The Govt says it will not know how big its bill for the Canterbury earthquake will be until its Recovery Commission has drafted a recovery plan.

A looter is being held in custody after admitting breaking into a house damaged in the earthquake.

The Governor-General has expressed his shock over the devastation after last Saturday's 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Canterbury.

Most Canterbury schools today reopened after the September 4 magnitude 7.1 earthquake, but aftershocks continue.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says Christchurch will take years to return to normal.

Broadcaster Paul Holmes returns to the city where he began his career to see how locals are coping in the wake of the earthquake.

About 400 people today gathered in Christchurch's Cathedral Square for the Cathedral's first mass since last week's earthquake.

A bewildered and pregnant Renee Rushton is living in a Christchurch holiday park after last week's earthquake.

As Christchurch tries to make sense of the earthquake destruction, a child questions how much 'braveness' she has left.

A 53-year-old grandmother was searching her home in the darkness to find her grandchildren when she suffered a heart attack.

Annika Kirsten, 23, was one of nine people to die in the skydiving plane crash at Fox Glacier on September 4.

Three Gisborne teenagers died after a two-vehicle smash on one of the country's worst accident blackspots last night.

Police are investigating whether alcohol played a part in last night's two-vehicle crash on one of NZ's most notorious stretches of highway.

Christchurch residents just want the shaking to stop after Saturday's earthquake.

Three people are dead following a collision between a car and a ute in the Waikato tonight.

KiwiRail is sending almost 300,000 litres of water to Christchurch, where around 15% of people remain without it.

Christchurch was "inevitably going to be brought to its knees" by an earthquake because of the nature of the ground it stands on, a scientist says.

"It's essentially a ghost town. You can see utter devastation," said Prime Minister John Key.

"It's a reminder to us all that in the case of natural disasters, it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when."

"It was like a giant had picked up our house and was just shaking it, shaking and shaking," said one resident.

They were partying, working, sleeping - then came 90 minutes of terror they will never forget. This is their story.

Organisers of the country's largest motorway closure are praying they have scared enough Aucklanders off the roads this weekend to avoid the city grinding to a halt.