One Irish man was among the 75 people confirmed dead following yesterday’s earthquake in New Zealand.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed the deaths this morning and said there are “strong concerns” for the safety of two other Irish people currently missing in the country’s second-largest city, Christchurch.
A department official later said attempts were being made to contact just under 50 people believed to be in the area. Some 200 Irish people were registered as being in the city, where some 300 people are still missing.
The man who died has been named as Eoin McKenna from Co Monaghan who was married to a New Zealand woman. It is understood Mr McKenna had been living in New Zealand for about six years and worked as a psychiatric nurse. He died when he was hit by falling masonry as he drove his car through Christchurch with the earthquake struck.
Another man who died and who was originally believed to have been Irish, was not. It is understood he was a non-Irish national married to an Irish woman. He too had been living in the country for several years.
Ireland’s honorary consul in New Zealand Rodney Walshe said the families have been informed. “Families know, I have spoken with both families. They’re all aware of the situation,” he said.
Hundreds of troops, police and emergency workers raced against time and aftershocks which threatened to collapse more buildings in Christchurch today. They picked gingerly through the ruins, poking heat-seeking cameras into gaps between tumbles of bricks and sending sniffer dogs over concrete slabs.
Teams have arrived in the country from Australia, the United States, Britain and Japan and elsewhere in Asia, along with a military field hospital and workers to help repair power, water and phone lines which were damaged in all corners of the city of some 350,000 people.
The news was grim at the Canterbury Television building, a seven-storey concrete-and-glass structure which housed the regional TV network.
An English language school used by young visitors from Japan and South Korea was also located there.
The heavy concrete floors lay piled on top of one another, its central stairwell tower still standing, but leaning precariously.
"We don't believe this site is now survivable," police operations commander Inspector Dave Lawry told reporters. He said rescuers were moving to sites which were less dangerous and where there was more hope for survivors.
Canterbury TV chairman Nick Smith said 15 of his employees were still missing inside the collapsed building, including morning anchorwoman Donna Manning.
Also among the missing were 10 Japanese language students from a group of at least 23 students and teachers who were believed to have been in the building, said Teppei Asano, a Japanese official monitoring the situation.
Not far away, cheers erupted as rescuers pulled a woman from another crumpled office tower.
Ann Bodkin was reunited with her husband after a painstaking rescue from the twisted metal and concrete remains of the Pyne Gould Guinness building. Giant sunbeams burst through the city's grey, drizzly weather as she emerged.
"They got Ann out of the building, and God turned on the lights," Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said.
Police Superintendent Russell Gibson said the last survivor had been pulled out at 2pm today local time and no trapped quake survivors had been found since.
He said the operation had become one of body recovery, but he rejected suggestions that rescuers were abandoning hope of finding more survivors.
"Yes, we are still looking for survivors," he said on National Radio. "There are pockets within a number of these buildings and, provided people haven't been crushed, there is no reason to suggest we will not continue to get survivors out of there."
He said the search continued in the Canterbury Television building, but "the signs don't look good. There has been a fire in there... We will continue to pull that building apart, piece by piece, until we are satisfied there are no more survivors."
The director of New Zealand's ministry of civil defence and emergency management, John Hamilton, has said rescue teams have a window of only two or three days to find people after yesterday's 6.3-magnitude earthquake.
Much of the city remained without power and water, and hundreds of people queued for water supplies brought in.
It was New Zealand's most deadly natural disaster for 80 years, and one estimate said the damage could cost $12 billion.
To avoid more deaths and curb crime, police and the military placed an overnight curfew on the central business district, with soldiers patrolling in armoured personnel carriers as aftershocks rattled the unstable centre.
Authorities also placed an exclusion zone around the hotel, which teetered near collapse, threatening nearby buildings.
"If the Hotel Grand Chancellor falls, and three engineers say it is a significant risk, that will be dramatic, a domino effect in the central city of other unstable buildings. It will be a major disaster," said police Superintendent Dave Cliff.
Rescue teams had to perform amputations to free some of the 120 survivors pulled from the wreckage of the tremor, which was the second strong quake to hit the historic tourist city in five months.
A national state of emergency has been declared. It is the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in the North Island city of Napier which killed 256.
Christchurch Hospital received an influx of injured residents, with broken limbs, crush injuries and lacerations.
Thousands of people were facing a second night in emergency shelters in local schools, community halls and at a racecourse. Pope Benedict sent a message of support for survivors and rescuers from the Vatican.
"My thoughts turn especially to the people there who are being severely tested by this tragedy," he said. "I also ask you to join me in praying for all who have lost their lives."
When asked about possible costs, prime minister John Key told reporters: "No one's in a position to actually assess that." He said he hoped Christchurch could still host rugby World Cup matches later this year as planned.
Key said the country could afford to rebuild Christchurch, but reinsurance risk would probably worsen.
Additional reporting Reuters