A search and rescue expert used Oklahoma City bombing terrorist attack rescue techniques to take control of the CTV Building collapse site, an inquest heard today.

Stressed Christchurch council office workers will get an extra day's paid holiday each month, but their colleagues helping rebuild the quake-damaged city won't be getting it.

A Fire Service has disagreed strongly with some earlier witnesses at the CTV inquest that there was confusion over leadership on February 22 last year.

Mainzeal has completed laying the slab which will be the base of the new Airforce Museum in Wigram, Chrictchurch. Until they move in it will be a pop up conference centre and help out other museums affected by the earthquakes.

Following a bus tour of the red zone the Archbishop of Canterbury says he is stunned by the scale of damage from the Christchurch earthquakes.

Search and rescue units were told to stop scouring the collapsed CTV Building's rubble for survivors within 24 hours of it coming down.

Liquefaction did more damage to underground pipes than ground movement in the Christchurch earthquakes, a University of Canterbury study has found.

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.

More harrowing testimony is expected as a coroner's inquest into the deaths of eight CTV building victims continues today.

The police officer left in charge of the Christchurch earthquake's biggest disaster zone said he became "frustrated" at being ordered off the site as he tried to rescue survivors.

Police today admitted the February 22 earthquake disaster in Christchurch "overwhelmed" their communication system.

Mark Quigley asks: Do scientists have a right to be wrong? Does state-of-the-art science really enable us to speak confidentially about "low-probability" events?

Christchurch's determination to rise from the rubble has been richly rewarded with a spot in Lonely Planet's top 10 cities worldwide to visit in 2013.

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

Fire chiefs failed to cope with the February 22 earthquake response, according to a scathing report out today which criticised them for being disorganised.

The Canterbury earthquakes were a chance for many to break out of their mundane existences, a researcher has found.

Cutting-edge quake engineering technology emanating out of post-disaster Christchurch is being ignored by some owners in their haste to erect new buildings, says expert.

The post-earthquake exodus from Christchurch has bottomed out, according to latest figures which show just 2800 people leaving the wider city area in the last year.

Christchurch landlords are cashing in on the earthquakes by putting up rents by as much as $250 a week - even for rundown bungalows.

Cantabrians are setting their sights on Hamilton's housing market as they look to spend their newly received insurance payouts from damaged properties.