Following an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Tuesday, a woman was rescued from a building.
At least 65 people were confirmed deceased after the 6.3-magnitude earthquake, according to Prime Minister John Key.
According to the Associated Press, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker announced a state of emergency and ordered the evacuation of the city's downtown district.
Emergency services were seen rescuing terrified and injured persons from the impacted buildings, including one four-story structure, the Pine Gould Guinness building, which was partially destroyed by the quake, according to television footage from the area provided by 3 News New Zealand.
People were being evacuated from another building that had caught fire shortly after the tremor, according to emergency crews.
The search and rescue mission was being complicated by intense aftershocks to the zone, they said.
"Government agencies and emergency services are still piecing together a picture of the destruction," Bill English, New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister, told reporters in Wellington.
"We are aware of multiple reports of deaths, but we are unable to verify them."
Mr. English and Civil Defense Minister John Carter both claimed that Christchurch's main hospital, which suffered minimal damage, was expecting a substantial number of victims.
A number of earthquake patients have already been evacuated to hospitals outside of the disaster area.
The Christchurch Airport was closed and said on its website that it would reopen on Wednesday morning exclusively for domestic flights.
People running through the streets, enormous landslides dumping boulders and rubble into suburban streets, and extensive damage to the landmark. Christchurch Cathedral were all captured on camera and film in Christchurch, New Zealand's second-largest city with a population of about 400,00 people.
"The most terrifying thing I've ever witnessed," one witness said.
Just before 1 p.m. local time, a tremor struck the country's South Island.
The earthquake was the most recent in a string of big tremors that have struck in recent months.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the same region in September, but no one was hurt.
The first 6.3-magnitude quake was followed by a series of aftershocks, according to the US Geological Survey, and was part of an aftershock sequence after a 7.0-magnitude quake last September.
Mr. Carter stated, "There is more severe damage to buildings than there was after the original earthquake."
The tremor on Tuesday was centered approximately six miles from downtown Christchurch and was only three miles deep, making it potentially more damaging.
Several news agencies reported widespread devastation in the nearby village of Lyttleton, which was closest to the epicenter of the quake, although no pictures from the scene were immediately available.
"The earthquake itself was extremely severe, with a lot of movement," said Jason Tweedie, a 40-year-old Christchurch resident who was seated in his four-wheel-drive at the time of the quake.
"It felt like ten people were shaking the side of it at the same time, since there was so much energy."
Mr. Tweedie said the tremor poured hundreds of gallons of water and silt into the streets, and the road in his coastal suburb of New Brighton looked to open up and swallow multiple cars in some places.
Julian Sanderson was in his first-floor apartment in an ancient brick movie theater when the walls and roof around him began to crumble.
"I had to kick out the front door to get out when it all stopped," the 41-year-old stated over the phone, standing in front of his nearly-collapsed building.
"I used to work in that building as a furniture maker, but things have changed recently."
The clothes we're wearing right now are all we have."