Of course our city will rebuild!

We are a city that has been somewhat ravaged. And what has every ravaged city, in the past, done? Rebuilt. Almost every city that has ever been ravaged has been rebuilt.

What Christchurch has the chance to do, is to build something special. We lost almost the entire CBD, and so we have the chance to have a custom designed and custom built CBD.

 In front of a vacant site.

We have entire suburbs that are pretty much unliveable, and so there, also, we have the chance to create something new and special, something for the people of Christchurch. That may be a forest, with cycle tracks and walkways. It may be a nature reserve, a place created in honour and memory not just of those who died and were injured, but also in honour of every single person who helped, every police office, every soldier, every builder, every plumber, every road worker, ever man who dug and repaired the sewerage system, every person who delivered a port-a-loo to the suburbs, every doctor, every nurse, every counsellor, the lady in the street who hugged you, every single person who helped! The land that can never be built on again—for we surely can never be so stupid as to assume earthquakes won’t happen and liquefaction doesn’t exist—and so this land needs to be put to use in a way that honours what has happened.

Re:Start in the CBD!

September 4^th 2010 started a cycle of seismic events that, even at this point of writing, has not stopped, and is likely to continue for decades (on a dwindling scale). Where once our city was still, now she rocks, and rolls, and dances and sways. This is the new ‘normal’ for our city. And we are beginning to accept that, to find a way to not be affected by these events quite so much, so that we can carry on without the constant burst of adrenalin, and get past that fight-or-flight response. That is a lot easier to write than to do, I know.

These days, in a shopping mall, we will stop if a 5.5 aftershock barrels through the city, and we will wait to see what happens. Will it build into something bigger, or will it stop? Will we need to run? Will it fade away? And when it fades away we get back to what we were doing and carry on shopping, unfazed—no doubt making a mental note to check www.geonet.co.nz when we get home to see how strong the shake was and where it was centred. These days a 5.5 hits and no one cries out, panics, or screams. If it begins to build into something bigger then yes panic will set in, but…let’s be honest here: if the mall was going to fall down it would have done so by now!

I guess this building was damaged!

Our city was ravaged, our emotions were ravaged. Do we rebuild as stronger people? Take a look around our city, at what has been done with some of the empty land where rows of shops have been demolished. We have temporary cafes set up, we have a ReStart shopping area in the CBD that is built with colourful shipping containers, and it is thriving! We have shipping containers used as display windows to hide the empty land behind. We have shipping containers creating a barrier between the roads and where rocks may fall from the cliffs above in the event of aftershocks. We have art on blank walls. We have gardens where there would otherwise be an empty plot of land. With the great Kiwi ‘No. 8 wire’ mentality, people have done what they could with what was available! We pulled together to create, and we support those creations. We are a people with initiative, creativity, and above all, a strong sense of identity and purpose. We will rebuild this city, and we will be so utterly proud of it!

Lyttleton Petanque Club, where one a fabulous deli and cafe stood.

A city whose people coped with streets of liquefaction, ruined sewerage systems, broken water systems, port-a-loos in the streets, water tankers in the streets, schools that doubled up with one school there in the morning and another school—whose own premises were badly damaged—in the afternoon school session, we coped, and we did what needed to be done, because there was no other choice.

Some people think Christchurch people should just abandon the city and move elsewhere. Fair enough. But, who is going to buy our houses? Where are we supposed to get the money to buy another house in another city? Where are we supposed to get jobs? Christchurch is our home, and we will rebuild it. Since when did Kiwis walk away? The CanDo attitude is rife in this city, and always has been.

The ‘Greendale Fault’ ruptured on 4^th September 2010. It had been still for sixteen and a half thousand years…but think about that time sixteen and a half thousand years ago. Earthquake and aftershocks. It happened then, it is happening now. This is nothing new. The earth has always moved. It is perhaps incredibly naïve to expect the Earth to not move!

This is the art on the side of a building.

Christchurch will be a stronger and more beautiful city. The people of Christchurch will be stronger, closer, more resilient, more self sufficient, and we will support each other.

People may ask, “Where were you when the quakes hit?” and in the answer “I was here, in Christchurch, for each and every one of them”, there is a solidarity, a brother-sisterhood, a unification amongst people. We were united by earthquakes and destruction.

Citywide plywood enhancement fashion trend

We have a new look!!!

PLYWOOD!!!

It is the in thing in Christchurch these days and, not wanting to be left behind, we have joined the citywide plywood enhancement fashion trend!!

After the removal of the chimney and part of the front of the house we travelled through some different looks….

Half pink batts half plywood .... mmm, I'm not sure about this.

Pink batts. But it really wasn’t working for me—I have never been a ‘pink’ kind of girl.

Half pink batts and half tar paper. Not that was kind cool. A little risqué, a little revealing, a little …well, face it, slutty! (We don’t live in an area where ‘slutty’ is going to go down terribly well!)

Full tar paper. Have to admit, I thought that worked kind of well. But, again, it just didn’t feel right!

Half tar paper half plywood ... mmm, not sure I like this either.

Half tar paper and half plywood! Aha! Now that was just downright chic! We had white, black and beige across the house and, as you fashion folk know, that colour palette worked well. In fact, we liked this one so much we trialled it for the entire weekend. (Which is a really nice way of saying the tradesmen had reached knock off time and would be back on Monday, but did his best to whack up one large sheet of plywood before he left.)

On Monday the tradesmen arrived back and set to work and did an outstanding job (and I mean that sincerely). By days end we had a whole new look going on … and I like it! In fact, I love it! And it is just as well I love it because I’m going be living with this for quite some time!

I love it!!!

I think you will see that the look works well, it fits the house nicely, it is subtle, coy, a sort of ‘you don’t really notice me until you stop and pay attention’. It’s a bit like wearing red stilettos with long jeans. Only as you walk do people see the ‘teaser’, and if you sit down (at a nice café—seriously I love a good coffee!) and cross your legs and the jeans ride up the boots a little…well, let me just say that I have had people pull the leg of my jeans higher just to see the boots.

But, back to the house … I will point out that we paid for the pink batts, in case any fellow Earthquakians reads this and thinks EQC will let them put pink batts in a wall that did not previously have pink batts. They won’t. This was an emergency repair job, and they are not supposed to leave a property ‘better’ than its original state prior to the quakes and aftershocks. We did not have pink batts before the damage to the house, and so they would not put them in for us as they repaired the house. I asked for them and am paying for them, but otherwise we would have gib-board and then plywood and then winter…and this house is cold enough in winter without that added chill factor.

I don’t really know what we are going to do with the front of the house when the full repair goes through (as I said, what we had done was an ‘emergency repair’ due to the instability of the chimney and the front of the house after the June 13 ‘twins’ – one decent 6.0 or better would have taken it all down, so we could no longer leave it).

To conclude....

Plywood is the new trend – if you don’t have it, you’re nobody!

Fluro is the new black—there aint nothing sexier than a workman in a fluro vest walking up your driveway, because you know he’s here to fix something!

Hardhats…well, combine that with the fluro and need I say more… (*tiger growl*)

We don’t look at the latest Mercedes or BMW and think ‘Wow, I would love one of those’, we look at the utes and say ‘I wish I had bought one of them!’

When our husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend (not all in the same bed of course ... although...) rolls over and makes the bed shake we almost scream 'Earthquake!'

Twin Earthquakes, Monday 13th June, Christchurch, New Zealand

Again.

It happened again.

For the third time.

Our city got belted by an earthquake/aftershocks. This first hit at 1 pm on 13^th June, and an hour and twenty minutes later we got belted again, even worse!

This is where they were centred…

Location:  10 km south-east of Christchurch

Focal depth:  11 km

Richter magnitude:  5.5 (later upgraded to a 5.7)

 

Location:  10 km south-east of Christchurch

Focal depth:  9 km

Richter magnitude:  6.0 (later up-graded to a 6.3)

Over the last nine months…

We got belted by a

·         7.1 in September (no one killed – it hit at 4.25 a.m.) 

·         6.3 in February (which killed 181 people - it hit at 12.51 p.m.) 

·         and now, in June, a 5.7  (1 p.m.) followed by a 6.3 (2.20 p.m.)

To put the positive first: the 5.7 sent many people scurrying out of buildings and kept them out when the 6.3 hit. The ‘pre-shock’ (as they are calling it) pretty much saved lives, so we were lucky.

