One month after the Christchurch earthquake

We have been lucky. We weren’t in Christchurch when the 6.3 earthquake hit just before 1pm on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd 2011. We were hiking through the mountains near Glenorchy/Queenstown (approx. 400km away to the south-west).
A hut warden was present on this track and he told us on Wednesday morning what has happened. He also offered us to make one call via radio (there’s no cell-phone coverage in NZ’s mountains). The connection was short, but we managed to reach our neighbours to ask if they are ok and if their and our houses are still standing.
Everything was ok, and so we went ahead with the normal plan and continued walking for the next couple of days.

Only after we came back on Saturday, we realized the degree of destruction this earthquake caused. It was terrible to see all the pictures.

We drove home on Sunday only to grab a few things and then leave again. We didn’t feel safe in our house on the hill, although it wasn’t looking bad on the outside. The inside was a bit of a mess, but we expected things to be worse.

At first, we spent two nights on a campground in western Christchurch, before my company organised flights for us to Auckland. We ended up staying there for almost 3 weeks in an unfurnished flat. It was not exactly comfortable, but still more comfortable than being in Christchurch, having no running water and sometimes no power. No shaking was a big bonus, too.

We returned last Sunday. Wednesday evening I went out with my GF1 to take some pictures of the visible damage in Sumner, the suburb we live in.
I need to say that most buildings are looking ok and that you don’t see lots of obvious major damage everywhere. But you certainly won’t overlook it, either.

Recovering after the earthquake: The time on the Sumner clocktower is the one when the earthquake happend. Just before 1 PM.

You see quite a few of these Port-a-loos in the street. Water was not available first (it is restored now), and the sewage system is still not running properly again.

Sumner Church had some considerable damage after the quake in September, and the Febuary one made it worse.

Water tank: before running water was restored, you had to get water from one of these tanks.

A huge rock came down from the cliff in the background.

The Cornershop Bistro. Awesome restaurant where we spent a lovely evening not long ago.

“The Ruptured Duck” restaurant was heavily damaged after the September quake and this one now put it over the edge. It was still standing after the quake, but got demolished now.