New Zealand's Christchurch was on Friday rocked by a fresh series of powerful earthquakes, sending terrified people fleeing into the streets 10 months after a devastating quake claimed 181 lives.

Two shallow quakes of magnitude 5.8 and 5.9 and a series of aftershocks struck as the town center was packed with afternoon Christmas shoppers, sending stock tumbling from the shelves and turning the festive mood to panic.

Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami in March are set to make 2011 the costliest year on record for natural disasters, German insurance giant Munich Re said on Tuesday.

Total economic losses for the first six months alone were $265 billion, easily exceeding the $220 billion recorded for the whole of 2005, previously the most expensive year to date, Munich Re said.

A series of strong quakes, including a 6.0-magnitude tremor, rocked New Zealand's stricken Christchurch Monday, causing one building to collapse and prompting evacuations.

Power company Orion said electricity had been cut to 54,000 homes. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the latest quake at a depth of nine kilometers and some 14 kilometers from the country's second largest city.

New Zealand warned frantic relatives to brace for the worst Friday as toiling rescuers failed to find any more survivors after a devastating earthquake left at least 113 dead.

As rain hampered the painstaking search of the wreckage in Christchurch's city center, Foreign Minister Murray McCully admitted: "The rescue focus is drawing towards a conclusion."

Lebanon’s ambassador to Australia said there were no Lebanese victims in the deadly earthquake that struck one of New Zealand's largest cities on Tuesday.

The foreign ministry said Wednesday that Ambassador Jean Daniel informed it that no Lebanese were injured or missing in the quake that hit the city of Christchurch.

Hundreds of rescuers swarmed over twisted and smoking buildings Wednesday in a frantic search for survivors after New Zealand's catastrophic earthquake left nearly 400 dead or missing.

Emergency services cordoned off central Christchurch, which was devastated by Tuesday's shallow, 6.3-magnitude tremor, to hunt for anyone still alive along with an unknown number of bodies buried in the rubble.

A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake Tuesday killed 65 people and trapped dozens more under flattened buildings in New Zealand's most devastating tremor in 80 years.

Frantic rescuers and bystanders dug for survivors and thousands of panicked residents rushed into the streets of Christchurch, just six months after a 7.0 quake weakened buildings in the southern city of 340,000.