February 22, 2011, 12:51 pm

Today is the one-year anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake. When I say the Christchurch earthquake, I mean the one at 12:51 pm on February 22 2011 which resulted in 185 lives being lost. This is because since the first major earthquake on September 4 2010 there has been nearly 10, 000 earthquakes and counting, some big but many small. You can see a massive amount of information on all these quakes on the great Canterbury Quake Live website.

The September earthquake registered at 7.1 magnitude and was the largest Christchurch has felt. Fortunately, it was located just out of the city, it's depth was 10.5 km, and it occurred at 4:35 am when everyone was in bed. While this quake still destroyed some parts of the city (including my beloved hockey grounds as you can see below), this certainly limited the damage it was able to do and miraculously no lives were lost. Damage to my parents' house was virtually nonexistent and it took only 30 minutes to pick things up off the floor. Most of the city considered itself extremely lucky and life resembled normality for most within a month or so.

Porritt Park hockey turfs are no longer usable

After over five months with mostly minor aftershocks, most of Christchurch was lulled into a false sense of security, believing the worst was over. This all changed that day in the 24 seconds that the earth shook. The magnitude of the quake was only 6.3, but it was located almost directly under the city, and only 6 km deep. The quake spread across the city at 3 km per second with terrifying force. I still vividly remember everything down to the smallest detail. My story is that I was in the lunch room with all my workmates at Plant and Food Research out in Lincoln, some way from the center of the quake. Yet, when it hit we immediately knew it was gonna be a big one (you kind of got a feeling for this after so many quakes since the September one). We all dived under tables, door frames, or anything we could find to protect ourselves but luckily the damage to our building was minimal. As far as we knew at that point it was just a large quake and perhaps the city had gotten off lightly again. Of course we immediately tried to contact our friends and family, but this was difficult as power had been lost to so many places, making for a very worrying few minutes until we heard from people one way or another. Thankfully all of my close friends and family were safe, and I'm still thankful for that.

The first inkling I had that this was worse than the September quake was when my sister rang me to say that her friend in the central city was pulling dead bodies out of rubble and that our iconic cathedral had collapsed. I remember telling this awful news to my workmates and seeing the looks of disbelief and horror on their faces. Eventually I left work and headed to my sister's house near the city center where I met her and my Mum. We sat in her house for a few hours feeling the earth shake every few minutes as aftershocks kept rumbling through. I was restless and wracked with nervous energy so I took my sister's bike and rode around to survey some of the damage, and it wasn't good...

Some relatively minor inner-city devastation

Dad had decided to try to get home with a workmate who also lived nearby even though the road home was closed due to rockfalls and bridge closures. He ended up having to walk most of the way and eventually called us to let us know the road had been reopened and that we could head home, but to be ready for a shock. While nothing compared to the damage done to some other Cantabrian's homes and lives, the damage to my parents' and my childhood home was still severe. Upon arriving home we found the house in a total mess. Anything that could have possibly fallen was on the ground, windows were broken, plaster was cracked, a wall had collapsed, water tanks had fallen over, it was just total carnage as can be seen in the photos below. We felt we had to clean the house, just to try to return to some sort of normality, and started on it right away. The cleaning process took over three days with multiple people working and was made even harder by not having water or power for well over a week. We then had to move out of the house for several weeks until it was inspected and declared safe. This was the worst time of all, but thankfully our house was green-stickered meaning it's safe to live in and will eventually be rebuilt. Our neighbours were not so lucky however, the second story of their house collapsed completely; a reminder of just how lucky we were.

First view of the kitchen

The lounge

Cracks in the plaster everywhere

Collapsed wall on the patio

The garage

My room after the quake

My room after half a day of cleaning

The house next door

My Nana and Grandad's house with almost knee-deep liquefaction surrounding it 

Half a house at the bottom of the hill I lived on

As for repairs and insurance, it's a frustratingly slow process for many people. The EQC (Earthquake Commission) is "a New Zealand Government agency providing natural disaster insurance to residential property owners". Unfortunately, it has become a bit of a joke. One year after the quake and my parents have still not had their insurance claims approved. This means they have not been able to rebuild any of the house. Walls have been replaced with plywood. Windows are still boarded up. Only minor repairs have been able to be made. My parents describe it as living in a cave and are now resigned to the fact they will be spending another cold winter in a drafty house. Over 20 people have looked at their insurance claims, yet none have done anything about it, and I know they're not the only people in the same boat as many people are sick of the way the situation has been handled. On the other hand, I really admire the amazing way in which the Japanese authorities have handled the the rebuilding process following their own even more devastating earthquake. You can see some unbelievable before and after photos of that here. I just wish the authorities in New Zealand were able to work so efficiently.


All in all, the Christchurch earthquake(s) is something I will never forget. That 24 seconds affected everyone's life in an unforgettable way and burned images into our memories forever. My heart goes out to all those who lost their job, home, a friend or family member. The earthquakes have changed our city forever, but I am still proud to call Christchurch home. 

You can see an excellent tribute page with loads of additional information at this link. 

Kia Kaha Christchurch!