Local Government New Zealand says councils around New Zealand are offering the people of Canterbury their support.

President Lawrence Yule says the three councils in the region, have been inundated with approaches of assistance.

"These offers are no doubt greatly appreciated but we're advising councils to hold fire so Canterbury councils can have more time to evaluate and assess their needs.

"A co-ordinated response is going to be critical and the region's councils are talking with central government to prioritise response and actions."

Mr Yule is advising councils to channel all offers of assistance at this early stage through the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.

He says this is an event all councils are prepared for.

"The relevance of disaster preparedness can not be over-estimated but this event will still throw up ways of improving the way councils deal with the situation.

"The professional and coordinated response to the earthquake in Canterbury is testament to the planning and preparation undertaken by the territorial authorities across the region together with partner organisations such as police, civil defence, health services and many more."

Mr Yule says together with the Department of Building and Housing, city and district councils across the country have been working on a review of the Earthquake Prone Buildings Policies which have been in place for the past four years.

"The intention of the earthquake prone buildings policies is to ensure our towns and communities are safe in the event of an earthquake. I liken the policies to having seatbelts in cars - an everyday action to mitigate the rare event of risk."

"While we can never know for sure when a major earthquake may strike the importance of being prepared can not be over-estimated," said Mr Yule.