CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AFP) – New Zealand said one-third of Christchurch's municipality edifice faces demolition after an seism killed at least 123, and warned it haw be unable to patron the Rugby World Cup.
Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee on Sat urged the stricken municipality to be "realistic" most holding World Cup matches in September and Oct after the 6.3-magnitude tremble caused distributed damage, including to the rugby stadium.
"To retrograde the Rugby World Cup from metropolis would be a large blow," Brownlee told TVNZ. "I don't want to wager it happen but we've got to be realistic most the prospect."
Rugby-mad Christchurch, New Zealand's second-largest city, is digit of the main venues for the seven-week competition, and is slated to stop digit quarter-finals on Oct 8 and 9.
But Tuesday's tremble reduced such of the municipality edifice and whatever suburbs into ruins. Although Stadium metropolis has only secondary damage, the movement has been hit by liquifaction, when grime becomes a quagmire cod to the ground's shaking.
Stadium officials also reportable serious alteration around the venue, which is meet digit kilometres (just over a mile) from the rubble-strewn municipality edifice -- where Christchurch's biggest hotel is tottering and in danger of collapse.
On Saturday, engineers said as such as a third of the bicentric district, where duty buildings folded same packs of game and entire streets forfeited their class frontages, haw be destroyed and rebuilt.
"We've composed whatever data over the time pair of chronicle and it's hunting same most one-third of the buildings (would be condemned)," metropolis University structural organise Jason Ingham told TVNZ.
"We module hit to prune this municipality and we'll hit to prune it hard," municipality mayor Bob Parker told Sky News. "Entire blocks are feat to hit to go." Earthquake rector Brownlee said the edifice haw be closed for months.
Police upraised the creeping death toll to 123 with more than 200 missing. Officials said the toll could uprise sharply later, although whatever of the departed are probable to be included among those ease unaccounted for.
Prime Minister John Key, who was upraised in Christchurch, was cod to meet families of the departed or absent Sat on his latest activate to the hardship zone.
Power has today been remodeled to most of the municipality but whatever of its 390,000 residents are without water and relying on supplies brought by tanker.
Officials said more than 62,000 homes hit no water supplies and 100,000 properties are without sewerage, patch 800 takeout toilets module presently be in place to help ward soured the danger of disease.
Despite a field planetary search activeness involving whatever 700 specialist personnel, no signs of chronicle hit been detected in the tremble wreckage since Wednesday, when the last of most 70 survivors was rescued.
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