Tsunami warning sirens that sounded across Auckland in a test-run at the weekend are not favoured by our national emergency agency.

Every time Steve Morris takes his two young daughters to the local beach, signs of tsunami danger surround him.

As one of the world's most tsunami-threatened countries, New Zealand faces the triple menace of distant-source tsunami, regional tsunami and local-source tsunami.

Insurance giant Tower must pay out a Christchurch couple for a like-for-like replacement on another site, after their home was damaged in the earthquakes.

New Zealand is moving by 4cm a year, new satellite surveys have revealed, as tectonic forces deform the land surface by stretching, slimming and sliding it southward.

Panicked Aucklanders have been snapping up emergency kits in the wake of last Sunday's earthquakes.

Aucklanders have been reassured that a big earthquake is highly unlikely, although a geologist says the rare pair that struck yesterday might be a sign of more to come.

A closely-watched insurance battle is expected to wrap up at the High Court in Christchurch today.

More than 6400 people in the remote Santa Cruz Islands in Temotu Province, 500km east of Honiara in the Solomon Islands, are coming to terms with devastation and loss wrought by the double disaster of an earthquake and tsunami last month.

Damaged chimneys and homeless people are likely to lead to more abandoned red zone properties going up in flames this winter, firefighters fear.

The 1888 Gothic revival presbytery beside St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral in Auckland CBD is an earthquake-prone building.

When Queen St's Imperial Laneway got its $15 million makeover a couple of years ago, owners poured $4 million into seismic strengthening.

Our building stock could look radically different in the next few years as owners and architects introduce new seismic elements, an expert says.

Cantabrians would be helped into driving post-earthquake recovery if Labour returned to Government, party leader David Shearer vowed today.

Challenging a $337,000 payout to repair a Christchurch home by lodging a $900,000 claim means the case will be "impossible to resolve", a court heard today.

The Government is proposing building owners strengthen earthquake-prone buildings within the next 15 years so that by 2028, we will be much safer if another major quake strikes.

Some of New Zealand's historic buildings are about to be hit by a multibillion-dollar bombshell, as the Government forces their strengthening, experts claim.

Scientists predict an earthquake swarm rattling the east coast of the North Island could continue for days.

New Zealand cities must capitalise on Christchurch's earthquake experience if they are to make themselves more resilient to natural disasters, a top quake expert says.

Shops and bars will open in downtown Christchurch next month for the first time since the February 22 earthquake two years ago.

Work in post-disaster Christchurch has officially swung from recovery and demolition to rebuild, the Government said today.