Death Toll from New Zealand Earthquake Reaches 102

Rescue workers try and cut through large slabs of cement at the CTV building in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 24 February 2011.

The number of deaths in the tragic Christchurch earthquake has risen to a total of 102, with 228 still missing, New Zealand's Civil Defense Minister John Carter has said before the media.

"We have 102 confirmed fatalities, and the names of four of those have been released," he said. He clarified no further survivors have been found since Wednesday.

New Zealand experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude greater than 5.0.

Tuesday's was the county's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in the Hawke's Bay on the North Island, which killed 256 people.

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