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.

Christchurch lived in its heritage - grand stone buildings, many of them now shattered by the largest ground shake recorded in NZ.

'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.

It's obvious that mere amateurism will not help our second-largest city up on its feet this time.

Overwhelming offers of help for Christchurch are impeding the systems of non-government organisations trying to help there, says Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.

A Christchurch man whose house was condemned after Tuesday's earthquake says it's fortunate no one was home at the time.

An Australian army field hospital is set to be turned into a community health centre as authorities work to prevent a medical crisis in Christchurch.

Misery in the form of illness struck earthquake-ravaged Christchurch this afternoon, with the closure of one of the three welfare centres in the city.

The level of liquefaction after Tuesday's 6.3 magnitude aftershock dwarfs the amount caused by the original earthquake that hit Christchurch in September, Mayor Bob Parker says.

A young bride-to-be who narrowly escaped tragedy in the PGC building in Tuesday's deadly earthquake has tied the knot today.

His pained, bloodied and dirt-streaked face has become one of the defining human images of the Christchurch quake and has been published in media across the globe.