New Zealand: Quake toll rises past 100

Police in New Zealand say they have recovered more bodies in Christchurch, taking the official death toll from the earthquake to 103, but with about 200 people still missing that number is expected to go a lot higher.

Rescuers have not found anyone alive since Wednesday afternoon and there are grave fears for 120 people inside the Canterbury TV (CTV) building which collapsed in Tuesday's devastating 6.3-magnitude quake.

But Allen Walley from New Zealand's national crisis management centre says search and rescue teams are not giving up.

"The focus and the priority still remains on search and rescue," he said.

"As long as the experts on the ground still believe there's a chance of finding people, then it will remain a search and rescue, but yes it is 60 hours, more than 60 hours since the earthquake."

Prime minister John Key says many of the missing are likely to have died in the country's worst natural disaster for 80 years.

"The police have been in contact with about 200 families where there is every likelihood that that person should have returned home and they haven't," Mr Key said.

Police commander Dave Cliff said two infants of five months and nine months were among the dead, some of whom were identified for the first time yesterday.

Officials say the process of identifying the dead must be accurate and releasing their bodies to families will take time.

Rescue efforts were hindered by the prospect of new collapses of damaged buildings, with most fears focused on the teetering Hotel Grand Chancellor as hundreds of aftershocks continued, many with magnitudes of around 4.0.

Onlookers told NZ television they could see the 26-storey hotel tower, around which an exclusion zone is being enforced by soldiers and police, shudder as they watched.

The casualty fears centred on the six-storey CTV building, which was thought to have had up to 120 people inside when it collapsed.

But the landmark Christchurch Cathedral was also thought to have between 16 and 22 bodies inside, although searchers have listed it as too dangerous to enter.

Australia is sending more help to the devastated city with more than 200 police officers due to leave from Sydney and Melbourne later this morning.

Christchurch's mayor Bob Parker says everyone has to work together to get through this tragedy.