Christchurch , New Zealand ( CNN ) -- The death toll from the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch this week has risen to 113 , police said Friday morning . More people are feared dead , and more than 200 are still missing , police said . Police Superintendent Dave Cliff told reporters that he had `` grave fears '' for the missing and authorities were having difficulty identifying victims because of the condition of the bodies found . The somber announcement came as authorities carried out more house-to-house searches in a desperate hunt for survivors . The quake struck Tuesday , toppling buildings , buckling streets and ripping the facades of iconic churches , including the Christchurch Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament . A series of aftershocks followed . Officials said they had given up hope of rescuing at least 100 people who were trapped in the Canterbury TV building in downtown Christchurch . Police said they were `` 100 % certain '' no one in the building was still alive . Authorities fear that trapped occupants in another structure , the Pyne Gould Corp. Building , are also dead . Among those missing were 27 Japanese students , Japan 's foreign ministry said . Most of them were students at language schools , and five were on personal study trips . Kento Okuda , a Japanese student who was pulled from the rubble of the Toyoma Foreign Language College , told Japan 's Asahi Shimbun newspaper that he was having lunch on the fourth-floor cafeteria when the floor gave way . As he and others lay trapped under debris , the students shouted out to each other to get a count of how many of them were alive , Okuda told the newspaper . Many of their fellow Japanese students did not respond . But there have some rare rays of hope in the rescue efforts . One was Anne Vos who was rescued Wednesday from the rubble of the Pyne Gould building in the central business district , according to Australian and New Zealand media . Vos was able to call family members from her cell phone while covered by rubble . `` A couple of hours ago , I thought I 'd had it , '' she told New Zealand network TV3 Tuesday . `` I thought it was 'Goodbye Anne . ' `` Like some 430 people who have been admitted to emergency rooms since the quake , Vos was taken to a hospital to recuperate . Southern New Zealand has been hit by a series of quakes since September 4 when a 7.1-magnitude temblor struck the area . There were no deaths from that quake , which struck deeper below ground and farther away from Christchurch . Tuesday 's earthquake was part of the `` aftershock sequence '' from the September earthquake , the U.S. Geological Survey said . CNN 's Anna Coren contributed to this report .
Police say they have `` grave fears '' for the missing . Rescuers continue house-to-house searches in Christchurch . Authorities said more than 200 people are missing .