Employers and unions say too soon to trim welfare scheme
Audio, Radio New Zealand
Employers and unions in Christchurch say the Government is moving too quickly to reduce emergency welfare payments in the wake of the February earthquake.
Employers and unions in Christchurch say the Government is moving too quickly to reduce emergency welfare payments in the wake of the February earthquake.
Auckland ratepayers are to pay up to almost three million dollars to host three extra rugby world cup games relocated from earthquake damaged Christchurch.
The Jewish Community is outraged at the allegation Israeli citizens in Christchurch at the time of the February earthquake had links to Israeli intelligence.
Emergency grants will be available from tomorrow for Christchurch residents who are no longer able to live in their homes because of earthquake damage.
Surviors of the collapsed Pyne Gould building in Christchurch where 18 people died in February's earthquake have today relived their experiences on that day.
To Christchurch now, where the people most affected by the region's earthquakes are getting a chance to tell their stories to a wider audience.
The Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority says today's aftershocks have caused up to 50 additional buildings in the city's redzone to collapse or partially collapse.
A woman who was in Christchurch's CTV building when it collapsed during the February's earthquake says it felt like being in a falling lift.
Read by Rima te Wiata Tyger the cat finds out just where home is after an earthquake in Christchurch. For years 6-10 years.
Frustrated Christchurch home-owners have delivered a 3000 strong petition to the government, calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into shoddy earthquake repairs.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister is denying that Christchurch flooding has become worse since the quakes, and says it's not the government's mess to fix.
Some Canterbury homeowners are rejecting assurances from authorities that they wouldn't have been exposed to asbestos in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes.
There's a warning that a return to pre-earthquake numbers of houses in Christchurch may not be enough to ease the city's housing crisis.
A Christchurch man has begun a hunger strike over an earthquake insurance claim. Fonterra changes its policy and promises to pay bills more promptly.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, says the Government's got the price 'about right' for land it's bought for Christchurch's refurbished central business district.
Does religion make you less scared of death, what can liquefaction in Christchurch tell us about earthquakes, and can autism be treated with zinc?
A group of frustrated Christchurch homeowners is vowing to keep holding their insurer accountable after making limited progress with outstanding claims for earthquake damage.
Schools are an important part of any community, and two years on from the start of the earthquakes in Canterbury many are still coping with damage to classrooms, and with dramatically reduced rolls.
The National Recovery Coordinator for Red Cross Emergency Services in Australia, who has researched disaster recovery practices around the world including the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, London bombings and Sichuan earthquake. She is visiting New Zealand ahead of the first anniversary of the February earthquake in Christchurch.
It's Canterbury's annual Cup and Show week. Organisers say the event has extra prominence this year, as the region's been robbed of many major events because of the damage to venues in the September and February earthquakes.
Christchurch MPs - Labour's Lianne Dalziel and National's Amy Adams - say it's not fair for seat-of-the-pants post-quake red/yellow and green sticker assessments to be formally recorded forever. They say the assessments were hastily done and inconsistent. But the Christchurch City Council says its required to do so under the provisions of the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act.
Spud Hilton knows what it's like to feel the fear of a large scale earthquake. As the Travel Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, he lives in a city on a fault line. Spud Hilton has just published an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the status of Christchurch as a tourist destination and as a city that must rebuild, rethink and reinvent itself.
A proposal to put houses back into Christchurch red zones is being shot down by some worried locals who say it's unfair and potentially unsafe. On Friday the crown-led agency, Regenerate Christchurch, released ten options for one area by the Avon river that 9 thousand people used to call home. Almost every house in the 602 hectare zone was demolished after the earthquakes.
It could be up to 18 months before 660 Christchurch homeowners know who will pay for earthquake damage repairs with a $1 billion price tag. The bill to fix houses in Christchurch that weren't repaired properly the first time round, or have suffered more damage in aftershocks, is climbing - and the government can't say who's liable. The problem is the homes have new owners who can't claim on theri insurance because the damage pre-dates them owning the home. Earlier Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods told us the previous National government put no plan in place, and the current government is being left to pick up the pieces. Former Christchurch earthquake recovery minister Gerry Brownlee disputes the issue.
Staying with the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake, the police in Christchurch are to start cold-calling on homes in the city where there is either a history of domestic violence, or the potential for it.
Some Christchurch residents say the Christchurch City Council has been too slow to resolve the threat of rock fall to their homes, and they now hope the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority will take over the job.
The Education Ministry has apologised after a critical report from the Chief Ombudsman said the ministry failed to fully inform Christchurch schools before revealing plans in 2012 to close and merge 38 of them following the Christchurch earthquake.
Some Christchurch business owners are criticising the government for winding down the earthquake support package. The Government has extended the package, which pays employees of quake effected business a wage subsidy for two more weeks.
Its now seven weeks since the February earthquake. Normality is returning to Christchurch, with most sewerage lines fixed and water no longer needing to be boiled before drinking. But that doesn't apply to everyone.
Mention the words "earthquake" in the same brief as "remediation" and it's enough to strike fear in the hearts of all New Zealanders, particularly those in Christchurch and other earthquake prone areas of the country. Now we find the chances of the ground shaking more violently in a quake is much higher than previously thought for large parts of the country. In some places it has doubled or even trebled. What are the ramifications of this new found knowledge? Joining the show to discuss is Michelle Grant, President of the Structural Engineering Society New Zealand, and Matt Gerstenberger, Principal Scientist and Seismologist at GNS Science