New Zealand: Rescuers brave aftershocks to find survivors

Rescuers continued their search for signs of life in the rubble of Christchurch as New Zealand's prime minister John Key declared the earthquake that devastated the city and has killed at least 75 people a national disaster.

Hundreds of troops, police and emergency workers raced against time and aftershocks that threatened to collapse more buildings in the battered city.

They picked gingerly through the ruins, poking heat-seeking cameras into gaps between tumbles of bricks and sending sniffer dogs over concrete slabs.

Teams arrived from Australia, the United States, Britain and Japan and elsewhere in Asia, along with a military field hospital and workers to help repair power, water and phone lines which were damaged in all corners of the city of some 350,000 people.

The news was grim at the Canterbury Television (CTV) building, a seven-storey concrete-and-glass structure that housed the regional TV network.

An English language school used by young visitors from Japan and South Korea was also located there. The heavy concrete floors lay piled on top of one another, the central stairwell tower still standing, but leaning precariously.

"We don't believe this site is now survivable," police operations commander Inspector Dave Lawry said. He said rescuers were moving to less dangerous sites where there was more hope for survivors.

CTV chairman Nick Smith said 15 of his employees were still missing inside the collapsed building, including the morning anchorwoman, Donna Manning.

Also among the missing were ten Japanese language students from a group of at least 23 students and teachers, who were believed to have been in the building, said Teppei Asano, a Japanese official monitoring the situation.

Not far away, cheers erupted as rescuers pulled a woman from another crumpled office tower.

Ann Bodkin was reunited with her husband after a painstaking rescue from the twisted metal and concrete remains of the Pyne Gould Guinness building. Sunbeams burst through the drizzly weather as she emerged.

"They got Ann out of the building, and God turned on the lights," Christchurch mayor Bob Parker said.

Police Superintendent Russell Gibson said last night that the last survivor had been pulled out at 2pm yesterday, and no trapped quake survivors had been found since.

He said the operation had become one of body recovery, but he rejected suggestions that rescuers were abandoning hope of finding more survivors.

"Yes, we are still looking for survivors," he said on National Radio. "There are pockets within a number of these buildings and, provided people haven't been crushed, there is no reason to suggest we will not continue to get survivors out of there."

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He said the search continued in the CTV building, but "the signs don't look good. There has been a fire in there … We will continue to pull that building apart, piece by piece, until we are satisfied" there are no more survivors.

Many sections of the city lay in ruins, and police announced a night-time curfew in a cordoned-off central area to keep people away from dangerous buildings and to prevent crime.

Six people had been arrested since the quake for burglary and theft, said Police Superintendent Dave Cliff, announcing that anyone on the streets after 6:30pm without a valid reason could be arrested.

One of the city's tallest buildings, the 27-floor Hotel Grand Chancellor, was in imminent danger of collapse, Fire Service Commander Mike Hall said. Authorities emptied the building and evacuated a two-block radius.

Mr Parker said 120 people were rescued overnight on 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.

The prime minister said early yesterday that the death toll stood at 75 and was expected to rise. The figure had not been updated by nightfall.

The true toll in life and property was still unknown, but the earthquake is becoming one of the country's worst disasters.JP Morgan analyst Michael Huttner conservatively estimated the insurance losses at 7.4 billion. That would be the most from a natural disaster since Hurricane Ike hit Texas and Louisiana in 2008, costing insurers 11.8bn, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Rescuers who rushed into buildings immediately after the quake found horrific scenes.

A construction manager described using sledgehammers and chainsaws to cut into the Pyne Gould Guinness building from the roof, hacking down through layers of sandwiched offices and finding bodies crushed under concrete slabs.

One trapped man died after speaking to rescuers, Fred Haering said.

Another had a leg pinned under concrete, and a doctor administered strong painkillers. A firefighter asked Mr Haering for a hacksaw, which was then used to saw the man's leg off, saving him from certain death.

"It's a necessity," Mr Haering said. "How are you going to get out?"