magnitude 6.3 earthquake that devastated the centre of Christchurch have been honoured at church services across New Zealand.

 

Tuesday's quake killed at least 147 people; about 50 are still missing.

 

Prime Minister John Key said there was still a glimmer of hope survivors could be found in the wreckage of the country's worst-ever disaster.

 

But no-one has been found alive since Wednesday, and rescuers working for a fifth day are only finding bodies.

 

Fearing the worst

 

In the meantime, engineers say at least a third of the buildings in the centre of Christchurch will need to be demolished, while hundreds of damaged suburban homes may also have to be pulled down.

 

Mr Key said the disaster "may be New Zealand's single most tragic event", outstripping a 1931 quake in Napier which killed 256.

 

He said a two-minute silence would be held on Tuesday at 1251 local time (2351 GMT Monday), a week after the quake struck.

 

Having met relatives of the dead and missing, Mr Key said: "It's fair to say they fear the worst but there is still a glimmer of hope."

 

Families of the missing have appealed for the process of identifying dead bodies to be accelerated, but officials have asked for patience.

 

Updating the lists of the dead and missing was a slow and methodical process, said police spokesman Dave Cliff.

 

"We are going through it as fast as we possibly can in order to get the deceased reunited with their loved ones," he said.

 

Superintendent Cliff clarified that only about 50 people are unaccounted for - authorities had previously said about 200 people were missing but now it appears that figure includes the confirmed fatalities.

 

Tough work

 

Rescuers from 10 countries, including Britain, Japan and the United States, have been searching broken buildings and piles of debris, as aftershocks continue.

 

Emergency worker Phil Parker said teams of eight to 12 people were still going into buildings, but said the work was tough and unpredictable.

 

"We won't be going into buildings that are deemed unsafe, that's why we're checking them now, but there's always that danger of the buildings coming down on us," he told the BBC.

 

Many damaged buildings will have to be pulled down, said Auckland University structural engineer Jason Ingham.

 

"We've collected some data over the past couple of days and it's looking like about one-third of the buildings (would be condemned)," he told TVNZ.

 

For many residents, it is all too much, and there is an exodus from Christchurch, says the BBC's Phil Mercer in the city.

 

Officials believe up to 22 bodies may lie beneath the rubble of Christchurch Cathedral; as many as 120 are thought to have been killed inside the collapsed CTV office block, including Japanese, Chinese and Philippine nationals; many others are presumed dead inside the destroyed Pyne Gould Guinness building.

 

Power has been restored to most of the city but water supply remains a problem, with residents being urged to boil water for drinking or cooking due to contamination fears.

 

The quake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) early on Tuesday lunchtime, when the South Island city was at its busiest.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12591428

 

27 February 2011 Last updated at 14:48 GMT

 

Four Britons thought killed in New Zealand earthquake

 

At least four Britons are now understood to have been killed in the New Zealand earthquake, the Foreign Office has said.

 

Two more British people are injured and one remains missing, a spokesman added.

 

One of those killed was previously named as Gregory Tobin, a 25-year-old chef, from Tadcaster, North Yorkshire.

 

Tuesday's magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch killed at least 147 people and about 50 are still missing. A UK rescue team is still working there.

 

A helpline on 020 7008 8765 has been set up for concerned friends and relatives in the UK.

 

British nationals in New Zealand are advised to call 049 242 898 for advice and assistance. The Foreign Office website has more information about the consular assistance being provided.

 

Victims of the quake that devastated the centre of Christchurch have been honoured at church services across New Zealand on Sunday.

 

The country's Prime Minister John Key said there was still a glimmer of hope survivors could be found.

 

But no-one has been found alive since Wednesday, and rescuers working for a fifth day are only finding bodies.

 

Tributes paid

 

The British High Commission had earlier said two UK victims had "got on a certain bus, which was crushed by falling masonry".

 

Mr Tobin had been on a round-the-world trip and had been working at a restaurant in Christchurch.

 

One of the tributes to him on Facebook read: "Such a nice guy and at such a young age."