Having been belted by the 5.7 we probably all thought we were okay, that the predicted big aftershock had just hit…

…And I wish people would stop predicting them, stop telling us, just shut up! We know aftershocks are going to belt through our city, we know this, we have been through it for the last 9 months, endlessly hit by aftershock after aftershock. We have done all we can do to prepare, we have food and water and everything we need if we lose power and water. The only thing left we can do to prepare is ‘pray!’ And I tell you I did a whole lot of praying after the 6.3 hit while I tried to find my children (19 and 21 years of age).

I can’t do anything more to prepare! And I know we will get aftershocks….so to all the gurus out there, please shut up! Just shut up! Leave me alone! Just let me believe (no matter how deluded) that it’s going to stop. Don’t friggen tell me there is a 30 % chance of a 6.9 within the next 10 months!...

Rant over … (feeling a teensy bit better now!)

The most frightening thing when the 6.3 hit, was this:  my son (21) had gone to work at Merivale Mall, and my daughter (19) was at college on Bealey Ave. (Husband was out of town on business). And I could not contact my children. That was the most dreadful experience!!

I knew I couldn’t drive to the Mall because the roads would be in gridlock, and so I did the only thing I could do. The Mall is about two kilometres away, so I ran to the Mall – ran, walked, ran walked. When I got there the Mall was cleared, people outside, and my son had already left to see if I was okay at home. So I turned around and ran home – half way there my right knee started to give out, from an old gym stress, so it was a limping run.

A lady called out to me, asking if I was okay, and I explained why I was running, asked her if she was okay, which she was, and gave her a big hug (this is what I term ‘the post earthquake hug’), then turned and kept running.

When I got home my son was here and he was okay. My husband had, by the time, made contact, so we let him know that we were okay and were still trying to reach our daughter! The only choice left was for my son to take the car and drive in to the college - no matter how long it took him to get there through the traffic - while I stayed home in case she had found a way to get home. My son got to college and let me know it was closed and deserted. Shortly after that she arrived home – you have no idea how relieved I saw to see her! As soon as she had her shoes off it was a massive hug. My children were okay. I could breathe again.

My son finally made it home through the traffic, and my daughter’s boyfriend made it round – gave him a big hug too!

My chimney and the front of my house have moved further apart, so we are now having to arrange from the chimney and part of the front of the house to be taken down and made watertight for winter - forget getting it repaired just yet as there is the insurance saga to get through before we can book a builder, and there are thousands of houses needing work, so this will not be quick!

The front of our house is in islands of concrete blocks, sections that move independently and perhaps allow for the house to move and not fall down. Anyway, the contractor has been called and they will assess the house tomorrow and get on to ripping the front down. They have promised to leave us comfortable for the winter - not pretty, but comfortable!! (I wonder if I could get someone to paint art on the plywood that they’ll have to put up?)

The city itself? Well, we lost more buildings, and the big ones that were on a lean are on more of a lean. The Christchurch Cathedral is further damaged, as is the Catholic Cathedral (which was so incredibly beautiful church inside). There’s rubble in the streets again. Buildings that may have been marginal are now to be condemned, or they fell over on Monday!

I spent the day after at the house of two gorgeous gals, shovelling the silt (result of the liquifaction which happened all over again), into wheelbarrows and piling it in the street so that the council can come along and take it all away. There are piles of this stuff in many streets!

Are we back to February 22^nd all over again? No, not really. The damage this time was not so extreme, as the movement was more horizontal, whilst the severely destructive February quake was more vertical. The CBD has been cordoned off since the February quake, so the most dangerous place in the city was not full of people, but was populated by builders, demolition workers, building assessors etc. These people were at serious risk, and it is so lucky that the 5.7 sent them out of the buildings before the 6.3 hit!

I was talking to friends last night (after a martial arts class in which a good sparring session helped me to release a bit of stress!) and we joked that we can tell which fault line the aftershocks are coming from by the sound and the feel. We have become quite expert at this…something that, one day, we will laugh about!

When earthquakes and aftershocks hit, we no longer scream “Oh no, it’s an earthquake!”, instead we gasp “Another one??!!!! Seriously??!!” (Often followed by “Are you f****** kidding me??!!)

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.