Fresh aftershock hamper rescue in NZ quake; death toll jumps to 123

CHRISTCHURCH. February 26. KAZINFORM Fresh aftershocks sent masonry tumbling among rescuers in New Zealand's quake zone and a cat sparked false alarms Saturday of a possible survivor, as the disaster's death toll rose to 123 with more than 200 missing. Kazinform refers to Arab News.
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Grim assessments emerged for the fate of the central business district in the devastated city of Christchurch, with engineers and planners saying it will be unusable for months and that about a third of the buildings must be demolished.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker assured relatives of the missing - including people from several countries who have converged on this southern New Zealand city of 350,000_ that every effort was being made to locate any remaining survivors of Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude quake.

No one was found alive overnight as a multinational team of more than 600 rescuers continued scouring the city's central business district, although a paramedic reported hearing voices in one destroyed building early Saturday, Police Superintendent Russel Gibson said.

Police have said up to 120 bodies may be entombed in the ruins of the downtown CTV building alone, where dozens of foreign students from an international school were believed trapped.

Still, Gibson said rescuers weren't completely ruling out good news.

The King's Education language school released a list of missing people presumed in the building: nine teachers and 51 students - 26 Japanese, 14 Chinese, six Filipinos, three Thais, one South Korean and one Czech. An additional 20 students were listed with "status unknown." The death toll rose Saturday to 123, Police Superintendent David Cliff said, adding that: "We do expect that number to rise." Some 226 people remained missing.

At Christchurch's iconic cathedral, workers had just begun work on its ruined bell tower late Friday when fresh aftershocks sent more masonry tumbling from the building.

Rescuers were immediately withdrawn while the safety of the 130-year old church was reassessed and a new plan made to reach as many as 22 people who may be entombed inside.

The city's central business district will take several months to recover, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said, adding that "most of the services, in fact all of the services that are offered in the CBD will need to relocate elsewhere."

Damaged buildings will need to be bulldozed and rebuilt "so that people can have confidence about coming back into the area to transact any business that's here." One in three of the central city's mostly brick buildings were severely damaged in the quake and must be demolished, earthquake engineer Jason Ingham said. Kazinform cites Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.

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