A badly damaged building on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street in central Christchurch. Photo / Sarah Ivey
Tracking today's events as they happen on day 11 of the Christchurch earthquake disaster.
5.48pm
That concludes our latest updates on the Christchurch earthquake disaster for today. Please join us tomorrow for ongoing coverage. Thanks.
5.00pm
Canterbury University is extending accommodation offers to staff and students affected by the earthquake.
The Student Village has been giving free board to around half a dozen people over the past week.
Accommodation manager Darel Hall is expecting demand to rise and says longer term offers of $99 a week rent will be available from next week.
He says they'll let it run to the end of the year for any staff or students that need it.
4.55pm
All of Christchurch's main entertainment centres are now open for business.
Vbase, which manages AMI Stadium, the CBS Canterbury Arena, the Convention Centre and the Town Hall, says all venues have been quake checked and are safe to use.
Chief executive Bryan Pearson says they're all structurally sound and back in full operation.
He says scheduled big events, such as the upcoming Metallica concert, will proceed as planned.
4.50pm
Workers have repaired about 200 breaks in pipes in and around Kaiapoi and the surrounding communities.
About 60 workers from the Waimakariri District Council, other local authorities and contractors had been working dawn until dusk over the past nine days to restore water supplies, Waimakariri District Council utilities manager Gary Boot said today.
"The guys have literally been working every daylight hour possible.
"We've had some setbacks, with aftershocks reopening or creating new breaks, but are now comfortable we are well and truly on top of things."
Water was restored to all of The Pines and Kairaki Beach, except for a few isolated properties, late last week and was now available to all residential houses in Kaiapoi. Anyone still without water was most likely to have a break somewhere on their property itself, Mr Boot said.
"Our primary focus has been repairing the infrastructure under the road, which has been significantly damaged in the quake.
"There may well still be some issues for households with damage to pipes that take the supply from the street to their house," he said.
Owners who were no longer occupying their properties should talk to a plumber about any necessary repairs.
Council chief executive Jim Palmer said today the council could help people still living in their homes who did not have water or sewerage services, provided the fault lay between the house and the road.
"Where the fault lies on the section itself, and where our staff are still working in the area, it makes sense for us to do what we can to effect the repair rather than a homeowner having to wait for a tradesman to get to them, given some have been waiting several days already for services to be restored."
Any issues either inside or under a house, however, would need to be addressed by a plumber, Mr Palmer said.
If anyone noticed sewage overflowing through a gully trap, toilet or outside of the property, they should call the council immediately, he said.
The council would not be repairing any storm water or drainage breaks on properties, Mr Palmer said.
4.43pm
District Court jury trials will resume in Christchurch tomorrow, Minister for Courts Georgina te Heuheu says.
Six trials were postponed last week following the earthquake.
All court services in Christchurch were now operating as usual and there were no significant delays because of the quake, Mrs te Heuheu said.
The judiciary and jurors had agreed to resume trials, she said.
"Despite the obvious distress and disruption suffered by staff and their families our courts were ready for business on the Monday after the earthquake.
"It can't have been easy for them to turn their minds to work after the harrowing experiences caused by the earthquake, but they showed great professionalism and commitment."
There were no High Court jury trials scheduled last week, the next one was due to start next Monday.
3.44pm
Christchurch mayoral candidate Jim Anderton will hold a public meeting tonight to discuss rebuilding the "people's city".
The meeting in Woolston, chaired by Dame Anne Hercus, will include three guest speakers.
Heritage conservation expert Dr Ian Lochhead told NZPA he would speak about the importance of protecting Christchurch's historic buildings.
"This is not just Christchurch and Canterbury's architectural heritage - it's New Zealand's heritage," he said.
Christchurch had a "very high proportion" of buildings classified as category one with the Historic Places Trust, and the city stood to lose many of those buildings if residents were not "proactive".
"Unless we get on to it they are going to start deteriorating and temporary measures are not going to do the job.
