LATEST: Bodies are being left where they are found in Christchurch's streets as the death toll from yesterday's violent earthquake hits 38, and is certain to rise further.
Rescue efforts by hundreds of search and rescue workers from around New Zealand focused on the Canterbury Television building in Madras Street and the Pyne Gould Guiness Building in Cambridge Terrace, both of which collapsed in the 6.3 magnitude earthquake which struck at a shallow depth 10km southeast of the city at 1pm yesterday.
Prime Minister John Key said the death toll of 65 quoted yesterday "remains an accurate prediction".
A national state of emergency would be announced later this morning, Key said.
Search and rescue teams were working building by building, floor by floor in the search for survivors, Civil Defence director John Hamilton told One News.
The first of two Australian teams of 70 have arrived and New Zealand has accepted international specialist help, including from the United States.
Eleven survivors from two buildings have been pulled out of rubble overnight, Hamilton says.
Eight survivors were pulled from the PGG Building and three from the CTV building, Hamilton said.
Hamilton said ten buildings had been searched for survivors, but he could not name them.
Rescuers were still hearing from survivors who were trapped in buildings, Hamilton said.
Police have revised the official death toll to 38, which is the number of formally identified bodies, but that number will to rise.
Police Superintendent Russell Gibson said police were having to leave bodies where they were found. He said rescuers had been forced to amputate people's limbs to get them out of buildings.
An official of the emergency department at Christchurch Hospital said they had 200 injured people up to midnight.
"People have been hit by falling bits and pieces, and crushed by masonry."
Patients had died.
"Some people did not make it," he told Radio New Zealand.
Hundreds of short, extremely sharp jolts have rolled through the city all night, rattling windows and already frayed nerves.
Hamilton said there had been more than 30 aftershocks above magnitude 4 and several above magnitude 5.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said this morning that at least 100 people still thought to be trapped in buildings.
He pleaded with residents to stay home.
The worst casualties were expected to be at the site of the CTV building which was a pile of smoking rubble last night.
Miraculously some walked from the ruins but many more remain in the building.
Fire crews have been busy all night with fires around the city but have battled against limited water supplies.
A blaze at the Countdown store in Colombo Street started before 4am. Fire fighters are still dampening it down at 6.30am.
Senior station officer Lex Ferguson said a lot of trucks had been at the scene. "Limited water has been the problem. We've needed tankers to give us water."
The head of the military component in Christchurch, Colonel Roger McElwain, says Christchurch Airport has been fully reopened.
"The night has been extremely busy," he told Radio New Zealand.
The RNZAF has been flying in and out all night.
Up to 1000 troops are expected to help emergency workers, including two companies of soldiers on a Defence Force exercise that were asked to cordon off the central city and evacuate it.
Parker said some primary schools across city will be used as points where people can collect food and water.
The schools include Redcliffs, Phillipstown, South New Brighton and Wainoni. People are advised to take a container.
SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS
Rescuers were this morning working frantically atop the smoking ruins of the CTV building where dozens of people are still trapped.
As dawn breaks over the ruined city after a night of constant aftershocks, a policeman at the scene said they were working to free any of those still alive and recover those who had perished.
The sound of sirens continues to pierce the air as workers - some covering their faces - clamber over the still thickly-smoking mass of twisted metal and shattered concrete under floodlights.
The Southern Demolition employee, who did not want to be named, last night said rescue personnel pulled bodies from the rubble while he was assisting in the recovery effort.
"We were working on one side of the building and on that side we managed to pull one person alive but we also pulled out a body. On the other side they pulled out four or five - I don't know if they were dead or alive.
"It was awful," he said.
He held fears for the Japanese students at a language school that was based in the building and said grimly that more bodies were destined to be pulled from the destruction.
"It was a big building and now it's nothing. There's got to be more inside there.
"But who knows? There may be pockets of air everywhere."
He said rescue personnel were risking their lives to jack up parts of the building allow members of urban search and rescue to look for survivors.
"Those guys are brilliant. They get in there where they shouldn't be and if they hear anything everything is turned off while they locate where the sound is coming from," he said.
A human chain was formed on one side of the building to move bricks while on the other side diggers were used to clear the way to give rescue teams better access to the ruins.
