(lubavitch.com) Two days after a 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch, rescuers are still struggling to extricate victims trapped in the rubble. With the number of dead or missing at 400 and growing, relatives of those as yet unaccounted are frantically trying to locate them. 

Since the Tuesday quake—described as New Zealand’s worst natural disaster in 80 years— the city’s Chabad rabbis have been fielding a deluge of phone calls. There are about 150 Israeli backpackers in the area at any given time, and their families back home are desperate to make contact with them. 

“At the moment, our focus is to ensure the whereabouts and safety of both the local residents and the Israeli travelers,” said Rabbi Mendel Goldstein, Director of Chabad of New Zealand. “We are inundated with calls from relatives concerned about their loved ones—many are giving us addresses and asking us to check in on them. One local couple had not eaten since the quake struck when we were alerted to them. Most places don’t have running water or electricity.”

Supermarkets have largely remained closed. When one opened for a few hours on Wednesday, people rushed in from surrounding areas, stocking up and emptying store shelves at a frenetic pace. Now that the ground has quite literally been pulled from under their feet, “people are afraid—they don’t know what to expect,” said local Chabad representative Tzipi Friedman.

As aftershocks continue to rock the area, Rabbi Shmuly Friedman, co-director of Chabad of Canterbury, together with volunteers and a counselor from the Israeli embassy are working to locate the backpackers get them out of Christchurch. “We are trying to get them to Wellington or to the North Island,” areas that are more stable, and where the local Jewish community has opened its doors to those stranded, explained Goldstein. 

Among the many victims confirmed so far was an Israeli backpacker who was killed when a pillar fell onto the car he was driving; another is being treated for injuries at a local hospital. Thankfully, there were only three people in the Chabad Center, a popular hangout for Israeli travelers, when its roof came tumbling down. 

“Two days prior to the earthquake, we had 100 people at the Chabad Center,” Goldstein told Lubavitch.com. “But at the time of impact there were only three people there.” One of them was Rabbi Friedman.

“My husband was in the Chabad Center when he saw the roof fall in. He ran and did not look back,” said his wife, Tzipi.

Tzipi was in her fifth floor apartment with her one year old son when everything started to shake wildly. “The ovens came out of the socket, cupboards came down, everything started to fly—I ran to get my son but the floor was shaking back and forth,” making moving from one room to the next a terrifying challenge. 

As soon as the first massive tremor stopped, Tzipi and her son escaped the building. Outside they were greeted by a horrible scene of raining bricks and buildings coming apart. 

In the meantime the Friedmans are staying at the home of a member of the local Jewish community. Many others are doing the same, and staying with friends or family while they learn more about the destruction, the extent of the damage to their homes, and figure out what to do next. 

Rabbi Goldstein says that while Chabad "will certainly focus on rebuilding," that’s not his priority at this time. "Right now, we want to help people in distress." While they continue to do so, the Rabbi says he's "asking everyone to pray for those who are still trapped or missing.”

To learn more, go to chabadnz.org