 

Jo Morley, 44, whose brother Phil Coppeard from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk was reported as missing, told the BBC on Saturday the family still had hope he would be found alive.

 

She said: "Of course you still hope, as anybody would do. That's what we have to think."

 

Chartered accountant Mr Coppeard, 41, emigrated to the country in November with his wife Suzanne Craig and was doing a masters in economics at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch.

 

He was travelling into the city centre on a bus when the earthquake struck.

 

British High Commission spokesman Chris Harrington said the two injured Britons were a man and a woman, both aged over 50. Their injuries were serious, but not life threatening.

 

The man is still in hospital but the woman, who lives in Christchurch, has been discharged.

 

A British team of experts in identifying disaster victims is due to arrive in the city tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile, tributes have been paid to Irishman Owen McKenna, originally from Emyvale in County Monaghan, who died in the quake when his car was crushed by falling debris.

[Cascading Waterfall]

Former Shortland Street and Outrageous Fortune star Robyn Malcolm's mother is one of the survivors of last week's earthquake.

[nancyk58]

News on 28 February 2011 in relation to New Zealand

 

German ZDFtext: DAMAGE AMOUNTING TO AROUND 20 BILLION NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (= 11 BILLION EURO) AFTER THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE

 

Prime Minister John Key announced emergency aid package at 120 million New Zealand Dollar (or 65,5 million Euro).

 

A part of that amount goes to salaries and wages to 50,000 people who could not go to work due to the devastating earthquake. Large parts of Christchurch have been severely damaged by the magnitude 6.3 earthquake last Tuesday.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12593595

 

28 February 2011 Last updated at 08:11 GMT

 

Christchurch quake: Dead are buried as weather worsens

 

The New Zealand city of Christchurch has begun to bury its dead following last week's devastating earthquake.

 

The first service was for the youngest victim so far - baby Baxtor Gowland, born just after last September's quake.

 

The death toll from 22 February is now 148 people;only eight bodies have been released for burial so far.

 

Rescue teams continue to search for survivors but aftershocks have hampered their efforts and a forecast windstorm could add to the hazards they face.

 

No survivors have been rescued since mid-afternoon on Wednesday.

 

The opening of new cracks in a cliff overlooking some outer suburbs and continuing aftershocks have kept residents nervous.

 

People are still trying to leave the city following the magnitude-6.3 earthquake that wrecked the centre of the city.

 

Young Baxter Gowland was one of two infants named as casualties in the quake. He was killed by flying masonry as he slept at home.

 

His family and friends gathered at a chapel for a service at which a slideshow of his short life was shown.

 

It was the first of several services to come; on Tuesday two minutes' silence will be held to commemorate the victims, a week after the earthquake struck.

 

'Blitz'

 

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said the country had "suffered a tragedy of monumental proportions".

 

"The building damage I've seen compared with Haiti," she told Radio New Zealand, in a reference to the massive quake that killed at least 220,000 there in January last year.

 

"It's going to require every ounce of recovery in this country to push through from this," she added, after a visit to Christchurch on Sunday.

 

Prime Minister John Key says the cost of the quake is expected to reach NZ$20bn ($15bn, £9.3bn).

 

He has announced an initial NZ$120m PACKAGE of SUBSIDIES that will pay the salaries of those who cannot return to work because of the damage caused by the earthquake.

 

He said there was still a glimmer of hope survivors could be found, but rescuers working for a sixth day found only bodies.

 

Engineers say at least a third of the buildings in the centre of Christchurch will need to be demolished. Hundreds of damaged suburban homes may also have to be pulled down.

 

Mr Key said the disaster "may be New Zealand's single most tragic event", outstripping a 1931 quake in Napier which killed 256.

 

For many residents, it is all too much, and there is an exodus from Christchurch, says the BBC's Phil Mercer in the city.

 

Doctors are reporting a significant increase in mental health problems since the earthquake struck, most notably anxiety and insomnia.

 

There has also been a sharp rise in the number of people suffering heart attacks, our correspondent says.

