MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

About 70.000 people, 20% of the population have fled from Christchurch

Rescue officials say no bodies were found in the rubble of the city's iconic cathedral

About 70,000 people, or 20% of the population, have fled Christchurch, New Zealand's second-largest city, since last week's devastating earthquake, Mayor Bob Parker said Friday.

Air New Zealand said that it had flown about 60,000 people out of the South Island's main city and ferry operators reported a surge in passengers and vehicles on services across Cook Strait to the North Island.

Health officials in Auckland, the country's largest city, predicted a short-term population increase of 21,000 as people moved north.

The mayor of Timaru, 165 kilometers south of Christchurch, Janie Annear said 7,000 new arrivals had increased her city's population by a fifth over the last week.

The centre of Christchurch was devastated by the magnitude-6.3 quake on February 22 and 165 deaths have been confirmed though police have said they believe the final toll will be about 220.

The search for survivors was formally abandoned Thursday to become a body recovery operation. The quake followed about 5,000 aftershocks after the city was damaged by a 7.1 quake on September 4. Reports say the constant shaking has put residents' nerves at breaking point.

Christchurch's Deputy Mayor Ngaire Button said people were sure to return to the city because it would still resonate as the place where they belong.

One of only five working time ball stations in the world, at the Christchurch port of Lyttelton, was reported Friday as a casualty of the quake.

The stone fortress-like structure, built in 1876, has a large ball which dropped down a mast on top of the building at 1 pm every day to signal the hour for visiting ships to set their chronometers.

Bruce Chapman, chief executive of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, said the landmark, which had category one preservation status, was too badly damaged by the quake to save.

'It is with enormous regret that we must take this step, but public safety is paramount,' he told The Press newspaper's website