State of emergency remains in place

The state of emergency in Christchurch is likely to remain in place today as big aftershocks from the weekend's massive quake continue to rattle the city.

The City Council said last night that the situation would be reassessed throughout the day.

By late last night the building evaluation team had assessed 970 buildings within the central business district and along the edge of arterial roads.

The teams were moving their focus to suburban areas, and began house-to-house visits at Brooklands, with Bexley next on the list.

Prime Minister John Key, who cancelled his trip to Europe yesterday, is planning more visits to Canterbury.

Mr Key is currently on his second trip to Christchurch following the quake early on Saturday which caused widespread damage and this morning is visiting rural areas to inspect the effects, including Kaiapoi, where volunteers will be helping locals clean up silt on properties and roads.

"At this stage it would be my intention to come back on Saturday, although that's very much a work in progress at the moment, and then I'll return next week," he said.

He visited welfare centres in the city last night, digging in to help serve up food at Addington racecourse. The numbers in the centres rose yesterday after three overnight aftershocks caused more alarm and damage.

Mr Key said the duration of the current state of emergency was up to the local mayors and civil defence.

"It should last as long as it makes sense. Everyone is keen to restore the city and the surrounding districts back into a fully operational capacity as soon as possible, but we are dealing with some very difficult situations.

"Of paramount importance is the safety and security of Christchurch residents and surrounding areas."

"As this disaster unfolds what we're seeing is some areas are much more badly affected than we thought they were, and, in fact, the damage is much greater than we thought it was."

Claims to the Earthquake Commission (EQC) for damage to homes following Saturday's earthquake are likely to cost close to the $2 billion mark.

The EQC deals only with claims from house owners, not from businesses, and said yesterday it had received 21,000 claims and expected that figure to climb to at least 100,000.

"We are rapidly increasing numbers of lines and call centre staff and expect that the problem will ease over the next few days," commission chief executive Ian Simpson said.

Mr Key said it was too early to put a figure yet on the total cost of rebuilding.

"Some early estimates are around $2 billion, but it could be more, we just don't know."

The Government announced a wage subsidy of $350 gross a week for workers in businesses that have fewer than 20 employers and that haven't been able to open because of the quake.

Civil Defence advised people in the Christchurch, Waimakariri and Selwyn districts to be prepared for aftershocks for the next few weeks -- there have been 300 since Saturday morning's 7.1 magnitude quake.

There was a confusing situation regarding schools in the region. Education Minister Anne Tolley said yesterday afternoon that because of the aftershocks, all schools and early childhood centres in Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri districts would be closed for the rest of the week.

But last night Civil Defence said some Christchurch schools may open by Thursday, depending on advice from their boards of trustees, while some in Selwyn and Waimakariri could open tomorrow.

In all cases, parents were urged to contact their schools for specific information.

Orion chief executive Roger Sutton said power would be restored to all Canterbury properties by the end of the week. There were about 500 homes without power.

Civil Defence staff made progress with road works and water connections yesterday, however water was still off in approximately 66 streets.

Sewage issues in some areas remained a concern and port-a-loos were delivered to areas without water last night and more will be going out this morning.

There were fears for city centrepiece, Christ Church Cathedral, where cracks were found, prompting the renewal of a cordon around it.

However, in a statement on the cathedral's website last night Dean Peter Beck said an engineers' visit was purely precautionary and people should not read too much into it.

Civil Defence said two historic buildings in Manchester Street were not demolished yesterday, despite earlier advice. The former New Zealand Express Co Ltd building will be demolished, but dismantling it may take several weeks.

Cecil House will be subject to further inspection.