A group of small business owners in earthquake stricken Canterbury say they need a one hundred million dollar cash injection if they are to make it into the New Year.
Shell shocked residents still picking up the pieces in one of the worst earthquake affected parts of Canterbury, say a looming rates rise to pay for repairs will cripple them.
Cosmo Kentish-Barnes finds out how the rural recovery is going near the epicentre of the Canterbury Earthquake that shook the province in the early hours of September 4th.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Adrian Henning, vice president of the Union Rowing Club, in their destroyed Kerrs Reach clubrooms, with a crushed boat that Ryan Nelsen sponsored, following Canterbury's earthquake".
A photograph of an excavator on the side of a road in Canterbury. This stretch of road is near the Greendale fault line which caused the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Amanda Hackett with a chandelier recovered by a Southern Demolition excavator operator from her damaged shop, Shrimpton Radcliffe Design on Victoria Street, following the Canterbury earthquakes
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Adrian Henning, vice president of the Union Rowing Club, in their destroyed Kerrs Reach clubrooms, with a crushed boat that Ryan Nelsen sponsored, following Canterbury's earthquake".
A photograph of University of Canterbury Geology students using ground penetrating radar equipment to survey land on the Greendale fault line. From left: Matt Cockcroft, Zach Whitman and Dewiyani Bealing.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010 broke the tip of the spire of the St John The Evangelist Catholic Church in Leeston
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Slipping of the tectonic plates caused tension cracks on this previously unknown faultline that runs through this paddock; magnitude 7.1 earthquake in mid-Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010.
Damage from the Christchurch 7.1 earthquake on 4th Sept 2010
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Xavier Trousselot Rhodes sporting injuries from a fall from his bedroom on the top story of the Hororata Homestead in Canterbury during the earthquake on Saturday morning".
The Australian-owned, ANZ Bank, is betting small and medium sized firms will drive earnings next year, bolstered by the Rugby World Cup and rebuilding of the earthquake-hit Canterbury region.
Deborah Nation dusts off a series of recordings made with successive generations of a Canterbury lineage whose family homestead was one of the casualties of the earthquake on 4 September 2010 .
Businesses, farmers and workers in Canterbury are anxiously waiting to see what more the government will do to help after the 7.1 earthquake that devastated the region on Saturday morning.
Law experts have criticised the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act for creating a dangerous precedent. Our political editor Brent Edwards weighs up the arguments for and against the emergency legislation.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "2010 Canterbury Earthquake. Prime Minister John Key speaks with workers at Orion and thanked them for working tirelessly after the earthquake and restoring power to the city".