A newspaper lying on the boardroom table has a headline reading 'Top NZ companies planning contributions to earthquake relief'. A group of CEOs at a high level meeting almost have cardiac arrests when the chair reports that 'Some comedian suggested we CEOs donate our salary increases and bonuses... But now, moving on to serious matters... Context - Some big companies like Fletcher Building, General Motors and others have pledged substantial money to the Christchurch earthquake relief funds. The Christchurch earthquake happened 22 February 2011. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A container labelled 'Chch East residents' has landed on the far side of the planet Mars. Others have landed or are descending. People in space suits exit the containers. One of them shakes hands with a green Martian commenting to him that the ground there is solid, it has nice views and "... the locals are a lot less alien than the insurance agents back home". Cartoon published when NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars on 5 August 2012. At this time there there was public debate over insurance claims by earthquake survivors in Christchurch's eastern suburbs. Title taken from item. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s). Processing information: Record title, scope and contents and note fields were updated in June 2025 as part of reparative description work. Details available on request.
In response to the loss of our inner city of Christchurch, we were inspired to create this website, Lost Christchurch, as a freely accessible archive of photographs, social history and memories of …
A view from Cambridge Terrace of the damaged Our City O-Tautahi building, formerly the Municipal Chambers. Scaffolding has been placed along the side of the building.
A memorial service to remember those who lost their lives, and to reflect on the devastating impact of the February 22nd earthquake on our city and its people.
A memorial service to remember those who lost their lives, and to reflect on the devastating impact of the February 22nd earthquake on our city and its people.
A PDF copy of pages 206-207 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Fulton Hogan BMX Pump Track'. Page 206 photos: Irene Boles. Page 207 photos: Peter Walker, Three Chairs Photography. With permission from Student Volunteer Army Foundation.
The cartoon shows an enormous ball of red tape and all around frustrated workers carry away their ladders and tools. Context - Three months after a quake that scored a direct hit under Christchurch, many residents are struggling with mountains of paperwork required to get their homes repaired and rebuilt. Reference numbers, codes and Pin numbers permeate our daily living now as we deal with the aftermath of two major earthquakes in six months. People feel they are lucky that they have the EQC pot to draw on, but there are a lot of complexities, anomalies and frustrations. (BBC News 21 May 2011) Colour and black and white versions available Quantity: 2 digital cartoon(s).
Text across the top reads 'Wearing burqas and veils could limit job prospects...' The cartoon shows a crowd of people hidden under a huge burqa-like cloth. A man peers from both ends of the crowd and one of them says 'Well, we work behind a veil and STILL have jobs... And so do all our mates!' The man at the other end gives a cheerful thumbs up. There is a great deal of whispering about 'jobs for the...' and 'split contracts'. Above is a notice that reads 'Council job contract meeting'. Context - Complaints have been laid with the Auditor-General's Office about the Christchurch City Council's handling of consultants' contracts (to do with the rebuilding of the city after the earthquakes). City councillors have been questioning the council's awarding of more than $2.8 million of contracts to consultants. The burqa has been in the news lately with bus-drivers refusing to accept women in burqas on their buses. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
At top left is text reading 'Christchurch pupils return to school...' The teacher has written the words 'Nosey', 'Bob', and 'Double' on the blackboard and says to the children 'Our first test today... Sort these into Parkers we love and Parkers we don't'... Context - the correct answers would be that we hate 'nosey parkers' and 'double parkers' but that we love 'Bob Parker'. Bob Parker is the Mayor of Christchurch and is generally considered to have done a remarkably good job of demonstrating calm and cheerfulness after the two earthquakes of 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011, as well as having been able to chose fitting words to express grief and despair at so much loss. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A PDF copy of pages 210-211 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'St Luke's Labyrinth'. Page 210 photos: Irene Boles. Page 211 photos: Peter Walker, Three Chairs Photography. With permission from Student Volunteer Army Foundation.
A view down Worcester Boulevard. Steel bracing against Our City O-Tautahi can be seen. The Cathedral can be seen at the end of the street and the Clarendon Tower on the right.
The Avon river, with some cordon fence around Our City O-Tautahi, that was in the former Municipal Chambers visible on the left and the central Police station in the background between the trees.
For one of our city’s most famous early women settlers, poor health had marred not only her voyage to New Zealand but also her arrival to her new home at Riccarton. From the moment Jane Deans…
Looking down Worcester Street with Our City-O-Tautahi with bracing on its front facade on the left, behind it is Rydges, the Grant Thornton Building in the middle back, and the Claredon Towers on the right.
Refers to the controversy over the decision to demolish the Christchurch Cathedral which was severely damaged in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. The Anglican Bishop of Christchurch Victoria Mathews says the decision to demolish the cathedral was reached through prayer, great deliberation and with the utmost concern for safety. The Bishop says a number of options were considered before deciding to bring the walls down but the turning point was 23 December 2011, when a series of strong quakes rocked the city. At that stage the Canterbury Earthquake Authority approached the church. "CERA told us that our plans for making safe and retrieving, and then stepping back and making further decisions were no longer adequate." Christchurch City council announced their support on Twitter this afternoon (17 May 2012) - tweeting an endorsement to an immediate pause on demolition of the Cathedral to enable deeper and more open consideration of options. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Conservationist, forager, angler and former fisheries observer Peter Langlands talks about the many threats to our lakes and waterways. Lynn Freeman asked the Cantabrian how the earthquakes affected Christchurch birds, as there was talk that they left the city.
