A Kiwi living in Sichuan has described watching a 15-storey hotel sway wildly and naked people run on to the street as a powerful earthquake struck the Chinese province.

A major earthquake has flattened homes and offices on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border, rattling buildings as far away as New Delhi and Dubai and killing dozens of people, including 34 in one Pakistani town.

With the rebuilding of Christchurch gaining momentum, some engineering and construction firms are looking overseas for people with the skills they need.

The psychological impact of the Canterbury earthquake has been accepted by the Employment Court as a valid reason for a lawyer filing legal documents several weeks late.

Civil Defence officials say there could be up to 10,000 casualties when the Alpine Fault ruptures sometime in the next 50 years - and 1000 could be fatal.

Every time Steve Morris takes his two young daughters to the local beach, signs of tsunami danger surround him.

One of the finalists for the upcoming 2013 New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards, Aranz Geo, credits the Christchurch earthquakes.

As one of the world's most tsunami-threatened countries, New Zealand faces the triple menace of distant-source tsunami, regional tsunami and local-source tsunami.

A relatively large earthquake struck off the coast of the North Island's East Coast overnight.

Insurance giant Tower must pay out a Christchurch couple for a like-for-like replacement on another site, after their home was damaged in the earthquakes.

New Zealand is moving by 4cm a year, new satellite surveys have revealed, as tectonic forces deform the land surface by stretching, slimming and sliding it southward.

Police will decide soon on whether a formal investigation is warranted into the collapse of the Canterbury Television building, which killed 115 people.

Live music in hastily-built venues has helped shaken Cantabrians beat the post-quake blues, a university researcher says.

Panicked Aucklanders have been snapping up emergency kits in the wake of last Sunday's earthquakes.

How much would your house cost to build? If you don't know and don't want to rely on your CV or an insurer's online calculator, you may be facing a $500 bill from a valuer when a major change to the way insurance policies work kicks in.

Aucklanders have been reassured that a big earthquake is highly unlikely, although a geologist says the rare pair that struck yesterday might be a sign of more to come.

A "moderate" 3.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Auckland today was the biggest in the city since February 2007.