Midday News for 14 April 2014
Audio, Radio New Zealand
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Christchurch and the Solomon Islands escapes serious damage despite major earthquakes.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Christchurch and the Solomon Islands escapes serious damage despite major earthquakes.
Six years after Christchurch's destructive 6.3 magnitude earthquake the rebuild programme is now being used to provide training for workers from the Pacific. Twenty-four workers from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are helping rebuild the city while learning new skills and earning money they can send home.
It's being called the worst winter for moteliers since the Canterbury earthquakes and the blame's being put squarely on Airbnb and a lack of events in Christchurch. Motels are reporting up to a third less business than last year - and that means some could have to close.
After more major earthquakes in Christchurch this week, Bishop Victoria Matthews fears her clergy, and the people, are facing 'exaustion of the spirit'. She says it's important to keep alive hope, and thanksgiving for all that we still have - even in the face of loss and crisis.
Two earthquake scientists say the chance of a magnitude six aftershock hitting the Canterbury region is decreasing day by day and is now unlikely. A Victoria University professor in geophysics and a GNS seismologist have put into perspective the weekend's devastating earthquake at a lecture in Wellington.
Senior Constable Bruce Lamb is the Christchurch police dog handler who narrowly survived being shot in the course of duty on 13 July 2010, his police dog, Gage, was killed. Then Bruce's house was red stickered following the Canterbury earthquake in September, condemned and to be demolished.
The state of emergency in Christchurch has just been extended until midday on Wednesday. In latest developments Canterbury Civil Defence is now warning people to prepare for potential flooding, only two days after the major earthquake that caused widespread damage to much of the region.
Geologists say the South Island is likely to be hit with another, even larger, earthquake sometime in the next 50 years. Teams of earthquake experts are in Canterbury studying the previously undetected fault responsible for Saturday's 7.1 magnitude earthquake and dozens of aftershocks.
Monday marks a decade since a 6.2 magnitude quake close to the centre of Christchurch killed 185 people. Everybody in the city that day has a story to tell and for many, the memories remain fresh, ten years on. Conan Young has been speaking to some of them.
One of five Maori social service providers losing a Family Start contract is choosing not to fight the decision in court - and will instead attempt to win back the business; Maori business leaders who've recently returned from China say the trip has already resulted in new export deals - including a five-tonne shipment of mussels to a Chinese town; A new Maori education group says iwi are sleeping giants that have woken up to help tamariki do better at school; A new study into the effects of the Canterbury earthquakes on Maori mental health patients is promising to offer a unique perspective on how Maori live after devastating events.
Maori business leaders who've recently returned from China say the trip has already resulted in new export deals - including a five-tonne shipment of mussels to a Chinese town; One of five Maori social service providers losing a Family Start contract is choosing not to fight the decision in court - and will instead attempt to win back the business; A new Maori education group says iwi are sleeping giants that have woken up to help tamariki do better at school; A new study into the effects of the Canterbury earthquakes on Maori mental health patients is promising to offer a unique perspective on how Maori live after devastating events.
Our managed isolation hotels are too posh and returnees should not be treated like hotel guests with luxuries like free menu choices and drycleaning. That's the verdict from New Zealand woman Toni Foster who has returned to the country to take up a job and has spent the past 11 days in isolation at Ellerslie's Novotel Hotel. Toni says she had expected to return to isolation in accommodation similar to the container village after the Christchurch earthquakes - not a free four or five star hotel which she said some returnees were treating as a holiday. She says returnees should not be treated like hotel guests because they're not paying a cent to be there.
A law change is being looked at to tackle the problem of property boundaries moving in the Canterbury earthquakes.
Peter Townsend is the Chief Executive of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. He's at Wellington Airport trying to get back to Christchurch.
Finance Minister Bill English, and the Civil Defence Minister John Carter have a news conference at the Beehive theatrette.
Host of the Radio New Zealand programme This Way Up, currently assisting friends in Christchurch affected by the earthquake.
Mounting claims from the Christchurch earthquake have forced AMI insurance to go to the Government for a possible bailout.
Scientists have been scouring the outskirts of Christchurch in search of geological evidence of the February earthquake.
The instruction to boil water that's been in place across Christchurch since the 22 February earthquake has been lifted.
Filipino caregivers, after working long hours in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake, are now being denied work permits.
Petrol and diesel price hikes have disappointed some of those on the frontline of the Christchurch earthquake clean-up.
The number of people injured in the earthquake in Christchurch more than two weeks ago is still unknown.
Since the February earthquake, three hundred Australian police have travelled across the Tasman to support their New Zealand counterparts.
Matthew Hooton and Sue Bradford on politics including the political implications of the Christchurch earthquake.
The Canterbury Tactix netball team are playing at home tonight for the first time since last month's earthquake.
Canterbury firefighters have been formally thanked for their efforts during the testing conditions of the September earthquake.
Some Christchurch drainlayers repairing damage from the Canterbury Earthquake say there are delays and confusion in getting repayments from the earthquake commission.
The first major arts event to be held in Christchurch since the February earthquake kicks off today.
Christchurch has been rattled by a series of earthquakes with the latest measuring 5.5 on the richter scale.
Colleagues of a Christchurch man killed in February's earthquake today relived the frightening moments when the quake struck.