The head of AMI Insurance, the largest New Zealand-owned insurer operating here, says the firm is on sound footing, three months after the Canterbury earthquake.

Police hope to cap the vent shaft at Pike River mine tomorrow after weather conditions at the site prevented the operation from going ahead today.

New Zealand civil defence officials are to have access to American experts 24 hours a day.

The majority of miners remaining at Pike River Coal mine look set to lose their jobs, as officials today told workers they were going to proceed with redundancies three weeks after a series of explosions killed 29 workers inside the mine.

More than 80 per cent of Christchurch households have filed insurance claims for the Canterbury quake.

When the earthquake-rattled people of Christchurch were in need, Suresh Patel stepped up.

Survey after survey highlights that Kiwis are a generous bunch - we live in Godzone, and it appears we don't take our good fortune for granted.

Flooding in NSW looks set to cost the state and federal governments billions of dollars in relief.

2010 can only described as an annus calamitosus [disastrous year] for the New Zealand family.

A banker says the total cost of damage from the Canterbury earthquake will be nearly a billion dollar higher than Government estimates.