 

Power has been restored to most of the city but water supply remains a problem, with residents being urged to boil water for drinking or cooking because of contamination fears.

 

The quake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) last Tuesday lunchtime, when the South Island city was at its busiest.

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12600213

 

1 March 2011 Last updated at 06:32 GMT

 

New Zealand falls silent in Christchurch quake memorial

 

New Zealand has held a two-minute silence exactly a week after the devastating Christchurch earthquake.

 

At 1251 local time (2351 GMT) on Tuesday afternoon, the whole country fell silent to mark the moment the deadly quake struck seven days ago.

 

Rescuers downed their tools for two minutes before resuming their work.

 

The death toll currently stands at 154, but officials say it could rise as high as 240 as dozens of people are missing; frequent aftershocks have not helped.

 

The cost of the 6.3-magnitude quake is expected to reach NZ$20bn ($15bn; £9.3bn).

 

Although of lower magnitude than last September's quake, which killed no-one, this quake struck at shallow depth, when the South Island city was at its busiest.

 

Nobody has been found alive since Wednesday.

 

Shared pain

 

Flags flew at half mast and traffic stopped. Church bells tolled across the country.

 

In Christchurch, the noise of jackhammers and diggers working to clear the rubble fell silent.

 

The only sound for two minutes was that of weeping, as Prime Minister John Key led a memorial outside the ruins of a church near the city's cathedral, where more than 20 people are believed to still be buried.

 

There a pile of rubble, collected from several of the worst-hit sites, was covered in ferns, the country's natural emblem.

 

"We gather to reflect on the precious gift of life," said the Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, Victoria Matthews.

 

"It's very sad, this is an earthquake that's claimed the lives of literally hundreds of people and that's hard to put into words," Mr Key told AFP after the two minutes' silence.

 

"This is a very dark moment for us but it's a moment that we will rebuild from," he said.

 

Further north, in Wellington, silent crowds spilled onto streets. People wept openly in front of parliament.

 

In Auckland, hundreds gathered at the cathedral, in a moment mirrored in communities across the country.

 

Miracles

 

Rescue workers say that only a miracle could bring anyone out of the rubble alive.

 

At a police briefing earlier in the day, Superintendent Dave Cliff said the death toll was likely to climb higher than the previous estimate of 200.

 

"We need to start considering the figure of around 240 but (it's) not locked in stone, because we're still getting information in," Mr Cliff said.

 

Alongside the deaths has been an increased pace of births, with premature babies now crowding out the Christchurch Hospital's neonatal unit.

 

"Earthquakes do tend to hurry things along for those intending to deliver," said Canterbury district health director David Meates, after 76 maternity patients were taken to hospital in the days after the February 22 quake.

 

Rescuers made another find - of a time capsule beneath a statue which had collapsed outside the cathedral.

 

It included a glass bottle containing rolled-up parchment and a metal cylinder but will not be opened properly until in the care of experts.

 

The government promised a thorough investigation into why some buildings, such as the Canterbury TV Tower, had been so badly constructed as to fall like houses of cards in the quake.

 

The CTV building is believed to hold scores of bodies, including those of Thai, Japanese, Chinese and other foreign students who attended an English-language school there.

 

"Obviously the earthquake was something that's beyond our control (but) we are going to get answers for those families about what's gone wrong," said Mr Key.

 

The prime minister also announced an initial NZ$120m package of subsidies that will pay the salaries of people who cannot return to work because of the quake damage.

[Cascading Waterfall]

Did anyone from here take part in the 2 minutes silence?

 

My thoughts go out to those of you who are from Christchurch or have friends and family there.

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 3 MARCH 2011

 

 

German ZDFtext: RESCUE OPERATION IN CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND AFTER THE MAGNITUDE 6.3 EARTHQUAKE THAT STRUCK THE SOUTH ISLAND ON 22.2.11 HAS COME TO AN END

 

The authorities in New Zealand have announced that the rescue operation has come to an end as there is no hope of finding survivors in the rubble in Christchurch.

 

The number of missing people stated as 200 is inclusive of the 161 recovered dead bodies.

