Four quakes of magnitude 5.2 and higher struck near the hill town of Amatrice, 100km northeast of Rome.

A West Coast Civil Defence warning of a possible big earthquake on the Coast was a "misinterpretation of the facts" caused by lack of training and understanding, says an independent report.

COMMENT: Cash donations to transparent and accountable Kiwi NGOs is the best way to make money count.

The world could be set to end in October this year, when a giant mysterious planet collides with our own - according to a conspiracy theorist.

Steve Braunias looks back on a year of thinking dangerously.

A 24-year-old man has been charged with the burglary of a Christchurch home during the tsunami evacuation early on November 14.

Scientists are still trying to understand the strange tsunami activity that occurred in last month's 7.8 Kaikoura Earthquake - and have called upon people to help them.

Quake ravaged Kaikoura is doing its best to embrace the Christmas spirit.

When Kaikoura locals told visiting PM Bill English the Govt effort was "piss poor" in the quake-strewn region, Gerry Brownlee let them have it.

A video explaining what causes tornadoes.

The Govtt will re-double its promotion of the "Alpine Pacific Triangle" to get tourists back to quake-hit Kaikoura, Hanmer and Christchurch.

Rob Zorn's car is one of 10 vehicles left in Wellington building to be demolished that cannot be retrieved.

The most detailed satellite imagery showing the impact of the 7.8 magnitude Kaikoura earthquake on November 14 has been released.

The earthquake-stricken Reading Cinema carpark building in central Wellington will be demolished.

Three weeks on from the 7.8 Kaikoura quake, companies are struggling.

A new satellite-based tool published by Landcare Research has provided one of the clearest views yet of what changes last month's 7.8 Kaikoura Earthquake wrought on the landscape.

Wellington City Council says they will not be held to an earlier plan to recheck buildings after a magnitude 5 or above tremor.

Many Kiwis affected by the 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake will need "significant ongoing psychological support", the PM's chief science adviser says.

There are now four buildings at Wellington's CentrePort which could be demolished following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

"Gobsmacking" drone footage has captured an up-close view of a massive canyon created near Mt Lyford by this month's 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake.

INTERACTIVE: Dams created by landslides in this month's 7.8 quake have been pin-pointed on a detailed new map created by GNS Science and Environment Canterbury.

COMMENT: I had never, for one second, consciously entertained the idea that human extinction was conceivable in the near term.

COMMENT: The shaking may have shattered homes, dreams and livelihoods, but the spirit of the people remains unbroken.

Don't expect to be given an early warning of an approaching quake like they get in Japan.

COMMENT: Earthquakes make New Zealand great. We would not have a country without them.

COMMENT: Wellington at the moment resembles something between a war zone and a crime scene.

Major US cities will be under serious threat of Godzilla hurricanes, as wild weather patterns move closer to the northeastern coast.

Canterbury Civil Defence hopes to reopen one lane of the Inland Rd into Kaikoura tomorrow afternoon.

At spots where the boulders still teeter above, the convoy spreads out a little. Better to have one or two trucks wiped out than several, it's explained to me ... The brutal logic makes sense.

COMMENT: The biggest natural disaster in human history may be coming, and the people living in the danger zone are woefully unprepared.