There's good news of sorts on the building-inspection front in Auckland.
After nearly seven days of fanning out across the city inspecting damaged buildings - the biggest such deployment of building inspectors since the Christchurch earthquake emergency - the operation will be scaled back this weekend.
There are currently around 95 inspectors in the field who have checked 3,500 buildings. As of 6pm last night 190 buildings were red stickered, and a further 790 yellow stickered.
The most red stickered areas are Mount Albert/Mt Eden with 54 and the North Shore with 32.
Auckland Council general manager building consents Ian McCormick spoke to Corin Dann.
A business owner wants more stringent background checks for people creating professional online profiles after discovering a potential business advisor is currently on home detention for corruption.
Gerard Gallagher was convicted in June after trying to personally profit from information obtained while working for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority and Ōtākaro Limited between 2014 and 2017.
Online, he promotes himself as a Business Advisor despite still serving a sentence of 12 months' home detention.
Niva Chittock reports.
An icon of Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour is set to re-open tomorrow, after being damaged in the Canterbury Earthquakes. The Governors Bay jetty, locally known for its extraordinary length and unofficial jetty jump competitions, has been closed since 2015. Now, it's back to its former glory, just in time for summer. Niva Chittock went for a sneak peek ahead of the official opening. [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6338047392112
As Auckland and Northland brace for more atrocious weather, city leaders are calling for funding to repair the city's broken infrastructure to be along the lines of the help given to Christchurch after the quakes. Auckland deputy mayor Desley Simpson says that the damage so far is equivalent to the biggest non earthquake event the country has ever had and should be treated accordingly. The Opportunities Party says the "alliance" model established after the earthquakes, was effective and would work for Auckland's rebuild, because it provides a structure that the Central Government can fund directly. ToP leader Raf Manji was a Christchurch councillor after the quakes and closely involved in the rebuild. He tells Kathryn Ryan it is vital to ensure water and transport infrastructure is repaired quickly and efficiently, especially with a view to future extreme weather events - and there is much to learn from the post-quake rebuild.
There's been a strong earthquake in Canterbury just after 9am. We speak to Scott Shannon, deputy mayor of Timaru and a John, a Pleasant Point resident.
Thousands of people are making insurance claims after heavy rain and flooding in the north of New Zealand, especially in Auckland.
Insurance lawyer Peter Woods has worked on property claims for earthquake damage in Canterbury and Marlborough..
He has also been an Independent Specialist Adviser to the government. Peter talks to Lisa Owen.
The government's looking overseas to get more hands on deck to help with the rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle.
A new short-term Recovery Visa will bring in specialist foreign workers through a similar pathway used after the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes.
The visas will be fast-tracked with officials aiming to get applications through within seven days.
Corn Dann spoke with immigration minister Michael Wood.
Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney were architectural revolutionaries who built a legendary partnership spanning 37 years. A new film currently in production aims to celebrate their incredible legacy and document the bitter fight to save their most iconic building - the Christchurch Town Hall - from demolition after the 2011 earthquake. Co-director and Maurice's daughter Jane Mahoney talks to Mark Leisham about the pairs legacy and the process of making the film.
Protecting live music venues is taking on a new urgency in Christchurch, with the popular 12 Bar announcing it will close at the end of the month. With people flocking back to live in the central city after the earthquakes, there have been more complaints about noise from entertainment venues. But the local music scene says positive changes are in the works, so residents and live venues can live in harmony. Niva Chittock reports.
Twelve years after the CTV building collapsed during the Christchurch earthquake, families of the victims killed inside have told an engineering disciplinary hearing they want justice and accountability. 115 people died when the six-storey building came down in February 2011. A complaint against an engineer whose firm designed the building is being heard by an Engineering New Zealand disciplinary committee. Dr Alan Reay lost a High Court bid to stop the hearing. Anna Sargent reports.
After being trapped for hours on the 22nd floor of a hotel following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Andy Cleverley decided life had to change. Chucking in his corporate life, he bought an old school bus, converted it into an off-grid motorhome and set off travelling the country with his young family. Documenting everything along the way he created Bus Life NZ - followed by over 46,000 people and viewed by millions. Now he's done it all again with a second bus and a second YouTube season.
The Prime Minister Chris Hipkins today announced an additional three hundred and one million dollar boost for the rebuild of earthquake damaged Christchurch schools, and said the programme in Christchurch may be a template for repairing flood damaged schools in the North Island.
Some schools are still waiting to be repaired more than a decade after the devastating quakes.
On his first visit to Christchurch since becoming Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins visited one of the schools still in the midst of its rebuild process, and to celebrate the progress being made.
Our reporter Rachel Graham and videographer Nate McKinnon went along.
More than 11,000 people reported feeling the earthquake that hit just after 2am on Friday.
The magnitude 4.8 quake was centred 5-kilometres south of Te Aroha, at a depth of 6-kilometres.
People from Kaitaia, through to the sodden regions of Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, and even down in Christchurch, reported feeling it.
A series of weaker aftershocks began to strike 40 minutes later, although there are no immediate reports of damage as of yet.
It's not the first quake to hit Te Aroha this year - a 5.1 quake rattled the town on January 4.
Te Kuiti resident Zane Burdett and Kees Meinderts from Motumaoho, just south of Morrinsville, spoke to Corin Dann.
