The jackhammers fell silent, church bells pealed, and a Maori lament filled the air as New Zealand came to a standstill today to mourn the estimated 240 people killed in an earthquake one week ago Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011.

Flags were lowered to half-staff and people gathered in groups in cities and towns to bow their heads for two minutes of silence at 12:51 p.m., the moment when the quake struck Christchurch.

Related: Day 1 Slideshow and Day 2 Slideshow

The hundreds of rescue and recovery workers in the shattered city of 350,000, who have been clambering over and through the wreckage nonstop since the quake struck, took a moment to pause and turn dusty faces to the sky or the ground. Friends and neighbors hugged each other. Traffic halted in the streets.

The magnitude 6.3 quake struck within a few miles of downtown Christchurch, when the southern city was bustling with workers, shoppers, and tourists going about their activities. It brought down or badly damaged office towers, churches and thousands of homes across the city.

Police said Tuesday they have pulled 155 bodies from the wreckage, and said the number of others missing and feared dead indicated a final death toll higher than previously thought.

Photos taken during the week after the disaster show both the extent of damage and the resilience of the human spirit as the long road to recovery begins. They begin on the next page.

Special Reports /

New Zealand: One Week Later &mdash; Slideshow

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New Zealand: One Week Later — Slideshow