Flying debris and trees and branches falling across roads could make it unsafe to be outside if predicted severe northwest gales hit Otago and Southland today.

A coroner's inquest today heard from a senior search and rescue expert who described the "chaos" at the disaster site when he arrived two hours after the building's collapse.

The inquest into the CTV deaths has heard of frustrations caused by delays and chaos in the hours after the catastrophe.

The green-zoning of a final eight residential properties in the Port Hills of Christchurch marks the end of the zoning process in Canterbury.

The signature of Sir Edmund Hillary has been rediscovered at Mid Canterbury's Double Hut, after it was last spotted there in 2002.

A born-again Christian who killed three people by grabbing the wheel of a car and steering it into an oncoming bus is fighting for new evidence to clear his name.

Herald Online reporter Paul Harper is making his way around the South Island by rail.

Increased alcohol consumption and higher levels of depression, stress and anxiety have been linked to residents living in some areas of quake-hit Christchurch.

Engineers will today pack explosives into huge boulders that have closed Milford Rd in Fiordland, as residents face their fifth day cut off.

An independent weatherman has hit out at the MetService, claiming it was too slow to issue a severe weather warning for Auckland at the weekend.

Police have arrested 37 people in Christchurch today during an annual end of year "Tea Party'' drinking event for university students.