The earthquake - five things you need to know

Avonside residents get used to a life that's quite different from before. Photo / Greg Bowker

If you only have a minute and you want today's need-to-know earthquake news at a glance, this is the page for you.

1. No-go Zone relaxed

The cordon in the Christchurch CBD will be lifted progessively during the day; police, engineers and Civil Defence staff were still assessing the area, just before midday.
The re-opening of this zone will be a hugely significant milestone in the city's transition from emergency mode to recovery mode.

2. How about services?

* It is still expected that city water supply will be completely restored by the end of the weekend. A total of 280 pipes have been fixed in less than six days - the equivalent of a year's worth of repairs.
* The Bus Exchange is not operating today, but buses are running. Visit
Metro Info for more information and times. The tram is fully operational.
* The Central City and Akaroa libraries have opened today, with normal
hours today and over the weekend. All other libraries are closed until
further assessments have been completed.
* All city council recreation and sport centres and swimming pools remain closed until further notice.

3. School Daze

More than 100 Canterbury schools and 300 early childhood centres less damaged in Saturday's quake will be able to reopen on Monday. However, Education Minister Anne Tolley visited some of the worst-affected schools today - such as Halswell - and some of these won't be reopening anytime soon. Alternative arrangements will have to be made for their pupils.


4. Achy-breaky hearts

The earthquake and the many aftershocks had been a record number of heart attacks.
David Smyth, clinical director of cardiology at Christchurch Hospital, said patients were saying when the quake hit they got pains and every major aftershock had triggered more.
On Monday the heart unit had about 77 occupied beds - a record amount.
Dr Smyth said the service usually dealt with two or three heart-attack patients a day, but since Saturday had been seeing eight to 10 daily.
"It's undoubtedly due to the quake. It's well documented that natural disasters do this. It's not people panicking, just the sudden surge of adrenaline."


5. How can the rest of us help?

People wishing to make donations towards earthquake relief in Canterbury can do so in these ways:

The Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal 2010.
Call 0900 33 200 to make an automatic $20 donation. You can FreeTXT 'QUAKE' to 555 to donate $5 or FreeTXT 'QUAKE' to 333 to donate $3 from any Vodafone mobile. Or, through banks:
* ASB - any branch, or call 0800 803 804. Electronic deposits at: acct # 12-3192-0015998-01. (Merchant fees for credit card card transactions have been waived for these donations)
* ANZ/National - any branch. Electronic deposits at: ANZ acct # 01-1839-0188939-00 or National acct # 06-0869-0548507-00
* KiwiBank, Electronic deposits at: acct # 38-9009-0759479-00

The Salvation Army Canterbury Earthquake Appeal.
* Phone 0800 530 000, or donate online
* Donations by post to: The Salvation Army Canterbury Earthquake Appeal, PO Box 27001, Marion Square, Wellington 6141, New Zealand