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Christchurch quake toll climbs to 75
Source: Agencies |
February 24, 2011, Thursday
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CHEERS erupted yesterday as rescuers pulled a woman from a major building shattered in New Zealand's devastating earthquake, while the mood was dismal at another wreckage where police said all hopes of survivors were finished.
The confirmed death toll from Tuesday's magnitude-6.3 quake near the city of Christchurch rose to 75, and officials said it was almost sure to climb further. Some 300 people were listed as missing, as rescuers raced to find trapped survivors and imposed a strict nighttime curfew on the worst-hit areas.
An emergency team reunited Ann Bodkin with her husband after a painstaking rescue from the twisted metal and concrete remains of the Pyne Gould Guinness building. Coincidentally, giant sunbeams burst through the city's grey, drizzly weather as she emerged.
"They got Ann out of the building and God turned on the lights," Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said.
Many sections of the city of 350,000 people lay in ruins, and all corners of it were suffering cuts to water supplies, power and phones. Police announced their curfew in a cordoned-off area of downtown, saying buildings were at risk of crumbling in the aftershocks still rumbling through the city.
Security also was a factor, with six people being arrested since the quake for burglary and theft, said Superintendent Dave Cliff, the regional police commander.
Anyone on the streets after 6:30pm without a valid reason would be arrested, he said.
Prime Minister John Key declared a national state of emergency as hundreds of soldiers, police and other emergency workers - including specialist teams from the US and other countries - rushed to Christchurch.
The true toll in life and treasure was still unknown, but the earthquake already was shaping as one of the country's worst disasters.
JP Morgan analyst Michael Huttner conservatively estimated the insurance losses from the quake at US$12 billion. That would be the most from a natural disaster since Hurricane Ike in 2008 at US$19 billion, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Near the smoldering remains of the Canterbury Television building, brother and sister Kent and Lizzy Manning sat on a rain-sodden patch of grass yesterday waiting for news of their mother, Donna, a television presenter who they hadn't heard from since the quake.
"My mom is superwoman, she'd do anything," said Lizzy Manning, 18, with tears running down her face.
At that moment, a police official knelt down beside the pair.
"I have some horrible news ...," the officer began, before telling the siblings that there was no hope for anyone left trapped inside the building.
The siblings bowed their heads and wept. Their father rushed over and enclosed them in an embrace.
One of the city's tallest buildings, the 27-floor Hotel Grand Chancellor, was showing signs of buckling and was in imminent danger of collapsing, Fire Service commander Mike Hall said. Authorities emptied the building and evacuated a two-block radius.
The immediate focus was on about a dozen buildings downtown where finding survivors was still a possibility. In other places, rubble was being left untouched - even if bodies were thought buried there - until the urgency of the survivor search passes.
Officials pointed thermal cameras into the wreckage, and sniffer dogs clambered on top looking for signs of life. Officials at one point said they believed they had found a pocket of at least 15 people buried alive in one building - but the report turned out to be false.
Parker, the Christchurch mayor, said 120 people were rescued overnight Tuesday, while more bodies were also recovered. About 300 people were still unaccounted for, but this did not mean they were all still trapped, he said.
Some survivors emerged without a scratch, others had to have a limb amputated before they could be freed.
Rescuers who rushed into buildings immediately after the quake discovered truly horrific scenes.
A construction manager described using sledgehammers and chainsaws to cut into the collapsed Pyne Gould Guinness building from the roof, hacking through layers of sandwiched offices and finding bodies crushed under concrete slabs.
One severely trapped man died after talking with rescuers, Fred Haering said.
The confirmed death toll from Tuesday's magnitude-6.3 quake near the city of Christchurch rose to 75, and officials said it was almost sure to climb further. Some 300 people were listed as missing, as rescuers raced to find trapped survivors and imposed a strict nighttime curfew on the worst-hit areas.
An emergency team reunited Ann Bodkin with her husband after a painstaking rescue from the twisted metal and concrete remains of the Pyne Gould Guinness building. Coincidentally, giant sunbeams burst through the city's grey, drizzly weather as she emerged.
"They got Ann out of the building and God turned on the lights," Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said.
Many sections of the city of 350,000 people lay in ruins, and all corners of it were suffering cuts to water supplies, power and phones. Police announced their curfew in a cordoned-off area of downtown, saying buildings were at risk of crumbling in the aftershocks still rumbling through the city.
Security also was a factor, with six people being arrested since the quake for burglary and theft, said Superintendent Dave Cliff, the regional police commander.
Anyone on the streets after 6:30pm without a valid reason would be arrested, he said.
Prime Minister John Key declared a national state of emergency as hundreds of soldiers, police and other emergency workers - including specialist teams from the US and other countries - rushed to Christchurch.
The true toll in life and treasure was still unknown, but the earthquake already was shaping as one of the country's worst disasters.
JP Morgan analyst Michael Huttner conservatively estimated the insurance losses from the quake at US$12 billion. That would be the most from a natural disaster since Hurricane Ike in 2008 at US$19 billion, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Near the smoldering remains of the Canterbury Television building, brother and sister Kent and Lizzy Manning sat on a rain-sodden patch of grass yesterday waiting for news of their mother, Donna, a television presenter who they hadn't heard from since the quake.
"My mom is superwoman, she'd do anything," said Lizzy Manning, 18, with tears running down her face.
At that moment, a police official knelt down beside the pair.
"I have some horrible news ...," the officer began, before telling the siblings that there was no hope for anyone left trapped inside the building.
The siblings bowed their heads and wept. Their father rushed over and enclosed them in an embrace.
One of the city's tallest buildings, the 27-floor Hotel Grand Chancellor, was showing signs of buckling and was in imminent danger of collapsing, Fire Service commander Mike Hall said. Authorities emptied the building and evacuated a two-block radius.
The immediate focus was on about a dozen buildings downtown where finding survivors was still a possibility. In other places, rubble was being left untouched - even if bodies were thought buried there - until the urgency of the survivor search passes.
Officials pointed thermal cameras into the wreckage, and sniffer dogs clambered on top looking for signs of life. Officials at one point said they believed they had found a pocket of at least 15 people buried alive in one building - but the report turned out to be false.
Parker, the Christchurch mayor, said 120 people were rescued overnight Tuesday, while more bodies were also recovered. About 300 people were still unaccounted for, but this did not mean they were all still trapped, he said.
Some survivors emerged without a scratch, others had to have a limb amputated before they could be freed.
Rescuers who rushed into buildings immediately after the quake discovered truly horrific scenes.
A construction manager described using sledgehammers and chainsaws to cut into the collapsed Pyne Gould Guinness building from the roof, hacking through layers of sandwiched offices and finding bodies crushed under concrete slabs.
One severely trapped man died after talking with rescuers, Fred Haering said.
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