Christchurch endured 15 more aftershocks in the night.
Cellular mobile service is failing as backup batteries run out.
Over 70 confirmed deaths with loved ones being notified today.
People leaving the city, both for their own wellbeing and to relieve pressure on failing infrastructure.
Even those with water are told not to flush as 80% of sewers are damaged.
And New Zealanders nationwide offer refuge for those who are distancing themselves from the chaos and shaking ground.
I housed a stranded traveller in Auckland as the national air traffic control is in Christchurch and was out of action on the day of the quake.
A Christchurch City Councillor yesterday said,
"We just want to throw our hands up in the air and surrender cause we feel like we're under attack. It sounds like a drum beating as it approaches and then a bang that lifts the house off it's foundations, gives it a jiggle and then drops it back down. Don't count 'aftershocks'. They don't stop."
My chaplaincy colleagues are not physically harmed, though their homes have been damaged.
reChurch staff are leaving Christchurch for various places of relative calm elsewhere on the South Island.
Tourists have been flown to Wellington on the North Island and Australians evacuated home.
Over 20 Japanese students at a language school are not likely to have survived the pancaking collapse of their building.
Sept 4. Dec 29. Feb 22. When next?
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