Earthquake toll at 98 dead, 226 missing
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Rescuers fanned out into unchecked areas of New Zealand’s quake-devastated city today looking for any remaining life in the rubble, as the death toll rose to 98 with “grave fears” that many of the 226 missing are dead.
“Rescue team! Rescue team!” a visiting firefighter from Australia called out as his team went through an office building apparently abandoned during Tuesday’s earthquake in Christchurch. There was no response.
Police said up to 120 bodies might still lie trapped in the tangled concrete and steel that was the Canterbury Television or CTV building, where dozens of students from Japan, Thailand, China and other Asian countries were believed buried when an English-language school collapsed along with other offices. Twenty-three bodies were pulled from the building today, but not identified.
“The longer I don’t know what happened, the longer my agony becomes,” said Rolando Cabunilas, 34, a steel worker from the Philippines whose wife, Ivy Jane, 33, was on her second day of class at the school when the quake struck. She hasn’t been heard from since.
“I can’t describe it — it’s pain, anger, all emotions,” he said.
Officials appealed to families of the missing to be patient, saying the agony could be worse if they rushed the identifications and came to wrong conclusions.
The official death toll from the 6.3-magnitude temblor stood at 98, police Superintendent Dave Cliff said. An additional 226 people were listed as missing, and Prime Minister John Key said there were “grave fears” that many of them did not survive.
Authorities also struggled to restore power, reliable phones and water — Mayor Bob Parker warned residents to assume that tap water is contaminated and boil it before drinking it or cooking with it. People were streaming out of the city to stay with friends or relatives. The Civil Defense Ministry said about 1,000 had used special flights sending people to other cities.