"People have suddenly become aware of how precious architectural heritage is to them because they've suddenly realised how vulnerable it is."
2.54pm
More than 50,000 claims for damaged homes from the Canterbury earthquake have gone to the Earthquake Commission (EQC) and some of the smaller ones should be paid out later this week.
Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has also confirmed that Cantabrians affected by the earthquake will have late payment penalties to the IRD waived where appropriate. (NZPA)
2.48pm
Tourism operator Haka Tours is offering 40 per cent off its seven-day
on Sept 16 for anyone who experienced the earthquake.
2.40pm
The Herald's Jarrod Booker has the harrowing story of the Christchurch man who was
in his home by falling debris on the night of the big earthquake.
2.15pm
Christchurch mayoral candidate Jim Anderton will hold a public meeting tonight to discuss rebuilding the "people's city".
The meeting in Woolston, chaired by Dame Anne Hercus, will include three guest speakers.
Heritage conservation expert Dr Ian Lochhead told NZPA he would speak about the importance of protecting Christchurch's historic buildings.
1.48pm
Work and Income staff have been busy checking up on how the elderly in Christchurch are faring following the quake.
WINZ staff have contacted over 16,000 superannuitants by phone and home visited another 700 since Sept 4.
"It was really important to check on those elderly living alone and provide help where needed and I've been overwhelmed by the appreciation," says Social Development minister Paula Bennett.
1.40pm
soccer fans have rallied in support of the people of Canterbury.
The club organised a collection at the Phoenix's home game against Sydney last Saturday, raising $2777 for the mayoral relief fund.
"Christchurch is the Phoenix's home away from home and I'm so impressed that our fans have shown their support for a city and region doing it tough," said club chairman Terry Serepisos.
1.32pm
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has announced a team of leading architects and urban designers will offer their time free of charge to come up with ideas for the rebuilding of Christchurch after the earthquake.
The team will be headed by top Wellington architect Ian Athfield.
The public will then have their say on the plans. (Some ideas for how to to go forward from here can be found in nzherald's
section today.)
1.25pm
This
has been set up with the aim of preserving an important part of Christchurch's heritage by saving historic buildingss from demolition.
1pm
nzherald business writer Susie Nordqvist looks at the
big surge in insurance-related inquiries
being fielded by insurance companies all over New Zealand in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake.
12.28pm
Demand for Canterbury rental properties has sharply increased since the big earthquake, say several real estate companies.
Inquiries had increased "quite dramatically" and there would be an "imminent shortage" in rentals within a week, says Tony McPherson, who has a property management firm.
About 3000 Christchurch homes were currently uninhabitable due to the quake, he told NZPA.
12pm
GeoNet reports another aftershock late this morning centred
20km south-west of Christchurch
.
12pm
Anyone wishing to make donations towards earthquake relief in Canterbury can do so in these ways:
The Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal 2010.
Call 0900 33 200 to make an automatic $20 donation. You can FreeTXT 'QUAKE' to 555 to donate $5 or FreeTXT 'QUAKE' to 333 to donate $3 from any Vodafone mobile. Through banks such as ASB, ANZ/National and KiwiBank.
and/or
The Salvation Army Canterbury Earthquake Appeal.
* Phone 0800 530 000, or donate online. Donations by post to: The Salvation Army Canterbury Earthquake Appeal, PO Box 27001, Marion Square, Wellington 6141, New Zealand.
12pm
Here are some new
by architectural & building industry specialists Barrington Arch of Christchurch.
11.44am
A building standards review should be put on hold in light of the Christchurch earthquake, the Building Industry Federation says.
A request has been made to Standards New Zealand to delay publication of an updated standard (NZS 3064) until recommendations can be looked at after the September 4 quake. (NZPA)
11.29am
LONDON CALLING: The New Zealand Society in the UK today launched a Canterbury earthquake fund with a £5000 donation to start with.
