Christchurch Earthquake

As I mentioned in my last post, Christchurch suffered a devastating earthquake in February 2011. It was a 6.2 and very shallow in the earth, and came a few months after an even stronger earthquake (7.1) had hit further out in the Canterbury countryside, causing some damage to buildings in the city. The result of these factors was extreme destruction to the city and the tragic deaths of 185 people, making this event NZ's fifth deadliest disaster. A national state of emergency was declared, and people were without electricity for several days, and without running water or sewage systems for much longer. I am not going to go into a lot of details about the quake itself, but if you'd like to read more, please click here and/or here.

As you will have noticed, February 2011 was over 7 years ago. Having been aware of this before going, I naively expected to see a completely rebuilt and thriving city that had left this horrible tragedy in the past. Turns out, this reflects my complete inability to comprehend the level of destruction that can occur during a natural disaster. In many ways, Christchurch is thriving, and the work and spirit that have clearly gone into rebuilding is amazing, but there is still so much work to do. And how could there not be, when the ground turned to liquid and buildings collapsed? The little glimpse that I got into how traumatic it must have been was quite overwhelming, and nothing at all compared to what people experienced.

One of the first things we noticed was this beautiful cathedral, which we could see out the window of our hotel. As we walked around it, (starting at the left end in this picture) we remarked that the windows were boarded up, but other than that it looked pretty good. Then we got around to the right side and saw where part of it had just fallen away. We learned that it is so dangerous that no one is allowed to go in there, even to clean things up, let alone to start repair work, so it's just sitting there and no one knows what is going to happen with it. It's heartbreaking to loose such a beautiful building and place of worship.

In response to losing a beloved cathedral, and in the complicated aftermath of living in a city where so many things needed to be fixed, there was a need for new an innovative ideas, and a Japanese "emergency architect" named Shigeru Ban was called on for aide. Over the next two years, Christchurch's "Cardboard Cathedral" was designed and built. According to the brochure we got, "It is made of cardboard, local wood, and steel, with a polished concrete floor and a strong polycarbonate roof. It is built to 130% of the current New Zealand earthquake code, making it very safe. It is designed to last for a least 50 years... The design is quite simple, with waves of cardboard tubes drawing the eye and the attention towards the cross and the altar. At full capacity, it seats nearly 700 people, yet it has a remarkable sense of both space and intimacy."  

This is the view from the front, including rather lovely stained glass windows.

And here is the side, showing the strong polycarbonate roof.

Inside, even the pulpit is made of cardboard rolls.

As are the choir seats. Also, notice the lovely light coming in between the enormous cardboard rolls that form the walls/ceiling. The light in the whole place was wonderful and uplifting.

If you'd like to read more about the Cardboard Cathedral, please click here.

Just down the street from the Cardboard Cathedral is this memorial, 185 Empty White Chairs. There is one for each person who died in the earthquake, and each one is different, representing the unique personalities and lives of the diverse people who lost their lives on that day.

It is a very moving monument, as it makes it personal to see each chair and think about people going about their daily lives and having it suddenly come to an end.

The website about the chairs, which you can access here, says, "The chairs were acquired from a number of sources. Many were purchased from Trade Me while others were donated by victims' families, friends and work colleagues.  The individuality of each chair pays tribute to the uniqueness of each person represented. From a baby capsule to a rocking chair, an office chair to a wheelchair, each chair is representative of different ages and stages of life and various cultures. The installation resonates with people by the ordinary, everyday nature of the chairs.  For instance, although nobody was killed in a wheelchair, 3 people have ended up in one and people have commented that they felt 'crippled' by the earthquakes. Everybody can find a chair, or series of chairs, that they can identify with."

(I couldn't actually bring myself to photograph the baby capsule they mentioned, and it brings tears to my eyes even now to see the little chairs for small children.)

We went by many, many buildings with scaffolding or support structures around them. Some were in the process of being repaired, and some were just being held together to prevent further danger to people. I can't remember how much they said this building would take to replace, but I did write down that the historic Town Hall was estimated to need $127 million in repairs. The tour guide who shared this with us also pointed out that it was a hard time to be an insurance company in Christchurch, as they're ending up paying astronomical amounts of money for repairs.

There are parts of the city that feel completely damage-free, and then parts where everything is still very much a work in progress.

This is the Isaac Theatre Royal, which has been fully repaired, at the bargain price of $40 million. It was the first one we got a dollar amount on, and I thought it was so high as to almost be unbelievable, until I started hearing numbers in the 100 and 200 millions, and then I had to re-evaluate.

We also learned that the new building code requires buildings to be no taller than 28 metres (92 feet or about 9 stories), so any buildings taller than that are earthquake survivors, which was interesting to consider as we walked through the city. Also, all the new buildings are built to exacting specifications to survive future earthquakes, and the goal is to make Christchurch the most earthquake-safe city in the country. 

It was enlightening for me to see what a city looks like 7 years after such devastation. As you'll see in my next post, lots of fun things are happening right next to clear evidence of the struggles local people have faced and are facing, and it was impressive to see how people had come together and worked through difficulty. I'll be very interested to visit again in a few years and see the continued evolution of this fascinating place.