Silence to mark quake

NEW ZEALAND held two minutes’ silence to mark a week since an earthquake devastated the city of Christchurch.

Rescue crews still picking through the rubble retrieving bodies were among those who stopped work and bowed their heads, along with millions of other people across the country at 12.51pm local time.

The magnitude 6.3 quake brought down or badly damaged office towers, churches and thousands of homes and other buildings in the city of 350,000 in one of New Zealand’s worst disasters.