My home town is Christchurch, New Zealand, I left Christchurch to start a new life in Auckland a few weeks before the first big earthquake in 2010.
I cancelled by return visit in February 2011 due to not ready to face some stuff and people from my past.
Half the people who died was due to a single building collapsing the CTV building.
About 10 in another building and the rest mostly downtown Christchurch.
It was the brick buildings and masonry and old style verandas that did the most damage in terms of these other fatalities and the city center has many old heritage sites consisting of these buildings.
Only a few buildings collapsed bully and some more partially, it was the demolishing of the many buildings after the earthquake that made the earthquake look bigger than it was.
It was mainly the exteriors of these buildings that collapsed and caused the fatalities not the complete collapse of buildings like you see overseas. New Zealand has a high standard of earthquake protection.
New Zealand has a strong British tie to its Motherland and therefore it is a very English city and therefore
also a lot of old style houses and New Zealand is very strong in protecting its Heritage, therefore Christchurch and its property owners did all they can to strengthen these types of building.
I am fucked off with my government tactics of hijacking Christchurch and demolishing all the old historical buildings in the downtown and hiding it behind the context of they are not safe as we all know after a a calamity comes the financial boom, therefore they are positioning Christchurch as one of the saviours of the New Zealand economy...
Christchurch has lost its heart and soul, due to this.
I am so mad at my government at their interference in the aftermath of this earthquake.
Sue to this I relazied how much Christchurch means to me and the heritage of my city is worth fighting for and not to be turned into another International City for all the wrong reasons.
I rather be in Christchurch when a big earthquake hits, due to its traditional wide streets and it is mostly suburban, so that is also why most of the deaths was isolated mainly to the downtown area.
The Christchurch earthquake was not as bad as it was made out on media reports.
Therefore the rebuilding of Christchurch refers to mainly the old style buildings and relocation of certain suburban areas due to liquification. Not the complete rebuilding o Christchurch, if this was the case then they should be many more deaths.......
Even though I was not in Christchurch for both earthquakes it was painful trying to get through to your family and friends and making a mental list in your head of the people you knew and where they would have been at the time of the earthquake in regards to reported deaths and their locations.
I am fortunate that no one I knew well was injured badly or died.
Only recently have I forgiven myself for not being there, survivors guilt I assume.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/chr...-Before-and-after-the-Christchurch-earthquake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM2_-ocYkPk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqZTrgzq7G4
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/february-22-our-new-city/