Search teams using dogs, heavy cranes and earth movers worked through dawn Wednesday in one of New Zealand's largest cities, trying frantically to find survivors amid the crumbled concrete, twisted metal and huge mounds of brick left by a powerful earthquake.

But they fear that the death toll _ officially at least 65 as of Wednesday morning local time _ could quickly rise, ranking the disaster among the island nation's worst earthquakes in 80 years. Officials say at least 100 more people are missing.