A view after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch 04 September 2010. Corner of Colombo and Byron Streets. Given a bit of a HDR process to add some of what I was "feeling" at the time.
Reasons why it pays not to be a smoker - if the quake had hit during opening hours there would have been probably half a dozen smokers underneath the black awning crushed by falling bricks.
The base of the tower on the right of this picture has sunk about 25cm so that the lower course of bricks have disappeared below ground level. Meanwhile the other end of the building has sunk about 50cm splitting the building into thirds. The sand you can see is what came bubbling up out of the ground due to liquifaction. Unfortunately the build...