Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The New Zealand Foreign Ministry said Friday Indonesians living in Christchurch who are difficult to contact by the Indonesian embassy in Wellington since the city was shocked by a 6.3-magnitude quake on Tuesday had been reportedly in a good condition.

The 17 Indonesians in Christchruch can now be contacted, and reportedly in a good condition, spokesman for the ministry Michael Tene said.

But since the quake victims in New Zealand continued to increase and not all reported, the Indonesian embassy continued monitoring at hospitals to find out whether they are Indonesians who fell victim to the quake.

In the meantime, on Thursday (Feb 24) the number of fatalities in the Christchurch quake had reached 76, but the number may continue to increase.

It appeared that in the beginning it showed that there were also fatalities from other countries because one of the buildings which had caved in was a school dormitory.

The police said 238 people were still missing in Christchurch, but it was possible that many of them had abandoned the city without notification. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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