The bodies recovered after last Tuesday's 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch will be released to families as soon as possible and are being treated with respect in the meantime, the Chief Coroner says.

A man who used Lyttelton's historic Timeball Station to propose to his wife exactly a year before it was devastated by last week's quake says he is gutted the landmark has been seriously damaged.

A man who went to earthquake-hit Christchurch and joined the urban search and rescue effort there has been remanded in custody for a month after being charged with falsely representing himself as a rescue team member.

The short life of five-month-old Baxtor Gowland has been celebrated at a funeral in upper Riccarton this afternoon. A family friend said he'd be laid to rest next to his grandfather.

Police have named two more people confirmed dead in last Tuesday's magnitude 6.3 earthquake.

A distraught wife has left her husband after telling him he did not pick her up quickly enough after the earthquake.

Adrian Marsh thought he was dead after he was crushed by slabs of concrete when the Smiths City carpark collapsed around him.

Christchurch's devastating 6.3 earthquake is thought to have been caused by the rupturing of a single fault.

Christchurch can be rebuilt in a way that buildings would withstand very strong earthquakes in the future, Prime Minister John Key says.

Emotion is fine but cool heads are needed for Christchurch's rebuilding, writes Chris Rattue.

Trapped in excruciating pain for hours while pinned under a concrete wall, Brian Coker wanted a "decent aftershock to finish it". Instead, the 52-year-old says his wife saved by alerting rescue teams to his plight.

New Zealand could make much greater use of satellite images, says Southland group.