New Zealand Earthquake Disaster

Feb 22 2011
At least 65 dead in New Zealand earthquake disaster

AT least 65 people have been killed in a devastating earthquake in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

Prime minister John Key told reporters in the stricken city that the death toll was expected to rise further with more than 100 people, including as many as a dozen visiting Japanese students, thought to be trapped in the rubble as darkness - and drizzling rain - fell.

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch around lunchtime today, collapsing buildings and sending bricks and other heavy debris toppling into busy city streets.

Pavements and roads were cracked and split, and thousands of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered through the streets as sirens blared.

Groups of people helped victims clutching bleedings wounds, and others were carried to private vehicles in makeshift stretchers fashioned from rugs or bits of debris.

The spire of the iconic stone Christchurch Cathedral toppled into a central city square.

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.

Christchurch mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency and ordered people to evacuate the city centre.

Source: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk