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Published: December 16th 2013
Christchurch Cathedral
The center of the CBD....with office blocks & malls all round its square...until last year!Nothing prepares you for this.
Touring a post major quake city is one of the most sobering and humbling experiences I have had. Following the massive quakes of 2001 and 2012, virtually the entire city center collapsed or was so badly damaged it had to be demolished. Nearly 200 people were killed, most in a single building. Many more were seriously injured. Roads and underground services were wrecked. There is no city center left other than a few unsafe buildings waiting demolition decisions. The streets are virtually empty other than a few tourists. Few cars as streets are closed off still. The main malls around Cathedral Square are gap sites, yet on one such site they have hurriedly assembled a novel mall made from Containers. It is amazing and testimony to the ingenuity of the inhabitants, eager to get their city going again. 2700 houses still need to be demolished, and yet, on the river Avon, flowing through the center, past half destroyed buildings, punts cruise downstream in the sunshine. It will take 20 or more years to rebuild….they are still working on the infrastructure and foundations. I left that city with a lump in my throat and a huge
Christchurch CBD
Now mainly gap sites awaiting rebuild admiration for the people who live and work there. It is the nearest thing to a war zone that I hope I will ever see. Yet they live every day with the threat of more!
Don't let me complain about our climate ever again! Still, 14 hours of daylight and shirtsleeve and shorts warmth IS good for the soul.
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