The society had been inundated with requests from New Zealanders and New Zealand organisations in London seeking a way to make a donation, society president Michelle Marsh said today.
11.10am
Airline passenger movements at Christchurch International Airport have remained steady since the earthquake, apart from a significant dip on the day of the quake when the airport was closed for seven hours.
CIAL chief executive Jim Boult said passenger movements were comparable to the same time last year.
10.55am
SH1 north of Christchurch remains closed following a major slip near Kaikoura on Friday night.
Crews worked overnight on the site last night for the first time, as the site was previously deemed to dangerous to work on at night.
A diversion using an inland route enables North-South traffic to continue, with 90 minute delays.
The Transport Agency hopes to have one lane of SH1 open for traffic by Thursday at the earliest.
KiwiRail has been forced to move freight by road as the slip has blocked the Main North Line which runs along the Kaikoura coastline. The TranzCoastal passenger service between Picton and Christchurch has also been suspended.
10.16am
More info from regional website
:
An on-ramp to State Highway 1 north of Christchurch has reopened.
The Transport Agency says the on-ramp at Chaney's had been repaired after it was damaged by the earthquake but the surface remained unsealed, so a 50kph speed restriction is in place.
10.10am
Mary McCallum, writer of the award-winning 2007 novel
The Blue
, has dedicated
to the victims of the Canterbury earthquake. It's awesome - check it out.
10.00am
Christchurch has just had its biggest aftershock of the day so far.
The
hit the city at 9.12am.
It was nine kilometres deep and centred 20km south east of Darfield.
That was the city's seventh aftershock of the day.
9.58am
Christchurch city council candidate Peter Taylor writes on his blog about the
of a well-known feature on the Port Hills landscape.
9.25am
Christchurch's earthquake emergency has contaminataed the city's waterways with sewerage and wastewater overflows.
Environment Canterbury says the Avon, Heathcote, Halswell and Styx rivers, the Estuary, and the tidal reaches of the Kaiapoi River should be avoided until further notice.
9.20am
Christchurch's
has emerged unscathed from the Canterbury earthquake and will resume performances this week.
Chief executive Philip Aldridge, who was with engineers as they inspected the buildings, said the theatre was completely undamaged.
Their two current productions are
Eros
and
Don't Mention Casablanca
.
9.05am
Ideas are coming through thick and fast about how Christchurch can now rebuild itself bolder and better than ever before. Worth checking out three opinion pieces in our special
section on nzherald.co.nz, written by
,
and
.
8.54am
A total of 6050 buildings in Christchurch have now been inspected and tagged either red, yellow or green. 83 per cent have received a green placard, 14 per cent have received yellow and just three per cent have received red (=unsafe to enter).
8.45am
As Canterbury officially moves from "emergency" status to "recovery" mode,
this website, recovercanterbury.co.nz,
is a good starting place for small to medium businesses.
8.25am
SPECIAL SOUVENIR: A 48-page full-colour APN publication called
Earthquake
is jam-packed with photos and is available for $5 from
offices nationwide.
This will be one to show the grandchildren in years to come.
All proceeds go to the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal.
8.12am
The Transport Agency has opened Kaikoura inland route 70 to buses and light trucks. No trailers however.
8.05am
FRIENDLY EAR: The Samaritans have extended their free phone coverage to help those in need of someone to talk to after the Canterbury earthquake.
"We need to be there to help in this time of need," says Samaritans (NZ) chairman Bruce Wall.
The number to call is 0800 726 666.
8.02am
There has been a series of aftershocks in the early hours of this morning. Typical was
, a 3.4 magnitude quake, at around half past three.
8.00am
Over the year to June 2011, Treasury expects the Canterbury earthquake to boost GDP by 0.5 per cent, and by a further 0.3 per cent the following year, Herald economics editor Brian Fallow
. This is due to the enormous amount of recovery work that will be generated.
OPINION: New Zealander reflects on delivering speech at St James' Palace.