Christchurch Earthquake

Shortly after hosting a successful ''Canterbury Quakes'' touring exhibition, the Otago Museum is donating $10,000 to help with the restoration and storage of earthquake-damaged heritage artefacts in Canterbury.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker is adamant his council will meet a two-week deadline to speed up its consenting process, as the Government threatens to step in if it does not.

A new Housing New Zealand home will be built in Christchurch every day until the end of 2015, the Government announced today.

A Canterbury landmark destroyed by earthquakes will be rebuilt using a $1 million donation.

The estimated cost of the Canterbury rebuild has been increased by $10 billion to $40 billion, Prime Minister John Key said today.

Almost 200 Christchurch businesses have been opened or reopened since January and the population is growing as the Canterbury city continues its recovery from the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

New areas of the Christchurch CBD have been reopened with the cordon lifted on all of Manchester St for the first time in more than two years.

The Christchurch earthquakes laid waste a city of heritage and character. They not only destroyed homes, land and infrastructure, but also shattered many historic city buildings. The fear now is that, even without the earth shaking, heritage buildings around the rest of the country will be hit.

Yesterday marked a significant milestone for Christchurch, as work began on the framework of the city's cardboard cathedral.

About 90 southern firefighters and support staff who responded to the fatal Christchurch earthquake in February 2011 will be honoured at a ceremony in Dunedin on Monday.