As the Government commits itself to rebuilding earthquake-ravaged Christchurch, it is looking at costs running into tens of billions with an economic impact that will last for years.

Prime Minister John Key today announced those put out of work by last week's deadly earthquake will be eligible for subsidies of $400 per week.

Police have evacuated 200 properties in the exclusive Christchurch suburbs of Redcliff and Clifton Hills after cracks appeared in cliffs above the houses.

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.

Thousands of Christchurch's 350,000 inhabitants have left in droves, flying, driving, even walking away, with no plans to return any time soon.

Jayden Andrews-Howland, 14, was on a bus into town and has not been seen or heard of since last Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch.

166 disaster victim identification (DVI) staff are working in shifts to formally identify victims of the 6.3-magnitude quake.

The co-owners of the health clinic flattened in the collapse of the CTV building were receiving counselling yesterday and expressed their sympathy for the families of missing staff.

Some Christchurch renters fleeing the shaken city are getting little charity from landlords, who are trying to keep them locked into contracts.