Earthquake

I remember hearing on the news in 2011 that there was a terrible earthquake in New Zealand, in Christchurch. I paid particular attention because I have a friend who lives there. But like any news that isn't North American the media forgot about it pretty quickly and so did we. 

I guess I didn't expect there still to be so much devastation in Christchurch. I guess I expected buildings to be going up and life to be moving on, especially since it happened a few years ago. 

The city centre is completely blocked off. They are still assessing buildings to see if they are safe, they are still slowly tearing down old and new buildings alike and are working as fast as they can. 

There are community groups that are trying to make the city a vibrant place. This Gap Filler project is a Dance-o-mat. Ipods are plugged into the washing machine and your music comes over the loud speaker. It's because so many public spaces to dance (studios, clubs) are nothing but rubble now. Even people who are grieving need a place to dance. 

There are so many old, beautiful buildings that are set for destruction (including the Cathedral at the centre of town) and that's quite controversial. Whether they are actually unsafe or the owners don't want to spend the money to fix them is debatable. We ran into my friend's mom protesting the demolition of this gorgeous old building. 

There is just such heartbreak in the city. So much of how the city defined itself is gone or in the process of being fought over. It's distressing and made me cry. 

We walked around the Red Zone, the cordoned off area. It was like the Zombie Apocolypse. It still looked like a city but it was so silent. No cars, no horns, no people, no birds. Every now and they you could hear a big machine plunging itself into a building and concrete crumbling to the ground. There were guards standing at the entrances to make sure no one entered. The whole experience was eerie. 

All that is left of this church is some stones that the congregation has arranged in memory of those who lost their lives. From what I understood from the signs, mass is still held outdoors sometimes on the spot where the church once was. 

Just outside of the city centre there are family homes, abandoned. It was so sad to see that these once lovely homes are just empty. Families have up and moved elsewhere, somewhere safer, I guess. Who knows what will happen to these buildings.

Even though there is grief, the hope that lives on is palpable. These people of Christchurch will not give up. They will not be broken just because their city is broken. There is a real sense of community and of people drawing together to show that a city isn't it's buildings and sidewalks but rather it's people and heart.