RESCUE TEAMS are continuing a harrowing search of Christchurch, New Zealand, for people missing following Tuesday’s earthquake. At an early morning briefing, civil defence minister John Carter confirmed there were 71 bodies in the morgue.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that one Irish citizen died as a result of the earthquake while it expressed “serious concerns” for two other missing Irish people.
The Irish Ambassador to Australia, based in Canberra, Máirtin Ó Fainín, is travelling to Christchurch to offer consular assistance to the family of Eoin McKenna, a Co Monaghan native who is the only confirmed Irish victim to date. He will also offer assistance to the Irish spouse of a non-Irish national who died as a result of the earthquake; and any other Irish people who require assistance.
Christchurch police will review the number of people missing, widely reported to be about 300, as it is not correct, the defence minister said.
“We are aware that there are other bodies, but we can’t guess what that [number] might be,” Mr Carter said this morning.
Families would be informed before the names of the dead were released. The death toll is still expected to rise significantly.
Urban search and rescue teams from Japan, Singapore and Taiwan were on the ground, adding about 200 personnel to those already looking for survivors. More than 600 emergency workers from six countries will help in the search for survivors.
The Japanese personnel will work at the CTV building, the home of the local TV station, where some 20 Japanese students are believed to be trapped. Up to 100 people may have been crushed when the building came down, while 20 others are believed to have died in the collapse of ChristChurch Cathedral nearby.
On Wednesday, police had essentially called off the rescue effort at the CTV site, saying the destruction was not survivable. The sheer devastation of the building prompted police to focus instead on other sites where people might still be found alive.
A reporter from local newspaper the Press was on hand when Kent Manning (15) and his sister Lizzy (18) were told by police there was no hope for their mother, Donna, a television presenter.
Earlier today it was reported that one person had been found alive in the Holy Cross Chapel in Chancery Lane in the city centre. No other survivors were found overnight but several more bodies were located in the ruins.
Meanwhile, rescue teams are planning to carry out grid searches of areas of the city not yet reached, including suburbs. Police officers are insisting that the focus is still on rescue rather than recovery.
One person was arrested for breaching the overnight curfew and cordon in and around the city centre.
It has been put in place to stop crime, and keep people away from the 26-storey Grand Chancellor Hotel, which could collapse, taking more buildings with it. Prime minister John Key said the hotel could “cause a mini earthquake” if it fell. The building is on a visible lean and a four-block cordon has been set up in case the building falls.
Major infrastructural problems remain in the city, with 80 per cent of homes without water and sewerage systems.
Emergency medical centres throughout the city have seen 431 patients, 164 with serious injuries. Up to 2,000 others have been seen in medical facilities around the city for minor injuries.
At Christchurch Airport, hundreds of people, including locals, were desperate to flee the city.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force was also flying tourists to Wellington to allow them to escape the city.