Rosie and The Operator are off to Christchurch!
Rosie has never been there before and is very excited! She pulled out her old battered Lonely Planet of New Zealand and started making notes of all the things she would like to see….excitedly babbling about seeing this and seeing that and going here and eating their. The Operator quietly said, you do realise a lot of things are probably not there anymore.
Nooooo….. Rosie didn’t really stop to think that….
On the 4th of September 2010, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch and the surrounding areas at 4.35am. Damage was widespread but no lives were lost, aftershocks have been continuous.
On the 22 of February 2011 the strongest of these aftershocks measuring 6.3 struck during peak shopping time. Buildings and shops collapsed, the destruction was terrible. 185 people lost their lives.
As a Kiwi we have been bought to tears by the tragedy, we have seen the reports on the news, the struggles and the frustrations the people of our second largest city are going through. Rosie has met these people first hand, people who cant stand living any longer in Christchurch and have relocated to our neck of the wood.
Time fades the tragedy, we are living so far away and cant really fathom the day to day and ongoing problems.
But it couldn’t be that bad, could it? Surely things haven’t changed that much?
