Lianne Dalziel wouldn't be leaving if not for quakes

Audio, Radio New Zealand

In her valedictory speech to Parliament, the Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel said she would not be leaving Parliament if not for the Canterbury earthquakes.

Chch set for radical re-drawing of boundaries

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Christchurch looks set for a radical re-drawing of boundaries in six of its seven electorates to take account of its shifting population since the earthquakes.

CERA pays more for PR advice

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority spent more than three million dollars on communications staff and consultants in the last financial year, up by a third on the previous year.

Labour says by-election victory indictment on National Govt

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Labour Party says its crushing victory in the Christchurch East by-election is an indictment of the National Government's poor response to the earthquakes.

The UC QuakeBox Project: Creation of a community-focused research archive

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The University of Canterbury is known internationally for the Origins of New Zealand English (ONZE) corpus (see Gordon et al 2004). ONZE is a large collection of recordings from people born between 1851 and 1984, and it has been widely utilised for linguistic and sociolinguistic research on New Zealand English. The ONZE data is varied. The recordings from the Mobile Unit (MU) are interviews and were collected by members of the NZ Broadcasting service shortly after the Second World War, with the aim of recording stories from New Zealanders outside the main city centres. These were supplemented by interview recordings carried out mainly in the 1990s and now contained in the Intermediate Archive (IA). The final ONZE collection, the Canterbury Corpus, is a set of interviews and word-list recordings carried out by students at the University of Canterbury. Across the ONZE corpora, there are different interviewers, different interview styles and a myriad of different topics discussed. In this paper, we introduce a new corpus – the QuakeBox – where these contexts are much more consistent and comparable across speakers. The QuakeBox is a corpus which consists largely of audio and video recordings of monologues about the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. As such, it represents Canterbury speakers’ very recent ‘danger of death’ experiences (see Labov 2013). In this paper, we outline the creation and structure of the corpus, including the practical issues involved in storing the data and gaining speakers’ informed consent for their audio and video data to be included.

Minister sticks by plan to close or merge Christchurch schools

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Minister of Education has stuck with her proposals in February to close or merge earthquake-hit Christchurch schools, with the exception of some New Brighton schools.

Third year could be the worst for quake-stressed Cantabrians

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Mental health experts in Christchurch are warning the worst could be still to come for people suffering from anxiety, depression and stress related to the earthquakes.

Spectrum for 28 July 2013

Audio, Radio New Zealand

'Rekindle' is an initiative started since the earthquakes in Canterbury which provides purposeful work for young people by giving them the opportunity to design and fashion furniture from waste wood. Spectrum's Deborah Nation explores 'Rekindle'.

More fraud cases expected in connection with Chch rebuild

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A further round of fraud cases sent to the police by the Earthquake Commission may just be the beginning as the rebuild of Christchurch moves into high gear.

Not everybody in Chch excited about Council approvals

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Earthquake Recovery Minister says the Christchurch City Council has wasted an opportunity in deciding to save the Town Hall, instead of building a new performing arts precinct.

Brownlee gives council one last chance on land plan

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Earthquake Recovery Minister is giving the Christchurch City Council until this morning to approve a major land development plan otherwise he'll force it through himself.

Brownlee threatening to step in and override CCC

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Earthquake Recovery Minister has given the Christchurch City Council until this morning to approve a development plan, or else he says he'll do it for them.

Brownlee, Christchurch council compromise on housing

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Christchurch City Council says it has reached a compromise with the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, and voted unanimously to support a plan to intensify housing in the city.

Midday News for 22 November 2013

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has backed off on his threats to the Christchurch City Council and one of the New Zealand Greenpeace activists is freed from a Russian detention centre.

Lyttelton Port Expansion Worries some Banks Peninsula Residents

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Lyttelton Port near Christchurch is now almost three and a half hectares larger than it was before the earthquakes - as earthquake rubble is dumped in the harbour to reclaim land.

Summing up today in Tower earthquake insurance case

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Both sides are expected to sum up their cases today in the legal battle between Tower Insurance and a Christchurch couple, over the amount owed on an earthquake damaged home.

EQC forced into embarrassing admission on privacy breach.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Earthquake Commission has been forced into an embarrassing admission that the details of all 83-thousand clients in its Canterbury Home Repair programme have been accidentally emailed to the wrong address.

50 year old message in a bottle found in Chch

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A message in a bottle, hidden under the floor of a Christchurch home for over fifty years, has been discovered during earthquake repairs and its writer's been tracked down.

City council could lose power to authorise building consents

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Christchurch City Council has received a strong warning from the Earthquake Recovery Minister to speed up its processing of building consents or lose its power to authorise consents.

Misleading EQC level estimates a worry for house values

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Some Canterbury homeowners say their houses are dropping in value because of misleading estimates of damage to foundations from the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

City Mission says there's a 'new level of poor' in Christchurch

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A Christchurch catering company has joined forces with the City Mission to tackle what is being described as a new era of poverty after the Canterbury earthquakes.

The government's quake safety deadline

Audio, Radio New Zealand

With Andrew Cleland - Chief Executive of the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ. Dr Maan Alkaisi - Co-chair Christchurch Earthquake Families Group. Maurice Williamson - Minister for Building and Construction.

3 years on quake homewners are still wrangling with insurers

Audio, Radio New Zealand

On the third anniversary of the first major earthquake to hit Christchurch thousands of people with the most badly damaged homes are still wrangling with their insurance companies over rebuilds.

Chch East locals want an MP to breathe life into electorate

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Voters in Christchurch East say many are still suffering - three years on from the devastating earthquakes and want a new MP who will breathe life into the electorate.

Construction of 35 million dollar bridge to take 2 years

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The construction of the first bridge in Canterbury to be built to the new earthquake design codes is going to take nearly two years and cost over 30 million dollars.

Southern Story for 21 February 2013 - Earthquake Anniversary

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Christchurch prepares for a challenging anniversary - two years on from the devastating earthquake that killed 185 people. Our correspondent there, Katy Gosset, hears the stories of local baristas who were in the CBD that day.

Christchurch councillor won't resign over 'woeful' record

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Christchurch City councillor in charge of council housing says he accepts trenchant criticism from the Earthquake Recovery Minister that the council has been woeful in fixing its quake-damaged housing stock.

Christchurch council refuses to consider asset sales

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Despite Government pressure on the Christchurch City Council to sell off some of its assets to help fund its 40% share of the city's earthquake repairs, the council has instead decided to raise rates, and rents.

Fletchers assures taxpayers over Christchurch rebuild

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The company that has the main contract for repairing houses in Christchurch, Fletcher Earthquake Recovery, is assuring taxpayers it's doing everything it can to avoid any fraudulent behaviour.

Minister responds on scale of EQC privacy breach

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Earthquake Commission has admitted the details of all 83-thousand clients in its Canterbury Home Repair programme have been accidentally emailed to the wrong place, not just the almost 10 thousand it said on Friday