Hope fading for survivors

SKYNEWS

Hopes are fading for more than 200 people still missing after an earthquake in New Zealand - as the death toll rose to 98, SkyNews.

Police said up to 120 bodies may still lie trapped in the tangled concrete and steel that was the Canterbury Television or CTV building in the city of Christchurch.

Dozens of students from Japan and other Asian countries are believed to buried under rubble at the site after an English-language school collapsed along with other offices.

The official death toll from Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude tremor stands at 98, Police Superintendent Dave Cliff said.

An additional 226 people were listed as missing, and Prime Minister John Key said there were "grave fears" that many of them did not survive.

"We are very fearful that the death toll could be much greater than any of us have ever feared," he said, adding there were dozens of international people caught up in the tragedy.

Rescue efforts have so far focused on the Canterbury TV building and a handful of other major office complexes that crumbled in downtown Christchurch.

But work at those sites was shifting to the recovery of bodies, while the remaining rescue efforts fanned out further from the centre of town.

Key has declared the quake a national disaster, and analysts estimate its cost at up to $12bn.

The British Consulate office is now up and running in the Copthorne Commodore Hotel, providing advice for British nationals in the country.

Prince William has also sent his condolences.

Google set up a website to help distribute information about missing victims.