New Zealand authorities expect the death toll from the devastating Christchurch earthquake to rise significantly in the next few days, according to AAP.
The toll stands at 113 and 228 people are still listed as missing.
AFP reports that the arrival of Chinese and British rescuers swelled the multi-national effort to more than 600. However, rain and aftershocks made conditions tough and dangerous, with one fire official hit on his helmet by falling masonry.
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Christchurch police commander Superintendent Dave Cliff says the forecast is for continual rain, which means masonry will become even more unstable and this presents a particular risk.
Nobody has been rescued alive from collapsed buildings for 48 hours, but police insist they're still looking for survivors and not just recovering bodies.
Police disaster victim identification commander Mike Wright says more than 100 staff are working to identify victims using fingerprints, DNA, dental records and personal information.
Up to 122 people are unaccounted for in the CTV building, including 90 international students and staff from private training school King's Education, while hope has faded for survivors at the flattened PGC building.
Officials say 26 Chinese nationals are missing along with at least 26 Japanese, 12 Filipinos and a South Korean brother and sister. Two British nationals are among the dead.
With 90 percent of the city centre already combed, Civil Defence Minister John Carter said rescuers were now searching quieter areas like back alleys and lanes.
"They are now going into places such as alleyways where people would have been coming back and forward from work to go to lunch, where they suspect that there are people under the rubble of the facades," he said.
