Masked student superhero Flat Man has launched a winter offensive to help hard-up families still doing it tough in post-earthquake Christchurch.

Some Christchurch families are shattered after learning the Ministry of Education was closing their beloved schools as part of the $1 billion city schools shake-up.

Seven Christchurch schools will be closed and six will be merged from next year, Education Minister Hekia Parata has confirmed.

Seven workers were banned from the central city rebuild in March after returning positive drug tests.

Asbestos piping has been found buried at the QEII Stadium demolition site in Christchurch.

Some Christchurch residents with land in the red zone are calling in the Human Rights Commission as a deadline looms for a Government buy-out offer.

Two years ago today, with a force equal to 15,000 tonnes of TNT, came the devastating aftershock that scientists hoped they would never see.

Predicting earthquakes is generally seen as not possible - but in the 1970s some eventual flops sparked a brief stir in the scientific community.

The Government has teamed up with Microsoft in Christchurch to strengthen the technology capability of 50 non-profit organisations - some badly affected by the Canterbury earthquakes.

The first cardboard cladding tubes, each weighing 120kg, were installed to shape the $5.3 million A-frame building.

Canterbury property owners with earthquake-damaged land are likely to share some $2 billion in payouts as the Earthquake Commission gears up to settle land claims.

The highly-acclaimed Student Volunteer Army which mobilised in the immediate aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes is moving into a new phase of community service projects, its new president says.

A High Court judge has stepped in to halt the demolition of the earthquake-crippled Christ Church Cathedral.

Traffic will be slowed and pedestrians given priority in post-quake Christchurch under a draft transport plan, which the public is now invited to have their say on.

A fight is looming between earthquake repair workers and their bosses over the city council's controversial free days off.

Sweeping changes to the Christchurch public transport system will be introduced next month, with buses on major routes set to run every 10 minutes at peak times.

Stressed Christchurch council office workers will get an extra day's paid holiday each month, but their colleagues helping rebuild the quake-damaged city won't be getting it.

Mainzeal has completed laying the slab which will be the base of the new Airforce Museum in Wigram, Chrictchurch. Until they move in it will be a pop up conference centre and help out other museums affected by the earthquakes.

Christchurch's determination to rise from the rubble has been richly rewarded with a spot in Lonely Planet's top 10 cities worldwide to visit in 2013.