AT least 65 people are dead and a state of emergency has been declared in Christchurch after a deadly earthquake hit the city this morning.

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Christchurch mayor Bob Parker said up to 200 people may still be trapped in earthquake-damaged buildings in the city.

Mr Parker estimated between 150-200 people were trapped following the 6.3-magnitude quake which hit at 12.51pm local time (10.51am AEDT), Radio New Zealand said tonight.

Rescuers will work throughout the night in miserable weather looking for survivors, Civil Defence director John Hamilton said.

"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," he said.



Emergency services were focussing on high rise buildings in the central business district, many of which were extensively damaged, police said.

The Pyne Gould Guinness building has tilted at an awkward angle and slumped to the ground with 30 people thought to be inside, while people are trapped under desks in the Christchurch Press building opposite the iconic Christchurch Cathedral which has lost its spire.

Fatalities have been reported in the Canterbury TV building which was reduced to a smoking ruin after a helicopter was called in to drop water on the blaze.

People are also feared trapped in hotels, Civil Defence Minister John Carter said.



"What we don't know is whether they were out looking around the town or were in their rooms."



Police said the immediate focus was rescuing people trapped in buildings.

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key said that at least 65 people have been killed, with the death toll expected to rise.

"We may be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day," Mr Key told TVNZ.

"This is a community that is absolutely in agony.

"We just need this community, as it's done before, and as it will do again, to come together, to check and support one another."

He described Christchurch - the nation's second-largest city - as "a scene of utter devastation."

"We had everything on our side in the last earthquake ... we're the polar opposite this time," he added, referring to a devastating quake that struck the city in the middle of a September night last year.

Mr Parker has warned the toll could be between 50 and 60.

"The city centre is like a war zone," Mr Parker said this afternoon.



He declared a state of emergency for Christchurch, saying it was a "black day''.

"Everybody needs to understand that this is going to be a very black day for this severely shaken city,'' Mr Parker told Radio New Zealand.

Mr Parker said the damage caused by the earthquake was "immense'' and he was thrown to the ground in the council building when the tremor hit.

"I looked out over the city once I got up and I could see clouds of dust from buildings collapsing. I could hear screams from the streets,'' he said.

"I got down onto the street and there were scenes of great confusion, a lot of upset people, a lot of people crying.''

Police have confirmed multiple deaths, including passengers on two buses which were crushed by debris.

By early evening, 13 aftershocks had been felt by the city.

The worst of them, measuring 5.7, struck at 1.04pm, followed by another measuring 5.5 at 2.50pm.

Delicate rescue operations were put under threat by the aftershocks, with fears more buildings may collapse.

Earlier, witnesses reported dead bodies could be seen "lying around" and dazed residents, many injured, were seen on television news reports wandering past crushed vehicles and rubble-strewn streets across the city.

"We've had friends in town call us and say there are just bodies lying around; lots of dead bodies outside shops just lying there just covered in bricks," Christchurch resident Jaydn Katene told the New Zealand Herald.

"When it hit we were knocked to our feet. Everything in the house fell down, nothing was left still standing. There's more damage than the first earthquake, the roads are completely torn up; sewage coming up and flooding. It's crazy."

Officials said the damage suffered by the city was worse than the destruction seen following the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Christchurch in September.

"If the last one was a seven, then this one felt like an eight," a witness told NewsCore, referring to the quake's magnitude.

Authorities have warned residents not to attempt rescues themselves, with Defence forces called in to help with efforts to free trapped people.

Nearby Lyttelton, 12km southeast of Christchurch, and with a population of about 3000 people, was described as "unlivable" by a reporter on TV3.

Sixty percent of buildings in the main street of the town were destroyed, chief fire officer Mark Barclay told Radio New Zealand.

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Hospitals across the nation, including in Auckland and Dunedin, were being cleared in anticipation of multiple casualties, Mr Carter said.

Triage centres had already been set up across Christchurch and there were reports the city had run out of ambulances, with private vehicles being used to transport the injured to hospitals.

Search and rescue specialists were flying from Australia to help as Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the disaster as "distressing", and warned Australians with relatives in the Cantebury region, which includes Christchurch, to prepare for the worst.

Ms Gillard said she had spoken to Mr Key and told him that "anything we've got that they need we will get to them."

Authorities are trying to determine how many Australians are caught up in the quake, with the High Commission in Wellington urgently liaising with local authorities.

The quake was centered 10km south of the city at a depth of 5km, according to GeoNet.

Building frontages, already weakened by the quake on September 4, collapsed on to the street. The tremor, which lasted about a minute, also left roads cracked and water mains burst.

Witness Rick Swinard told the Herald Sun that in the central suburb of Waltham, the ground was "completely liquefied" after the quake.

"I'm standing in the street ankle deep in this grey mud and there is a fear the very street could disappear," he said.

"Grey mud is bursting through the concrete on the driveway. The lawn is covered with this grey, muddy sand and many streets around Christchurch that I've been walking on in the past three hours are rivers of grey mud because of the liquefaction cause by this incredible earthquake.

"They're like mini volcanoes oozing from the ground."

Click here to read more from Rick Swinard

Phone lines were overwhelmed, with Vodafone urging customers to use text messages rather than call, and electricity lines were cut, stuff.co.nz reported.

Some bridges are impassable and significant areas are now affected by flooding and mud triggered by burst water mains.

Live updates in our blog below

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Twitter users have reported feeling the quake as far as Wellington on the north island and Dunedin, much further south.

Some reports suggest it should be considered as an aftershock to the 7.1 magnitude quake that hit on September 4, but at least one witness described that event as a "tea party " compared to the latest disaster.

Experts suggest the much more "shallow" nature of the new quake caused a more violent quake.

Christchurch Airport spokeswoman Monique Oomen said terminal buildings had received only minor damage but the airport was likely to remain closed to commercial flights for the remainder of the day.

The impact has affected the whole country, with flights across New Zealand grounded.

Early reports that Christchurch's main hospital was evacuated have been discounted, with authorities confirming it is operational.

The main police station was initially evacuated, but is operating again.

Matthew Stevens, a geologist with GeoNet, told Dow Jones Newswires today's earthquake occurred in the same fault line as September's shock.

"This is technically an aftershock because it only happened because of the first earthquake," Stevens said.

The epicentre of last September's quake was 40km west of the city at a depth of 10km.

That quake was the most destructive quake to hit New Zealand for 80 years, damaged 100,000 homes and left a clean-up bill estimated at $NZ4.0 billion ($A3.03 billion).

The city, New Zealand's third largest, has been shaking regularly since, with aftershocks up to 5.1 magnitude recorded.

Tuesday's horror was the third major tragedy to hit New Zealand following the September quake.

In November, the South Island was the scene of a deadly mine explosion, which killed 29 people and was also described at the time as "New Zealand's darkest day."

The trust set up to support victims of the Pike River mine tragedy announced Tuesday they will no longer accept donations, instead calling on people to donate to Christchurch earthquake victims instead.

Today's earthquake was the most deadly to hit New Zealand since a 7.8-magnitude quake killed 256 people in the Hawke's Bay region in 1931, AFP reported.

New Zealand sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire," a vast zone of seismic and volcanic stretching from Chile on one side to Japan and Indonesia on the other.

- By Matthew Schulz, Padraic Murphy, AAP and AFP

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Originally published as Hundreds in dark, lonely wait