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.

Uncompromising proposals to eliminate or strengthen earthquake-prone buildings could change the face of character areas such as Mt Eden's Dominion Rd.

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.

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.

Christchurch mayor Bob Parker doesn't pull any punches in a personal account of the earthquakes that rocked his city.

A shock jump in the unemployment rate to 7.3 per cent would have been worse without jobs being generated from the Christchurch rebuild.

A Fire Service has disagreed strongly with some earlier witnesses at the CTV inquest that there was confusion over leadership on February 22 last year.

A "strong" earthquake has struck Fiordland this morning, GeoNet reports.

Search and rescue units were told to stop scouring the collapsed CTV Building's rubble for survivors within 24 hours of it coming down.

A coroner's inquest today heard from a senior search and rescue expert who described the "chaos" at the disaster site when he arrived two hours after the building's collapse.

The inquest into the CTV deaths has heard of frustrations caused by delays and chaos in the hours after the catastrophe.

The green-zoning of a final eight residential properties in the Port Hills of Christchurch marks the end of the zoning process in Canterbury.

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake has shaken the eastern Bay of Plenty early this morning, GeoNet reports.