A Modern City Momentarily Transformed Into A Cemetery

Left: A panorama of dust from collapsing masonry chokes the air shortly after the quake.




A light year beyond the prosperous city I saw in 2008. Raw sewage down the Avon. Incomprehensible, but that's what earthquakes do.

So, apparently the CTV Building is now a tomb:

Hope is fading for hundreds of people missing for a second night after the Christchurch earthquake, as authorities fear more teetering buildings could collapse overnight.

Although 120 survivors were pulled from the wreckage during the first night, more than 300 people are still unaccounted for. The number of confirmed fatalities stood at 75 last night.

One victim was a nine-month-old boy killed when a television fell on him during the magnitude 6.3 shake.

The death toll is expected to rise further - it does not include more than 100 people inside the smouldering remains of the Canterbury Television building. Last night, the CTV building collapse was described as "100 per cent unsurvivable".

...Authorities last night feared more buildings would fall, including the Grand Chancellor Hotel, at 26 storeys the tallest building in the city. If it didn't collapse, officials said it would have to be demolished.

...The energy from the earthquake created the greatest ground acceleration in New Zealand history, said Dr Hamish Campbell of GNS Science.

"No wonder so many stone churches were destroyed. They are simply not designed to be thrown up in the air and then go into freefall."

More than 20 people were believed to have died inside the 130-year-old Christchurch Cathedral.

Last night, more than 40 police cordons were in place around the city. Police also evacuated two streets in seaside suburb Sumner, threatened by unstable hillsides.

Superintendent Dave Cliff imposed a 6.30pm curfew in downtown Christchurch. Anyone found there would be automatically arrested after six people were caught looting earlier.

...Corrections Minister Judith Collins said Rolleston Prison would be emptied to free up 320 beds for Cantabrians.

Outside the CBD, authorities warned of the risk of landslides and rockfalls near the quake's epicentre in Lyttelton. Falling boulders cut through a home and killed two people in the nearby Port Hills.

Liquefaction affected much of the suburb of Bexley, water bubbling up through cracked streets. Some sinkholes are as big as a truck.

Power has been restored to most of Christchurch but around 80 per cent of the city was without water. More than 200,000 litres of water was brought in by Fonterra by rail, with a number of supermarkets also opening their doors after escaping unscathed.