Christchurch and its surrounding towns are slowly starting to be rebuilt after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Our political editor Brent Edwards has been in Christchurch to find out whether the rebuild debate will dominate the election campaign in the city.
As life-changing experiences go, the earthquake on 22 February 2011 was fairly significant. On the one hand, our house was red-zoned (but still liveable), friends lost their lives and the city lost many of the old buildings that, for me, … Continue reading →
When you think about the Avon River running through Christchurch, you might imagine punting boats and kayaks in Hagley Park. Such attractions in our garden city are far from new and, recently, a few of us here at Underground Overground … Continue reading →
Recently, Peter Mitchell, one of our building archaeology specialists, recorded a 19th century residential dwelling just on the edge of Christchurch’s Central City. This dwelling was similar in form and function to others we have seen in Canterbury – it … Continue reading →
Christchurch residents will gather today to mark the tenth anniversary of the Christchurch Earthquake. The 6.2 magnitude quake killed 185 people and caused widespread destruction across the city. It hit at 12.51pm while many people were in the city centre, working, shopping or enjoying their lunch in the sunshine. This is where our coverage began. A warning this is confronting audio of events that day.
Debbie says brightly that Christchurch has 'demonstrated the classic Kiwi quality of stoicism and behaving decently towards each other!' Jaimee replies that it's the same stoicism that means we complain a lot about our problems but never really do anything and Debbie tells her that applies just to her. Refers to the Christchurch earthquake of 4th September. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Late in 2014 we were contacted by contractors working on a rebuild project in Christchurch’s city centre. It was reported that a number of bottles had been uncovered during routine earthworks and the area cordoned off until our arrival. The bottles … Continue reading →
In the aftermath of the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES), the location of Christchurch-City on the coast of the Canterbury Region (New Zealand) has proven crucial in determining the types of- and chains of hazards that impact the city. Very rapidly, the land subsidence of up to 1 m (vertical), and the modifications of city’s waterways – bank sliding, longitudinal profile change, sedimentation and erosion, engineered stop-banks… - turned rainfall and high-tides into unprecedented floods, which spread across the eastern side of the city. Within this context, this contribution presents two modeling results of potential floods: (1) results of flood models and (2) the effects of further subsidence-linked flooding – indeed if another similar earthquake was to strike the city, what could be the scenarios of further subsidence and then flooding. The present research uses the pre- and post-CES LiDAR datasets, which have been used as the boundary layer for the modeling. On top of simple bathtub model of inundation, the river flood model was conducted using the 2-D hydrodynamic code NAYS-2D developed at the University of Hokkaido (Japan), using a depth-averaged resolution of the hydrodynamic equations. The results have shown that the area the most at risk of flooding are the recent Holocene sedimentary deposits, and especially the swamplands near the sea and in the proximity of waterways. As the CES drove horizontal and vertical displacement of the land-surface, the surface hydrology of the city has been deeply modified, increasing flood risks. However, it seems that scientists and managers haven’t fully learned from the CES, and no research has been looking at the potential future subsidence in further worsening subsidence-related floods. Consequently, the term “coastal quake”, coined by D. Hart is highly topical, and most especially because most of our modern cities and mega-cities are built on estuarine Holocene sediments.
OPINION: Associate Professor MARK QUIGLEY, from the University of Canterbury's department of geological sciences, and Dr MATTHEW HUGHES, from its department of civil and natural resources engineering, survey the changing landscape of post-quake Christchurch.
It's no longer politics as usual in Christchurch following a series of devastating earthquakes. Not everyone in the city and its surrounding areas is happy with last week's offer to buy out those households on land which has suffered the worst damage. Our political editor Brent Edwards investigates.
Member of the public using the Dance-O-Mat, a dance floor on a vacant site with coin operated light and music player. This was a project by Gap Filler who wanted to give the Christchurch community a unique dance experience whilst bringing life to our broken city.
Our Christchurch correspondent, Katy Gosset takes us on a musical journey with the help of one of the city's longest serving pianists. For 23 years Peter Lewis played the piano in the Crowne Plaza Hotel before being made redundant by the February 2011 earthquake. Peter has since struggled to find a way to share his music with others. Today Katy seeks out some city pianos and takes him on a mystery tour to rediscover the pleasure of playing.
The top frame shows the barbed wire and watch tower of a prison. There is a comment about someone wanting the warmth of a prison cell. The second frame shows prison staff chatting at cross purposes about a petition from Christchurch with homes wrecked by earthquake pleading to be allowed to live in prison and the sentence imposed on the Bridgecorp directors who have been accused of defrauding investors. Colour and black and white versions available Quantity: 2 digital cartoon(s).