Search and rescue teams are going to work through the night searching for survivors of the powerful earthquake that has killed 65 people in Christchurch.
PHOTOS: Christchurch hit again
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Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker says that the death toll from the 6.3 magnitude quake could possibly double as emergency services make their way deeper within collapsed buildings.
Rescue workers will attempt to free some of the over 100 people who remain stuck in buildings throughout the South Island city.
This evening witnesses could still hear screams coming from the Pyne Gould Guinness building, where it is feared dozens of people remain trapped.
Civil Defence director John Hamilton says: "There could well be people who are stuck in buildings overnight. I can't confirm, but I would expect that's in all probability the case".
"We have to be prepared to accept that it is going to be a heavy toll," he said.
Some of those killed were believed to have been travelling in two buses which were crushed by falling buildings, TVNZ said.
A witness saw the facade of a building collapse on a bus on Colombo St.
"There's people dead. [They're] pulling them out of a bus," the witness told the New Zealand Herald newspaper.
Live television pictures showed residents of the South Island city emerging from destroyed CBD buildings in tears and shaking.
Many screamed as apparent aftershocks dislodged large pieces of the badly damaged Christchurch Cathedral, which sits on the edge of the city's main square.
The spire of the cathedral collapsed on to the street, and television pictures showed at least one person was still inside the building.
A priest told TV3 he feared people were trapped in the rubble.
"It's just huge, it is huge," he said.
"We just don't know if there are people under that rubble. I fear there are."
QUAKE COVERAGE:
PHOTOS: Christchurch torn apart by quake
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MAP: See how the quake struck
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VIDEO: Iconic Christchurch cathedral destroyed
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