aftershocks

Christchurch residents are bracing for more aftershocks threatening to topple buildings already weakened by New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake in 80 years.

The city has been jolted by 38 aftershocks since Tuesday’s 6.3-magnitude temblor that killed at least 71 people, according to the Civil Defense Department website.

Rescuers aren't “getting a huge number of positive responses from the buildings where we would expect there to be more people trapped alive,” Prime Minister John Key told reporters in Wellington today.