Recovery efforts at CTV building end

An aerial view of the CTV building in Christchurch. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Recovery efforts at the devastated Canterbury TV building have officially ended, with no further positive identifications.

Fire Service search co-ordinator Paul Baxter told a joint media conference this morning that every piece of debris at the site had been sifted through by workers, and they were satisfied nothing more could be done.

The official death toll from the February 22 quake has risen to 166 after a body was found under rubble in the central business district. Authorities still expected the toll to reach 200, despite finding no bodies in the Christchurch cathedral, where 22 bodies were initially believed to be buried.

Mr Baxter would not rule out the possibility of finding victims in the Forsyth Barr building.

He said a search dog had earlier indicated there were victims beneath the rubble, but had since been back and found no trace.

Superintendent Sam Hoyle said today it could take months before all victims recovered are identified.

"No one is more aware than the DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) team that many families are waiting for their loved ones to be returned to them, especially those who are our guests from overseas.

"We know the wait is difficult, but we absolutely must get this right."

He said the "severe nature of the injuries" meant some families might never recover the bodies of loved ones.

Cordons

Half of the cordons have been lifted in the central city, and business owners and tenants have been streaming in to survey damage and retrieve valuables.

Mayor Bob Parker said it was crucial to get the city's business centre back on its feet, as it was home to 15 per cent of the national workforce.

Many residents were only stopping to collect their furniture from their central city homes, before leaving their apartments for good.

The area will be opened to the public at 2pm.

Mr Hoyle urged drivers to take care after several minor car crashes within the central city due to damaged roads.

Mr Parker said 95 per cent of the city now had power, and 81 per cent have water.

He also defended the long amount of time which residents in the eastern suburbs of the city had waited for help. He said the priority had been on saving lives.

Severe liquefaction, worsened by overnight rainfall, continued to make life miserable in those areas.

Wastewater systems will be out of service for weeks in some suburbs, because pipes have been shifted and broken by uplifted sand.

Workers have now removed 260,000 tonnes of silt from roads and properties.

Access to cordon zones

Dozens of residents and business owners have been queuing to get inside parts of Christchurch's central business district cordon.

Zones one and two to the east and west of the city centre opened to residents, business owners and property owners with photo identification and proof of address from 8am.

Entry points to zone one are on Moorhouse Avenue (at intersections between Antigua and Durham Streets) and Antigua Street (between Moorhouse Avenue and Oxford Terrace), while zone two can be accessed from Fitzgerald Avenue (between Kilmore Street and Ferry Road).

Click here for a map of the zones or go to the Civil Defence website for more details.

Access to zones three and four to the north, and the central red zone where recovery efforts continue, remain restricted.

The council is looking into how vehicles will be removed from these zones, with a plan expected Tuesday.

GNS Science said there had been two aftershocks in the Christchurch area since midnight.

The latest was a 3.5 magnitude quake at 9am. It was centred 10km north-east of Lyttelton at a depth of 5km.

- With NZHERALD STAFF, NZPA