3 months after the earthquake

I took my first walk around a part of the central business district cordon.

I don’t know how long the CBD will be cordoned off, but looking at the damage around the area yesterday, it is clear there is a lot of work ahead.

There were quite a few people walking around , on a nice Saturday or Sunday this is what Cantabrians do, we walk around the CBD cordoned area. Sometimes we do this is silence, sometimes with reverence, sometimes we talk to other people, sometimes we stare at a building in awe and sadness.

 The Arts Centre is a part of our heritage, it was our city’s first university. It now harbours cafes, and a variety of art shops, plus a weekend market, which is a favourite with both locals and visitors. The cost of repairing the Arts Centre will be around a hundred million dollars. The Arts Centre, the Christchurch Cathedral, and the Catholic Cathedral, these are important to our city. We have lost so many buildings of a similar vintage and style, and we cannot bear to lose them all. As strange as it may sounds, these old buildings are not just part of our heritage, they are part of the Soul of Christchurch.

 

 Walking around the cordon was hard. It was the first time I had done this, as I had waited until the cordon had shrunk enough that we could see the buildings that meant so much to us all. An area that is usually bustling, was empty and silent, behind wire fencing, the entry points guarded by police and army personnel. It was still, silent, lifeless, as if everything still stood in respect of the lives lost.

We looked at empty plots of land, and could not even remember what building once stood there. There were too many of these empty plots of land. Buildings that had survived the September quake with minimal damage just did not survive the February earthquake.

We've lost a good few churches ... many of them historic and beautiful. This is just one of them. Some were being repaired from the September earthquake but when the February one hit, they were destroyed.

The Provincial Chambers were beautiful ... likely the same vintage as the Arts Centre and the Christchurch Cathedral (I'm no historian, so don't quote me on that!) In 25 seconds the building was destroyed.

And amidst all of that damage, amidst that silent reverence, was the most beautiful sound. As we approached the block that houses the Arts Centre, there, just outside the wire fencing that surrounds the damaged Arts Centre, was a woman playing a saxophone. Amidst all of that her music floated on the air. It was perfect. It was the sound of heaven amidst what felt like the destruction of hell.

I had seen her at the Arts Centre in the past, but this time I walked across the road when she took a break, shook her hand, and told her how perfect her music was amidst all of the damage. I had put a twenty dollar note in my pocket before we left home, and her CD was for sale for twenty dollars, so I bought it. Every time I listen to it I will remember how her music touched me on that day. Her name is Elle Walker.

Imagine it. The city is silent, there are not many people around—in an area that, prior to the earthquake, was bustling and noisy—and these beautiful notes from a saxophone just fill the air. It was as if they were trying to take up the space of the grief, to fill it with hope, with healing, with joy.