By Chris Whitworth
Power, water and telecommunications are all largely down across Christchurch, but Mayor Bob Parker says today has one sole focus: saving those trapped beneath the rubble.
“Our approach is there are still people alive and still trapped in that rubble no matter how hopeless the site might appear, our view is that we've got people alive in their and we're gonna get them out,” he says.
Thirty-nine people are confirmed dead from the 6.3 earthquake that struck Christchurch at lunchtime yesterday, the fatal tremor coming just months after the September quake that ripped apart the city.
Mr Parker says there are at least 100 people still trapped in buildings and beneath the rubble, but admits that is a conservative estimate.
"We've got to be careful with numbers, although we all want to get our heads around stats what it also can do is send a message that is equally, deeply upsetting for people," he says.
There are currently six “primary” rescue sites set up around the city, with crews working around the clock to save people trapped.
Mr Parker visited the CTV building site this morning, which was completely leveled by the quake.
He says the outlook is grim for survivors.
"It’s been several hours on the site that I visited since we've actually been able to extract anybody who was alive," he says.
The building is still on fire and received some of the worst damage from the quake.
Mr Parker said the levels of the building “pancaked” down onto each other.
International help has been called in to help with rescue efforts. An Australia team of 72 rescuers arrived this morning and Mr Parker says crews from America are on their way.
"We have everybody that we could ever want, with the right skill set to do the grim, hard task that’s in front of everybody today, tomorrow and the next day."
Injured people are being sent to medical centres as far away as Auckland so as to free up central city hospitals and triage centres for those critically hurt.
Hospitals and medical centres around Christchurch are all at capacity.
Mr Parker’s key message for the residents of Christchurch is: Stay calm and stay at home.
He says police have stopped a number of people ignoring cordons and trying to make their own way into central city.
All schools are closed across the city, and many businesses are closed.
Mr Parker says people should only go to work if their job will “add value” to the rescue efforts.
Infrastructure and amenities have been hit worse than September’s quake, with recovery work following last year’s disaster all undone.
"We've had six months of repairing, we’ve had six months of putting our city back together and in a matter of seconds everything that we have done has been wiped out, and we’ve been taken back to a place that was worse than before."
"Right now it’s about people and its about rescue."
3 News