Taranaki was rocked by two large earthquakes in the early hours of New Year's Day.

Boxing Day got off to a shaky start on the East Coast with two minor earthquakes occurring in the early hours of the morning.

Kim Dotcom and a spate of natural disasters have been among the most popular topics with New Zealand Herald readers this year.

Three weeks before the ceremony and the [Olympic Stadium] was packed with thousands of people all doing things impressively.

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

Wellingtonians were shaken awake by a magnitude 3.8 earthquake early this morning.

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.

Auckland builder George Levick expects tougher new seismic standards to be a big boost to the construction sector.

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.

A strong earthquake struck the same Japanese coast devastated by last year's massive quake and tsunami, generating small waves but no immediate reports of heavy damage.

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.

The actions of an Urban Search and Rescue team which tried to get to survivors trapped in the rubble of the CTV building will come under more scrutiny today.

A woman trapped in the debris of the collapsed CTV building could hear her distraught husband shouting her name as he searched for her, an inquest was told.

Our relationship with natural heritage is second to none but our relationship with cultural heritage is not so secure, writes Alexander Gillespie.

If a big earthquake hits Wellington, the city could be cut off for four months and power and gas not fully restored for three months, a new report warns.