But a fire that broke out in the adjacent building posed problems for rescuers. It continued to spark back into life despite the best efforts of helicopters dousing it with monsoon buckets and firefighters tackling it with hoses.
Labour leader Phil Goff yesterday stood outside the ruined PGG Building with the colleagues and loved ones of people trapped in the building. He spoke of a sense of helplessness and admiration for the rescue workers only metres away.
Other historic buildings including the Madras Street Baptist Church and Charlie Brown's backpackers collapsed. The Arts Centre also sustained serious damage and many of the city's older brick buildings were devastated. About 60 per cent of buildings in the main street of Lyttelton collapsed although no serious injuries were reported.
In the Forsyth Barr building, trapped office workers were rescued by crane after the internal stairwell collapsed.
Paul Reilly was trapped on the 12th floor of the building. He told The Press: "It was scary. There was far more damage inside, with bookcases falling over, compared to the previous earthquake.
"The fire escape stairway completely collapsed so we were stuck.
"Then there was the worry of fire starting. We expected to be there all night."
Others have not been so lucky. One man said he had been pulled from the rubble of the PGG Building but his fiancee remained trapped inside.
DEVASTATION IN CENTRAL CHRISTCHURCH
Thousands of terrified city workers ran screaming from buildings around the CBD after the quake struck yesterday as brickwork tumbled, lights went out and roads uplifted.
Some were crushed by falling masonry and lay where they fell as shocked citizens staggered around them, some bleeding profusely. Buses and cars were crushed under falling building facades as the central city turned once more into a disaster zone.
A nine-month-old boy, among the casualties, was killed when a television set fell on him. His mother told the radio it was a "freak accident" and despite their efforts at CPR, he could not be revived, Newstalk ZB reported this morning.
Others were trapped in central city buildings, including the CTV building, PGG Building, and The Press in the Square.
The iconic spire on Christ Church Cathedral collapsed in a huge plume of smoke, as did the turret on the Press building.
One worker remained trapped in the building last night.
Former Blenheim woman Joh Bloomberg was working in Ballantynes department store in central Christchurch when the earthquake struck.
"I was clinging to this cupboard next to my desk. I thought it was going to be fine, but it got worse and worse, and went on for so long.
It's the worst one I've felt."
She walked outside to nearby Lichfield St and saw a car flattened by a fallen section of building.
"I'm normally pretty calm with things like this but when I saw a huge concrete slab on top of that car ...
"It's squashed down to zero. You never think you'll see anything like that."
SUBURBS SUFFER SERIOUS DAMAGE
The suburbs of Brighton and Dallington, which were the most seriously affected in September, sustained another round of severe damage and may be without power for days.
Suburbs such as Beckenham and Cashmere, which were relatively unscathed in September, showed signs of serious liquifaction yesterday and sustained serious damage.
Outside of the CBD, worst-hit suburbs include St Albans, Sumner, Redcliffs, Lyttelton, New Brighton, and Sydenham, where more buildings have collapsed. The Ferrymead Bridge, which was under repair following the Boxing Day earthquake, is closed.
Residents being urged to boil water and check on their neighbours.
Many water and sewage pipes have been severed in the quake.
Eyewitnesses say Anzac Drive and Travis Road are covered in silt and cracked. Dozens of vehicles have been abandoned after becoming stuck in the silt.
In Opawa, Sally Blundell said her whole house had shifted on its piles.
"We have no water, no power. We are really shaken. Most of us do not know what has happened to the inner city. We are just hearing reports on the radio and it sounds really frightening. The ground is still like jelly, a low-level shake all the time."
STATE OF EMERGENCY IN CITY
A Category Three State of Emergency the highest level would exist in the city for at least five days, and the CBD would remain shut down, Parker said.
"This is a terrible, terrible situation. We're doing everything we can out there in the city trying to rescue our fellow citizens, and we will work as long as it needs to complete that job."
Christchurch Airport was closed overnight but is expected to reopen for domestic flights this morning and to international flights this afternoon.
Lyttelton tunnel has been shut to all but emergency vehicles. Evans Pass, the road connecting Lyttelton and Sumner, is also closed.
Christchurch Hospital remained open but was also damaged. It asked that only seriously injured people come to the emergency department.
It had a full emergency plan in operation.
