Christchurch earthquake: One arrest, but aftershocks rattle city

Photo / Sarah Ivey

One person has been arrested after they were caught stealing within Christchurch's central city cordon overnight but police report a quiet night in the quake-stricken city.

Overnight the city was also hit by seven aftershocks, the strongest measuring 3.9 on the Richter Scale.

Residents have also been warned about bogus EQC assessors after reports of people claiming to be assessors knocking on doors outside working hours.

Genuine EQC assessment teams operate only between 8am and 6pm.

Civil Defence has asked people not to demolish buildings unless there's an immediate risk to public safety.

More quake victims are expected to be named today as the death toll continues to rise.

The confirmed death toll stands at 160 but police say that figure will reach about 240, following the magnitude 6.3 quake on February 22.

Yesterday, strong winds kicked up tonnes of silted dust from liquefied areas, with Mayor Bob Parker describing it as a terrible day.

Mr Parker toured Sumner, Mount Pleasant and Redcliffs after visiting his parents for the first time since the quake struck.

"The wind was just extraordinary and in some places it was difficult to stand," he said. "You could look cross to the whole of the city and see these enormous clouds of dust blowing down the main avenues."

The wind hampered the work of searchers, but did not halt it altogether, said the Fire Service.

Aerial operations, such as cranes with suspended baskets that are putting searchers into buildings, had to curbed.

Searchers reached above the 10th floor at the Grand Chancellor hotel as they tried to make sure the 26-storey building was clear, no one has been reported missing from there, while a large steel support structure at the ChristChurch Cathedral has been secured to an unstable wall.

Police announced three more names of victims yesterday. They were: Jayden Andrews-Howland, 14, Paul Clarence Dunlop, 67, and Andrew Stephen Cochrane, 43, all from Christchurch.

About 400 family members of victims visited the sites where their loved ones were killed or are missing from, after police put on a fleet of buses.

"It was a very emotional time for the families," Canterbury area police commander, Superintendent Dave Cliff said.

"It had been the first opportunity they had to see first hand the extent of the devastation, and the mood was definitely sombre and very emotional for them."

Meanwhile, the Red Cross has set up two grants -- an emergency and hardship grant and a bereavement grant.

The first is $1000 per couple or family, and $500 for single people, living in their homes without power or water or sewerage or people forced to leave their homes. The $10,000 bereavement grant is for the next of kin of victims.

People from overseas are eligible to apply for these grants.

The Red Cross has so far received more than $11.6 million in donations.

ACC will also provide entitlements for emergency care, medical treatment, rehabilitation and lump sum compensation for people significantly injured. It gives funeral and survivors' grants for spouses and dependants of the deceased -- including for visitors to New Zealand.

New Zealand workers are also entitled to income compensation.

The estimated cost of the earthquake to ACC is $370 million.

- NZPA