Expert earthquake engineers will be trained in Christchurch to help with the $30 billion rebuild, it was announced today.

The Government today reaffirmed its commitment to driving the unparalleled $30 billion rebuild of post-earthquake Christchurch.

Christchurch's Cindy Gibb made a deal with her husband - one day she'd be able to travel the world to places where nursing skills were in short supply and work.

A man posing as an earthquake contractor will appear in court next month accused of raiding red-zoned houses in the hard-hit eastern suburbs of Christchurch.

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.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague lands in Christchurch today and has made touring the quake-battered inner city red zone a priority.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has made touring the Christchurch red zone a priority during his visit to New Zealand, Foreign Minister Murray McCully says.

The aftershocks have all but stopped, but few in Christchurch dare mention the easing of the earth's fury.

A travel company has given 100 of its staff affected by the Christchurch earth-quakes a special Christmas bonus.

Christchurch will have a waterfront park development stretching for 3km along the Avon River as one the first key projects in the central city rebuild, announced today.

Levi and India-Rose Gilbert will never get to know their dad, a hero who died saving his sister from falling masonry during the February 22 earthquake.

The Government's anticipated final bill for the Canterbury Earthquakes has risen again, topping the $13 billion mark in today's Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update.

The manager of Stadium Southland says there are no concerns with the construction of the new $35 million arena, which is designed by Alan Reay whose firm designed Christchurch's CTV building.

The three main protagonists highlighted in a royal commission report into the CTV disaster have gone to ground today.

An inter-agency plan was released today to strengthen the role of Civil Defence, so it can better respond to civil emergencies such as the Christchurch earthquake.

The Christchurch firm that designed the ill-fated CTV office block may have built similar buildings that the council does not know about and have since gone unchecked, officials admitted today.

Families and friends of the 115 people killed in the February 2011 collapse of the CTV building are calling for legal action against those they feel are responsible.

Lessons will be learned, future lives saved, but for families of Canterbury Television building earthquake victims there will never be closure.

A series of errors over 20 years led to the catastrophic collapse of the CTV building in the second major Christchurch quake, a Royal Commission has found.

Families of Canterbury Television building collapse victims have welcomed the findings of a royal commission into the building's collapse.

All non-residential buildings and high-rise, multi-unit apartments in NZ will be assessed for earthquake risk and the results made public under new proposals.

High-tech cameras designed to probe collapsed buildings and search for signs of life failed on February 22 and have since been replaced, an inquest was told today.