EMERGENCY SERVICES SWAMPED
Christchurch Hospital was expecting a further wave of casualties last night and patients were urged to stay away and instead attend one of four triage centres set up around the city.
They are Princess Margaret Hospital, Moorhouse Medical, Spotlight Plaza in Sydenham and the Sanitarium Building in Papanui.
A medical centre has been set up in Latimer Square. Welfare centres have been set up around the city.
Emergency services were swamped. St John district commander Tony Dowell said they had been seeing a range of injuries from serious to minor.
Mostly of the injuries were from crushing.
St John was mobilising resources from West Coast, Dunedin, Nelson and South Canterbury.
The National Crisis Centre in Auckland was activated.
Dowell said some patients were being sent to other medical centres and 24-hour emergency centres around Christchurch.
A patient in Christchurch Hospital, who was in the riverside block when the first quake hit, said things were falling down and some elderly people were injured in the stairs.
"It was just a lot of panic. The nurses and doctors were quite calm but I think just like the first time, it was all quiet, then all of a sudden there was panic."
The Westpac Rescue helicopter was landing directly on Park Tce outside the Emergency Department yesterday. Others with serious injuries were being airlifted to other hospitals around the country.
Defence Forces went door to door checking on residents.
St John's Ambulance ran out of ambulances and was using four-wheel drives to get the injured out.
The New Zealand Blood Service has been flooded with calls from people wanting to donate blood.
WHY THIS QUAKE WAS FELT MORE POWERFULLY
Although the 6.3 magnitude quake was lower than September's 7.1, it was felt more powerfully because the ground acceleration was larger, GNS duty seismologist Bill Fry said.
"Instantaneously, they would have felt the greatest amount of shaking.
But the duration would not have been as long. The earthquake happened at a shallow depth of five to six kilometres below ground.
In the city, the acceleration measured the same as the force of gravity.
In September, the largest acceleration felt around the city was on its eastern side, and this measured 0.8 times the force of gravity.
- The Press, The Dominion Post and NZPA
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I am in Christchurch and this shake was far worse than the September shake it the was incredibly strong. My wifes brother is missing in CTV building that collapsed, we just have to wait for word on him. The City is trashed.
Oh dear I am so sorry to hear this sad news. I love new Zealand and especially Christchurch where I have had many a happy holdays with my sister and her family and friends.stay strong Kiwis. You are in my prayers as I follow your story on the internet. May God give you the grace and strength to cope with this devastation...
I'm so sorry(((
I lived in Chch in 2003-2004. Studied at uni. I just got in contact with some of my friends in chch, so relieved to hear that they are ok. Hope my other friends are ok to, among them Glenn Rewi at the coffee culture in sumner. I don't have any words for what has happened. Stay strong kiwis! Hugs from Marianne in Norway!!
Nous ne pouvons pas entrer en contact avec nos enfants et petits enfants demeurant à South Brighton, nom: Craw Carl. Nous remercions la personne qui porrait nous donner des nouvellles.
(We cannot contact our children remaining in South Brighton, name: Craw Carl. We thank anyone who can give us news.)
I studied at Victoria University in Wellington from 2007-2008, and had the time of my life in New Zealand. New Zealanders are wonderful people, and I enjoyed great Kiwi hospitality. Though I am no more on New Zealand soil right now I have never forgotten how New Zealand and its people 'took care' of me last time. For that, my sincere wishes and prayers go out to the quake victims. You will rise again from this disaster and rebuild your city. God be with you always.
I studied at Victoria University in Wellington from 2007-2008, and had the time of my life in New Zealand. New Zealanders are wonderful people, and I enjoyed great Kiwi hospitality. Though I am no more on New Zealand soil right now I have never forgotten how New Zealand and its people 'took care' of me last time. For that, my sincere wishes and prayers go out to the quake victims. You will rise again from this disaster and rebuild your city. God be with you always.
Ex-pat Cantabrian and Christchurch raised living in Florida. My mother called me at 2am to tell me she was okay! Cannot believe the dammage and the loss of life. Stay Strong Kiwis.
As a Canterbrian not living in Christchurch, I'd like to thank all the emergency services in Canterbury and beyond for helping my fellow Canterbrians and visitors to my hometown.
As a Canterbrian not living in Christchurch, I'd like to thank all the emergency services in Canterbury and beyond for helping my fellow Canterbrians.
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