The office of the Civil Defence Minister, John Carter, says he will again extend the state of national emergency declared after the Christchurch earthquake.
That will prolong the authority of the Civil Defence national controller over the city, despite the creation of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
The state of national emergency was first declared on 23 February, a day after the 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch.
The law allows a state of emergency to run for a maximum of seven days at a time.
It's not yet clear when the newly created Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) will take over running the city.
Last week, John Carter said the Civil Defence national controller was preparing to hand over authority to CERA.
However, at the that time, the minister noted that with cordons still in place there was still a need for the national controller.
