Abandoned quake-damaged neighbourhoods in Christchurch are proving rich pickings for criminals, with burglars risking entry to unstable buildings.

The Government has been given a fail mark for its handling of a $1b education announcement for post-earthquake Christchurch today, which proposed closing 13 schools.

The Government is set to close 13 Canterbury schools and merge another 18 in an overhaul of the education sector in the area that was revealed today.

New Zealand's top construction companies are at breaking point over a rising tide of red tape, an inquiry heard today.

The royal commission of inquiry hearings into the Canterbury earthquakes disaster closed today with the chairman giving a final acknowledgment to bereaved families.

A strong magnitude 5.3 earthquake has rocked much of the West Coast and Otago this morning.

The rupture stretched from Haupiri River on the West Coast of the South Island down at least as far as Milford Sound and the two researchers estimate it reached a magnitude of 8.1, higher than the previously thought mean magnitude of 7.9.