Rescue workers are trying to free a number of people, one of them Irish, trapped under a building in Christchurch following Tuesday’s powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake.
A 40-year-old accountant from Abbeydorney, Co. Kerry was working on the Pyne Gould Guinness (PGG) building in Christchurch, New Zealand when it collapsed in Tuesday’s earthquake, his family have confirmed.
He has been named locally as JJ O'Connor and is from a family of five. His mother resides locally.
He had moved to New Zealand from London with his wife and two-year old son last September and had started work as an accountant in the PGG Building before Christmas.
The man's wife is expecting their second child in May.
It is understood that there has been no contact with the man since the PGG Building collapsed.
Earlier reports suggested he had been in contact with rescuers from the rubble of the building but those reports are not true. The Department of Foreign Affairs is liaising with the family.
Two other Irish people that the Department of Foreign Affairs were very concerned about have made contact with their families.
One woman was going to collect her children from school when the quake struck but had made contact after 36 hours, Peadar Carpenter of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said.
Another Irish man was of concern because he had travelled to Christchurch on his own, but he also made contact with his family
The department received reports of 300 Irish people missing after the quake struck.
This has been whittled down to 17 reported missing Irish people that have not been contacted. There were no particular concerns about these people , Mr Carpenter said.
They were reported missing by people not in close contact with them such as distant relatives or friends who may have lost contact with them a long time ago, he said.
New Zealand rescuers said today they held grave fears for 226 people still missing as the death toll from an earthquake reached 98.
Irish man Eoin McKenna was among the victims of the quake. He died when his car was crushed by falling debris. His family are en route from Co Monaghan to take his body home. The DFA said a second man who died is believed to have been married to an Irish woman and may have held dual Irish and British nationality.
Teams from quake-prone countries such as Japan and the United States sent in sniffer dogs and lowered microphones into piles of rubble to probe for signs of life, two days after the quake struck the country's second-biggest city.
"It's a dreadful, dreadful day, it's a hard day for the search and rescue people because everybody is full of hope we can find people in the rubble," said city Mayor Bob Parker as rescue teams failed to find any sign of life.
The ruin of the former Canterbury Television (CTV) building, which was also home to an English school for foreign students, had become a tomb, with 47 bodies pulled from the rubble and many more thought to be inside.
"Every few hours we stop and do a technical search just in case, but being realistic, based on what we've seen so far, we're not going to be seeing anyone alive coming out of that space," said fire rescue chief Jim Stuart Black.
The efforts of rescuers were hindered by the prospect of new collapses of damaged buildings, with most fears focused on a teetering 26-storey hotel tower.
Local police commander Dave Cliff said the death toll stood at 98 and expressed grave concern for 226 known still to be missing. Two infants of five and nine months were among the dead.
Teams rushed to a small church after it was believed that a woman's voice had been heard - apparently the first sign in more than 15 hours that people might still be alive. It turned out to be another false hope.
Prime minister John Key said the death toll was certain to rise, possibly dramatically. "We are very concerned that the death toll may rise much more rapidly than any of us had ever feared," he said. "Frankly it looks like a war zone from a helicopter. It's building after building after building that's collapsed."
The worst fears centred on the six-story CTV building, which was thought to be the deadliest single collapse with up to 120 people inside, including many missing Japanese students, caught as levels pancaked on to one another.
A newly arrived Japanese rescue team headed straight for the ruin, with around 30 of them in orange and blue overalls clambering over rubble with sniffer dogs.
In Japan, chief cabinet spokesman Yukio Edano said 27 Japanese were still missing in the South Island city, with many of those from the building's King's Education school.
The landmark Christ Church Cathedral was also thought to have between 16 and 22 bodies inside, although searchers have listed it as too dangerous to enter.
Rescuers faced the risk that a nearby 26-storey hotel could topple at any moment and trigger collapses among other damaged buildings. The Grand Chancellor Hotel was already leaning badly. "It's incredibly dangerous...if it hits the ground it will create a significant shock wave," Mayor Parker said.
Most rescue operations have focused on the central business district, which bore the brunt of the quake on Tuesday when streets and shops were filled with lunchtime crowds. More than 100 aftershocks have brought down more debris. Roads have buckled and large pools of water have welled up from broken pipes and sewers.
In places, roads had collapsed into a milky, sand-coloured lake beneath the surface, the result of Christchurch's sandy foundations mixing with subterranean water under the force of the quake. Officials call it "liquefaction" of the ground.
Officials said fresh teams from Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Singapore and the United States would allow for an expanded search of three square km littered with flattened buildings.
Additional reporting: Agencies