Christchurch Earthquake - Death Toll continues to rise - 98 Confirmed

The death toll from the devastating Christchurch earthquake has risen to 98 with police holding grave concerns for 226 people...

Prime Minister John Key warned the nation to prepare itself for the worst. "We are very fearful tonight that the death toll could be much greater than any of us ever feared," he said.
He also said it could be weeks before families had their loved ones' bodies returned. 
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The video below from TVNZ allows us to share just some of the agony and the horror of what the people of Christchurch lived through and what our fellow NZers are continuing to live through as the search and recovery process continues and the death toll rises ... With other cities around NZ being continuously under threat of an impending major earthquake, and Wellington in particular which has been expecting a 'biggie' for as long as I can remember and where we were drilled from the Primers as to how to react, I am sure that these scenes simply confirm our worst expectations...

I have been unlucky enough to be in both major earthquakes in Athens, the first in February of 1981 and the second in 1999, and my reactions were almost automatic- the earthquake drills we had from our early childhood days in Wellington proving once more how important prevention training is...





Reminder:

Don't forget Google's Person Finder for those looking for missing persons, or for those who have information about someone missing...

Contact number to ask about missing persons  00 64 7 8502199

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost their loved ones or await news of missing persons... we hope for the best for them.

We understand that as far as members of the Greek Community in Christchurch are concerned, all seem to be well and accounted for so far...

You may also like to read a first hand report of the events from Artanis - the wife of the Greek School teacher in Christchurch who writes a blog on her family's life in Christchurch.

She starts off her latest post like this:

5 μήνες μετά τον σεισμό του Σεπτεμβρίου, την Τρίτη 22/2 είχαμε όπως μάθατε κι εσείς, μια νέα δόνηση, μεγέθους 6,3 ρίχτερ, που χτύπησε στις 12.51 το μεσημέρι...Οι ζημιές είναι τεράστιες, υπάρχουν μέχρι στιγμής 75 νεκροί, και εκατοντάδες αγνοούμενοι, το ιστορικό κέντρο της πόλης, ισοπεδώθηκε: το καμπαναριό του καθεδρικού κατέρρευσε, το κτίριο της τηλεόρασης κατέρρευσε παγιδεύοντας δεκάδες, παλιά και νέα μοντέρνα κτίρια έπεσαν ή είναι ετοιμόρροπα, και μεγάλος μέρος της πόλης δεν έχει νερό και ηλεκτρικό, και για αποχέτευση ούτε λόγος...Read more

Fingers crossed for EVERYONE...