Death toll rises in New Zealand
Posted Feb 23, 2011 08:56:21 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Rescuers are using bare hands, dogs, and heavy machines in an urgent search for survivors in Christchurch.
The New Zealand city was hammered by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake yesterday, killing at least 75 people.
But officials say they are certain the death toll will rise because about 300 people are listed as missing.
Prime Minister John Key has declared a state of emergency as hundreds of soldiers, police and other emergency workers rushed into the quake zone.
This quake was not as powerful as a magnitude 7.1 temblor that struck before dawn last September that damaged buildings but killed no one.
Experts say Tuesday’s quake was deadlier because it was closer to the city and because more people were about.
Christchurch’s airport reopened for domestic flights today and military planes were brought in to fly tourists to other cities.
A construction manager who joined rescue efforts after New Zealand’s devastating earthquake describes rescuers using a hacksaw to cut off a man’s leg to free him after he was pinned under concrete.
Fred Haering says rescuers used sledgehammers and chain saws to cut into the collapsed Pyne Gould Guinness building in Christchurch from the roof, slicing downward through layers of sandwiched offices and finding bodies crushed under concrete slabs.
One man had a leg pinned under concrete, and a doctor administered medicine to deaden his pain. A fireman asked Haering for a hacksaw. Haering handed it over and tried to avert his eyes as the man’s leg was sawed off, saving him from certain death.
Haering says: “It’s a necessity of the game.”
In Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI has offered his condolences to the victims of New Zealand’s earthquake and is praying for the rescue workers and survivors.
The Vatican says a telegram sent Wednesday to Christchurch’s bishop says the pontiff was saddened to learn of the sudden devastation and loss of life in Christchurch, where scores of people were killed and hundreds left missing by Tuesday’s quake.
Benedict says he is praying for those urgently working to free those who are trapped in rubble and for blessings of strength and courage for all New Zealanders.
