| Two years after a devastating earthquake, the
people of Christchurch are still valiantly fighting back. How they
keep going is awe inspiring. To us, just visitors, it is jaw
dropping. These folk have to live with all this every day. |
The roads are unreal in
the most severely hit places. It is virtually impossible to drive
any faster than 40 kph (30mph).
I haven't got any photos of the ordinary houses as yet but imagine most
of the windows boarded up, tarpaulins on the roof weighted with tyres. |
Lots of empty sections (building plots) where
the whole house has already been demolished and the land 'red zoned'.
That means that the land itself has been condemned and the owners cannot
build on it again. The reason is liquifaction. The land is
like quicksand now and any structure would simply sink. |
| Many of the cliff-top houses, which were the
most expensive of course, are total wrecks. Someone we talked to
did not actually have much sympathy for those though. This is a
known earthquake area so why did they build there? |
The wall of containers is to prevent bits of
the cliff from landing on the passing cars or the houses on the other
side of the road. |
You can check the latest aftershocks on this
website,
Geonet |
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| The Roman Catholic
Cathedral as was, and is now. The Church is hoping to preserve at
least parts of the old building. |
Containers are used to
shore up the facade on the right and all the loose rubble has been
cleared away. |
Viewed from the open-top bus tour |
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Far left is the photo I took of the cathedral in
February 2011, 1 week before the quake.
Centre is how it looks now but from a different angle. I'm not
allowed into the area that I took the first photo from.
Below left: Two buildings that at first glance look OK. No
visible damage or glass broken. Look closely, the glass building
is leaning to the right and the one behind it to the left. Only
the 3rd building is still upright. The old building in the
foreground is built of wood and will be repaired; the others will be
demolished !
Below right: The rugby stadium. Again, the stands have
tilted as the land has liquified. It is unlikely that it will ever
be restored or used again though it's fate is still being discussed |
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This is the most touching of all the sights in Christchurch. 185
white chairs, one for each life lost. The individuality of each chair
is a tribute to the uniqueness of each person represented.
Look closely, there are 'oldie' chairs, secretary's chairs, even a baby's
carry chair.
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