It all started two years ago today at 4:36 in the morning, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook Canterbury.
In the wake of the February disaster, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority was set up to coordinate the overall recovery.
An economic recovery programme for Christchurch - including multi-billion dollar investments - has been announced by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister.
It's been a year since Pip Ranby was rescued from the top floor of the five storey Canterbury Television building.
An overseas expert has defended the structural engineer who declared the Canterbury Television building sound after the September 2010 earthquake.
The Royal Commission into the Canterbury earthquakes has been told of new deficiencies in the structure of the CTV Building.
Sumner residents whose properties have been condemned have vented their frustrations at a meeting with the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
Shoppers and sightseers in Re:Start Mall. Street lights have been decorated with banners with Canterbury colours, red and black.
A photograph of University of Canterbury Vice-Chancellor Rod Carr writing a message on a brick pathway in Churchill Park.
The University of Canterbury CEISMIC Canterbury Earthquake Digital Archive draws on the example of the Centre for History and New Media’s (CHNM) September 11 Archive, which was used to collect digital artefacts after the bombing of the World Trade Centre buildings in 2001, but has gone significantly further than this project in its development as a federated digital archive. The new University of Canterbury Digital Humanities Programme – initiated to build the archive – has gathered together a Consortium of major national organizations to contribute content to a federated archive based on principles of openness and collaboration derived directly from the international digital humanities community.
The Insurance Council says it can give Cantabrians a guarantee that insurers will go as fast as they can to settle earthquake-related claims.
For the people of Christchurch and its wider environs of Canterbury in New Zealand, the 4th of September 2010 earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks were daunting. To then experience a more deadly earthquake five months later on the 22nd of February 2011 was, for the majority, overwhelming. A total of 185 people were killed and the earthquake and continuing aftershocks caused widespread damage to properties, especially in the central city and eastern suburbs. A growing body of literature consistently documents the negative impact of experiencing natural disasters on existing psychological disorders. As well, several studies have identified positive coping strategies which can be used in response to adversities, including reliance on spiritual and cultural beliefs as well as developing resilience and social support. The lifetime prevalence of severe mental health disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurring as a result of experiencing natural disasters in the general population is low. However, members of refugee communities who were among those affected by these earthquakes, as well as having a past history of experiencing traumatic events, were likely to have an increased vulnerability. The current study was undertaken to investigate the relevance to Canterbury refugee communities of the recent Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) draft recovery strategy for Christchurch post-earthquakes. This was accomplished by interviewing key informants who worked closely with refugee communities. These participants were drawn from different agencies in Christchurch including Refugee Resettlement Services, the Canterbury Refugee Council, CERA, and health promotion and primary healthcare organisations, in order to obtain the views of people who have comprehensive knowledge of refugee communities as well as expertise in local mainstream services. The findings from the semi-structured interviews were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis to identify common themes raised by the participants. The key informants described CERA’s draft recovery strategy as a significant document which highlighted the key aspects of recovery post disaster. Many key informants identified concerns regarding the practicality of the draft recovery strategy. For the refugee communities, some of those concerns included the short consultation period for the implementation phase of the draft recovery strategy, and issues surrounding communication and collaboration between refugee agencies involved in the recovery. This study draws attention to the importance of communication and collaboration during recovery, especially in the social reconstruction phase following a disaster, for all citizens but most especially for refugee communities.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Durham Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Armagh Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Durham Street".
Two men chat on a beach about what the new year will bring. Out at sea is the container ship 'Rena' in two halves and the rain pours down. Context: 2011 was a year of disasters in New Zealand with new earthquakes in Christchurch and the 'Rena' running aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the Tauranga coast. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Shows huge mosquitoes attacking a man. Context: It could be that there is a larger population of mosquitoes in Christchurch at the moment because of stagnant areas left by the earthquakes. And it could be that a new mosquito species may be causing Cantabrians to suffer bad reactions to bites. The species is known as the striped mosquito, or Aedes notscriptus. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Durham Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Durham Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Durham Street".
As part of the ‘Project Masonry’ Recovery Project funded by the New Zealand Natural Hazards Research Platform, commencing in March 2011, an international team of researchers was deployed to document and interpret the observed earthquake damage to masonry buildings and to churches as a result of the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The study focused on investigating commonly encountered failure patterns and collapse mechanisms. A brief summary of activities undertaken is presented, detailing the observations that were made on the performance of and the deficiencies that contributed to the damage to approximately 650 inspected unreinforced clay brick masonry (URM) buildings, to 90 unreinforced stone masonry buildings, to 342 reinforced concrete masonry (RCM) buildings, to 112 churches in the Canterbury region, and to just under 1100 residential dwellings having external masonry veneer cladding. Also, details are provided of retrofit techniques that were implemented within relevant Christchurch URM buildings prior to the 22nd February earthquake. In addition to presenting a summary of Project Masonry, the broader research activity at the University of Auckland pertaining to the seismic assessment and improvement of unreinforced masonry buildings is outlined. The purpose of this outline is to provide an overview and bibliography of published literature and to communicate on-going research activity that has not yet been reported in a complete form. http://sesoc.org.nz/conference/programme.pdf
Container Love: shipping container decorated with knitted and crocheted squares. Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_026.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Temporary eateries in Sumner, Christchurch File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_040.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Container Love: shipping container decorated with knitted and crocheted squares. Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_031.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Sumner Library (currently closed), in Sumner, Christchurch File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_038.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Temporary eateries in Sumner, Christchurch File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_042.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Container Love: shipping container decorated with knitted and crocheted squares. Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_028.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Container Love: shipping container decorated with knitted and crocheted squares. Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_032.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Poseidon Restaurant (currently closed), Sumner, Christchurch File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_043.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Sumner Library (currently closed), in Sumner, Christchurch File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_037.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.