When a City Falls

On Sept. 4, 2010, a 7.1 earthquake rocked the city of Christchurch and its suburbs. Miraculously, no one died. In fact, this was unprecedented anywhere in the world for an urban area to survive such a quake with no fatalities. In the weeks which followed, the city celebrated its good fortune of narrowly escaping disaster. Little did they know, that just 6 months later, it would happen again. But this time would be much different. On Feb. 22, 2011, a 6.3 EQ hit again and the city crumbled. Buildings collapsed, killing 181 people. Two office buildings, the CTV and the PGC, suffered the majority of fatalities. People just like you and I, going about their daily routines, going to work, doing their jobs. New Zealand is a small country and it wasn't hard for people to know someone who had been killed, injured or displaced by the quake. In the weeks that followed, many people attended 15-20 funerals for friends and collegues.
A public bus tour has been created to give locals a last chance to see their beloved city and its devastation before demolition is complete. When we boarded the bus, we knew it would be a somber experience. The slow moving bus took us into the CBD (central business district) now know as the "red zone". Passengers tried to remember what stood where as we moved through the streets. A theater, a favorite coffee shop, the historic Warner Hotel - all gone now, leaving just empty lots. The bus paused in front of what was the CTV and PGC so people could pay their respects. It then stopped in front of the iconic Christchurch Angelican Cathedral. The steeple, which had tumbled to the ground, has been removed. Large cracks in the stone church (built in the late 1800's)will probably be too costly to repair. Paper Chinese lanterns still hang in Victoria Square, to celebrate the Feb. Chinese New Year. There is an eeriness to the streets, void of people, covered in liqufaction (a silty by-product of the EQ), everything frozen in time, back to that fateful February afternoon.
As the bus tour concluded, the EMT on board said he "hoped that it helped" and I believe the trip was a cathartic experience for most people. There is grief for lives lost and familiarity gone but there is also hope. Canterburians have banded together in support of one another. Although there are many more buildings to be demolished, there is much talk about re-building a city basically from scratch. They predict it will take many years. Rebuilding won't even be considered and Insurance companies are withholding any payments until there is what they refer to as a 3-3. Three months without an aftershock above 3.0. So far, that hasn't happened. Yesterday we had a 3.4.