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12654197

 

5 March 2011 Last updated at 00:12 GMT

 

Christchurch quake: 'No bodies' in cathedral rubble

 

Search teams in Christchurch, New Zealand, have reacted with relief after finding no bodies in the rubble of the earthquake-hit cathedral.

 

Cathedral Dean Peter Beck told Radio New Zealand that he "burst into tears" on hearing the news.

 

It was feared that as many as 22 people could have been inside the cathedral when the quake struck on 22 February.

 

The confirmed death toll stands at 165 after two more bodies were found in the rubble of the Canterbury TV building.

 

Christchurch's shattered cathedral with its broken spire became one of the most striking images after the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck.

 

"We have cleared the cathedral site and we found no bodies in the cathedral at all, so to us that is fantastic news," police Supt Sandra Manderson told Radio New Zealand.

 

She said police were now reviewing the list of missing people and the death toll could be lower than first feared.

 

Officials had said as many as 240 people could have lost their lives in the quake.

 

"It will be really good if that does go down, and it's highly possible," Supt Manderson said.

 

'Speechless'

 

Dean Peter Beck said he heard the news from the head of the Urban Search and Rescue task force, Ralph Moore.

 

"I was expecting to get a call from him saying they had found a body and I and my colleagues were going to go down and say prayers at the side of the body," he said.

 

"But of course I got this other news and I just burst into tears. I was speechless, it was unbelievable."

 

Earlier this week, police said 90 of the bodies found so far were pulled from the Canterbury TV Building.

 

Rebuilding costs from the earthquake are put at billions of dollars.

 

It is estimated that up to a third of Christchurch's buildings have been, or will have to be, demolished.

[nancyk58]

News in relation to natural disasters on 6.3.11

 

 

German ZDFtext: NEW ZEALAND DAMAGE EXPEXTED TO AMOUNT TO BETWEEN 10 AND 15 BILLION NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (= between 5 and 8 billion Euro) FOR THE STATE

 

One week ago the government expected the damage to amount to a total of 20 billion New Zealand Dollar for New Zealand's economy.

 

The earth quake in February cost at least 166 human lives. Many are still missing.

 

 

One sixth of Christchurch's 390,000 inhabitants have left the city. It has been attempted to persuade those employed by Christchurch city to stay by guaranteeing 6 weeks of salaries.

[Cascading Waterfall]

It was recently said that a 5 week old baby and her mother were two of the bodies found.

[nancyk58]

It was recently said that a 5 week old baby and her mother were two of the bodies found.

 

 

How sad, really: R.I.P.

 

Yesterday I read that Prince William will attend a funeral service - I think that it was in New Zealand. He will not be accompanied by Kate Middleton.

[Cascading Waterfall]

Yes he is coming to attend a memorial in Christchurch. He's also going to be visiting Greymouth where the Pike River mine disaster happened.

[Cascading Waterfall]

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/christchurch-quake-memorial-service-happened-4071417

 

 

This was a beautiful service. It was shown at the local funeral home today.

[nancyk58]

Text from German TV channel 2 - ZDFtext:

 

EARTHQUAKES SHOOK AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND TAIWAN

 

2 magnitude 5.2 earthquakes shook north-eastern AUSTRALIA and CHRISTCHURCH in NEW ZEALAND. So far there is no report of material damage or casualties. There were temporary power failures in some parts of Christchurch.

 

In February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 quake destroyed the central part of Christchurch.

 

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake was measured off the north-eastern coast of TAIWAN. No reports of casualties or material damage.

[nancyk58]

From text-TV on German TV channel ZDF:

 

NEW ZEALAND: MAGNITUDE 5.5 EARTHQUAKE SHAKES CHRISTCHURCH

 

New Zealand's second-largest city, Christchurch has been shaken by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake. There is only reports of little damage according to the media.

 

Central Christchurch was hit by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in February 2011 when about 180 were killed. In September 2010 a magnitude 7.1 earthquake caused substantial damage in Christchurch. Hundred buildings were destroyed acccording to the authorities.