"I have lost a leg. They had to cut it off to save me." Those were the first words rescued student Kento Okuda said to his mother.

A woman found beneath the rubble of a building held her dead brother's hand as she cried out for help from under the debris - and her heart-wrenching cries prompted rescuers to carry on digging until they freed him.

More than 200 elderly patients have been evacuated from rest homes damaged in the earthquake.

Baxtor Gowland was born two weeks after the September earthquake in Christchurch. Yesterday, he was named the youngest victim of Tuesday's quake.

Scott William Emerson Lucy was looking forward to becoming a husband and starting a family with his fiancee, Gemma Shefford.

Emergency teams hoping to find survivors in the rubble have switched focus to the grim task of retrieving the dead.

Rock near the quake's epicentre may have compounded the effect of the tremor by reflecting greater seismic activity towards Christchurch city.

The body of Melissa Ann Neale was recovered from Cashel Mall, where she was eating lunch with her mother moments before the earthquake devastated Christchurch.

As many as 22 tourists are thought to be buried in the rubble of Christ Church Cathedral and its spire.

The families of the many missing Japanese students feared killed in the collapse of the CTV building have told of their anguish.