It's 11 years today since the major quake that claimed 185 lives.
Researchers are carrying out EQC-funded work on low seismic hazard zones across the country.
Professor Mark Stirling says Canterbury has low seismic fault-lines, which can result in rare, out-of-the-blue earthquakes.
He says the 2010 quake was along a fault not known about before and it resulted in a long energetic aftershock sequence still going on today.
Researchers are using southern New Zealand as a case study.