Christchurch earthquake: Frantic search for survivors continues, economic costs to rise

Rescue teams are continuing the search for survivors of Christchurch’s earthquake disaster, with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard warning that it appears one Australian citizen who was a long-term resident of New Zealand has been killed.

The death toll from the quake has been risen to 75, with fears that figure is likely to grow sharply as search-and-rescue teams continue to move through the city.

As many as 300 people are still missing, with emergency services officials concentrating on searching for survivors in a number of large flattened buildings where big groups of people were known to be working.

One of the hardest-hit buildings was the local headquarters of wealth management firm Pyne Gould, whose five-storey building was flattened, with as many as 30 workers still missing.

The rescue effort is being hampered by aftershocks, minor flooding from burst water mains and cuts to essential services including power, water, gas and sewerage.

Despite the rising death toll there has been some good news this morning, with 15 people found alive in the rubble of the CTV building.

It had been reported that up to 100 people were feared trapped or missing in the building, which housed a small television station and an English language school.

The Australian Government said there were as many as 400 Australians in Christchurch at the time of the quake and it appears that one citizen who has lived there for a number of years was killed.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says there have been reports that the dead man was assisted by a passer-by in the final hours of his life.

“Our thanks would go to that stranger and I think that’s an emblem of the kind of spirit that we see in Christchurch as people get together to help each other,” she said.

Australia continued to do what it could to aid the relief effort, sending personnel and equipment to assist with search-and-rescue efforts.

Businesses and analysts are only now starting to quantify the potential impacts of the disaster on individual businesses and on the New Zealand economy.

Australian-listed outdoor wear retailer Kathmandu told the ASX this morning that its Christchurch head office and the firm’s New Zealand distribution centre were damaged in the quake, and it was not known when those sites and the company’s three Christchurch stores would re-open.

An estimate from JP Morgan this morning suggested insurance costs related to the quake may be as high as $US12 billion, which would make the disaster the biggest insurance event since Hurricane Katrina, which cost insurers $US19.9 billion.

Many analysts in the country anticipate a possible slide into recession due to sluggish retail spending and ratings agency Moody’s Analytics says the economy faces “another year of anaemic growth due to forces beyond its control”.

“It will be another devastating blow to an economy struggling to gather steam,” Katrina Ell, associate economist at Moody’s Analytics, said.

Austrade chief economist Tim Harcourt says it is far too early to be worrying about the potential impacts of individual SMEs from the Christchurch quake and that SMEs would be more worried about the human tragedy of the disaster so close to home.

“We’ve found that generally when you look at small businesses they generally operate in an Australasian market. New Zealand is usually the first stop in any overseas expansion,” he told SmartCompany.

“New Zealand is such an important trading and business partner and I am sure all Australian business owners would feel for New Zealand.”