The earthquake struck Christchurch, the country's second largest city, around lunchtime when offices were occupied and stores and streets were bustling with people.
Rescuers frantically scrambled to find hundreds people who were thought to be still trapped in the debris as darkness fell on the city Tuesday night. Dazed, screaming and crying residents were seen wandering through the streets.
"It's just a scene of utter devastation," Prime Minister John Key said. "We may well be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day."
In this image made from video run by New Zealand's TV3, an injured person is carried on a street in Christchurch, New Zealand (TV3)
It was the second quake to hit the city of nearly 400,000 people in five months. There were no casualties in the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in September.
"There will be deaths, there will be a lot of injuries, there will be a lot of heartbreak in this city," Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker, who declared a state of emergency, told Australian TV.
Video footage showed multistory buildings that collapsed in ruins, crushed buses, and groups of people carrying blood-spattered victims onto makeshift stretchers.
The airport was closed and Christchurch Hospital was briefly evacuated before it was deemed safe and patients were allowed to return. Power and telephone lines were knocked out, and pipes burst, flooding some streets.
A collapsed building lies over parked cars in the aftermath of a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch. (McMillan/Getty)
The spire of the famous Christchurch Cathedral toppled into a central city square.
Gavin Blowman told CNN that he ran into the street when the tremors began.
"It felt like I was running on jelly," We saw a giant rock tumble to the ground from a cliff—a rock that had been there for millennia…It was terrifying."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/02/22/2011-02-22_earthquake_in_new_zealand_kills_at_least_65_hundreds_still_trapped_under_debris_.html
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