Sunday, September 12, 2010

Christchurch – still standing

Yesterday we went for a walk in the city, to see how much it had changed. There has been lots of talk about the heritage buildings that will be destroyed, so I went to see how some of the more significant ones had fared. I'd had an enquiry on Twitter from Sarah as to the state of Our City, where A Craft Affair and the Night Market are held. I had very briefly seen a shot of it on the news, and it seemed to have only suffered minor damage. I'd had hoped that as it was a council owned building, it would have had earthquake strengthening work done to it already.
There was some tape around it to protect people from falling bricks, but I was very pleased to see that it had a green sticker, and had only suffered minor damage, with some fallen bricks and tiles. As I walked around the city centre I was heartened to see that a lot of heritage buildings did appear to have survived with minimal damage. Although it is sad to see the buildings that will have to be demolished go, we still have a large number of old character buildings remaining. Here are some pictures to celebrate some of my favourite buildings which appear to have survived without major damage.
The old Public Trust office has recently been refurbished, so I imagine some earthquake strengthening work may have been done at the time.
I've always loved how this wooden building has defied the progress all around it, and managed to remain there all this time. It appears even an earthquake can't faze it, as Shand's Emporium was open for business as usual.
The Hanafin's store and money exchange were open, so I think it's safe to assume this iconic building will remain. Interestingly, the Westpac tower in the background appears to have sustained some damage. Not being an engineer, I don't know if it's significant or not.
Events like this often bring out the best in people. From the students mobilising on facebook to help with the cleanup, to businesses helping out competitors whose premises have been destroyed. I have been very impressed with the reponse to this, especially the tireless effort that has been put in by all the services that are there to help out by checking the safety of buildings, and restoring essential services right through to people contacting elderly people living along to make sure they are ok. There have been messages of support from all over New Zealand, and all around the world. A big thanks to all those that have helped out, and offered their support. It makes me proud to be a kiwi, and live in such a great city. We may have been badly shaken, but we haven't been beaten.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for this post Rose. I've been wondering about lots of these buildings and it is great to see some of the "good" news as from a distance and just reading the media reports the earthquake damage all looks terrible. cheers, Deidre

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  2. What a lovely way to view the events of the past few weeks

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