New Zealand begins Earthquake clear-up-6 September 2010- Reporter:
New Zealand has declared an official state of emergency following a massive earthquake that caused extensive damage to the country's second largest city, Christchurch.

The working week has begun in Christchurch but people in many parts of the city speak of an eerie quiet, with the streets still strewn with rubble and shattered glass.
No buses are running and thousands of people are off work because the central business district remains cordoned off; some 90 buildings in this area have yet to be declared safe and police say there's a risk from falling masonry and glass.
Some residents are still without anywhere to stay; around 150 people had to spend another night in welfare centres. Schools are closed and sewage is leaking from broken pipes, threatening water supplies. Officials from the Ministry of Civil Defence say aftershocks have continued since Saturday, and the threat of more – up to a magnitude of six – will remain for the next week. Predicted gale-force winds never made it to Christchurch on Sunday, but there's been heavy rain, doing nothing to help the clean up efforts.
Shirley Gordon, BBC News, London

Vocabulary

Eerie= strange and frightening

Strewn= covered untidily

Rubble= piles of broken stones and bricks

Shattered= broken into tiny pieces

cordoned off= placed behind a rope barrier to prevent people from entering

masonry= bricks and stones used to make buildings

welfare centres= buildings to provide shelter for vulnerable people, particularly homeless people

sewage= human waste

aftershocks= smaller earthquakes that happen after the main earthquake

gale-force winds= very strong movements of air

NASA to help trapped Chilean miners-1 September 2010

Experts from the U.S. space agency NASA are due to arrive today at the copper mine in Chile, where 33 miners are still trapped