It is 12.51 pm when the earthquake strikes. I have just finished my coffee, am halfway through a toasted sandwich and my girlfriend has just asked me how my day has been.

Owen Wright survived the earthquake to help others. He was killed as he returned to his family.

Specialised search teams tunnel through the darkness to find survivors of the quake.

John Key has met people "full of fear" over the fate of missing family members after Tuesday's Christchurch quake.

The official death toll for the Christchurch earthquake has risen to 145 this evening and is expected to increase. Police are gravely concerned for more than 200 missing people.

"Entire blocks" of the Christchurch CBD will need to be demolished in the wake of the earthquake, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker says.

The death toll from the Christchurch earthquake now stands at 123 and is expected to rise further today, police say.

Key stories on day five of the Christchurch earthquake.

Families of 27 Japanese students thought to be buried beneath the flattened CTV building are praying for a miracle.

Weekend Herald writer Phil Taylor takes to his bike to view the devastation in Christchurch.

Ann Bodkin kept up hope during her 26 hours entombed in the PGC building by thinking over and over 'I'm alive. I'm okay'.

Amid the tragedy and debris it feels harsh to talk about economics and daunting to talk about getting Christchurch back to business.

The woman who rang her son to say goodbye as she lay trapped in the PGC building for 24 hours has spoken about her ordeal.

'I was having a hot dog in the Square, felt the rumble, looked around, and the cathedral just come down.'

As Emma Woods dashed to her son's school in central Christchurch, she was terrified at the thought of losing a second child in nine months.

The doctors who amputated a man's legs to save him from almost certain death worked in the dark.