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.

Canterbury's massive earthquake and aftershocks are likely to rank as the fifth most costly quake ever for insurers.

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.

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

Communication with Canterbury quake victims could have been better, the Earthquake Commission said today.

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

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.

The Earthquake Commission's stage two report shows thousands of homes need to be demolished or repaired following September's Canterbury Earthquake.