Christchurch earthquake: Toll rises to 144

[Violet_Crumble]

Source: NZ Herald

I know many Americans are doing it tough lately, but if any of you are able to, please think about donating to the NZ earthquake relief fund through the NZ Red Cross. I read this morning that it's going to cost around $10billion to rebuild, and for a population of only just over 4 million people, that's totally massive. The url for the NZ Red Cross is http://www.redcross.org.nz/cms_display.php

Read more: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10708888

---

The official death toll for the Christchurch earthquake has risen to 144 this evening.

"We expect that number to rise," said Superintendent David Cliff.

The number of missing people for whom there are grave concerns remains at more than 200, he said.

The Prime Minister has asked for a two-minute silence on March 1 "as a sign of unity for the people of Christchurch and out of respect for those that lost their lives".

[XemaSab]

1. This is more people than have been killed in California quakes in the past 75 years

:(

[maddezmom]

2. very sad

:( Thoughts are with the good people of NZ.

[kentauros]

3. The death toll is going to keep going up

as they recover more bodies from the flattened CTV building. More than a hundred were in it when it collapsed (six floors "pancaked" all the way down.)

As I understand it from what I've been able to figure out in the stories is that the CTV was like a glorified public access channel in the US. It had English language classrooms, gave young people an opportunity to learn and operate within the television business and so forth. There were many students from Japan and China in it when it collapsed :(

One nice touch I've seen the NZ Herald doing is giving us a face to the victims by publishing their photos with their names (at least for those few released by authorities so far.) I'd give a link, but can't find those particular stories anymore...


Here's another helping source to donate to: Salvation Army - Cantebury Earthquake Appeal
http://www.salvationarmy.org.nz/giving-back/donate-online/disaster-appeals/canterbury-earthquake-appeal/