By James Murray
Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee is in Christchurch, looking to support the search and rescue teams and overseeing the Christchurch recovery.
"There are very admirable guys out there working very hard, right up to it in their elbows to get the city reconnected," he says.
He was also looking into how much of the city would have to be demolished.
"We're not back to square one from after September 4, but we're not far off it," he said.
Mr Brownlee extended his sympathies to those who had lost friends and family and said everyone in Christchurch would be feeling grief.
To those people who felt like giving up on Christchurch, that the job of rebuilding was too hard, he said: "Go through that. I understand how you're feeling. Then have a good look at it. Christchurch is 160 years old, it's not a particularly old city. We will be able to rebuild in a way that minimises to a far greater extent any like this again.
"This latest incidence is all part of settling from the September 4 quake. So we have to look two years ahead."
He said Christchurch is still a great place to live and had a strong future.
Natural disasters such as earthquakes and potential volcanoes were something that New Zealanders had learned to live with over time.
"In New Zealand it's hard to pick a place where the sort of instant thing that happened here may not be repeated."
3 News
source: newshub archive
