Seven earthquake victims named

The Pyne Gould Corporation building in central Christchurch. PHoto / Mark Mitchell

Police have officially released the names of seven more people who died in the February 22 Christchurch earthquake.

Search and rescue crews found two more bodies overnight, lifting the death toll to 163. Police expect the toll to reach 220.

Police Superintendent Sam Hoyle told media 241 disaster victim identification staff from all over the world were working incredibly long days to identify the deceased.

Mr Hoyle said staff were very conscious of the importance of their task.

"We absolutely are aware that we cannot make it better for these families - but we can make it worse," he said.

Mr Hoyle released the names of seven more victims. They were Joan Dorothy Weild, 76 and her husband Graham Weild, Matthew Stuart McEachen, 25, Neil Glyn Stocker, 58, Haruthaya Luangsurapeesakul, 32 of Thailand, Scott William Emerson Lucy, 38 and Maysoon Mahdi Abbas, 61.

Civil Defence national controller John Hamilton told media that 1000 heritage buildings had been assessed, with 50 per cent receiving red stickers.

Red stickers mean the buildings have been badly damaged and are unsafe for entry.

A total 56,000 properties have received building assessments in the wake of last week's Christchurch earthquake.

Mr Hamilton said of the 3000 buildings assessed in the city centre, 45 per cent had received red stickers.

Another 1350 homes, many in the city's eastern suburbs, had been assessed as having severe damage.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the Earthquake Commission had received 31,000 claims for property damage suffered in the earthquake.

They were in addition to the 181,107 damage claims from the original 7.1 earthquake in September that had been logged by February 17.

Sections of the cordoned off area of the Christchurch city centre will be opened up this weekend.

Fire Service spokesman Paul Baxter said the south-west corner of the cordon around the centre of Christchurch would be lifted on Sunday afternoon.

Mayor Parker said further extensions to the accessible area would be announced from Monday.

It was vital that businesses could able to get back into the city centre as soon as possible, he said.

"It's absolutely necessary they are able to get up and running again."

Mayor Parker said water had been restored to 75 per cent of Christchurch houses, but he said the city's waste water system was proving difficult to repair and little progress had been made.

He commended those working on the infrastructure damaged in last week's devastating earthquake.

- NZPA and NZHERALD STAFF