At 12.51pm this afternoon, it's three months to the minute since Christchurch was rattled by a devastating second earthquake. The landscape of the Garden City was changed forever in that moment.
We visited Christchurch a month after the February 'quake, and as we blogged at the time, we were shocked and saddened by what we saw, smelt and heard. But as we noted at the time, we were also encouraged by the attitude of the people whom we met; people determined not to give up on the home town.
Christchurch mayor Bob Parker has been the face of the Canterbury earthquakes. Today, as Christchurch pauses to reflect on an incredible three months, Parker has written a column for the Herald on Sunday. We reckon that it's fitting for it to be republished here, in its entirety. Here's what Bob Parker has to say:
On February 22, 2011, 50,000 people went to work in the heart of our city. Thousands of others went into the city to shop, carry out commerce, visit medical services, or even just to enjoy a beautiful day.
By day's end dozens lay dead and trapped in rubble while around them hundreds of emergency service personnel, medical staff, council staff and Civil Defence volunteers fought with one thought: to save as many as we could from the devastation.
No power, no water, many roads impassable, bridges down, communication limited. Great swathes of our communities were rendered almost uninhabitable. The February 6.3 magnitude aftershock shook our beautiful city to the core. Seconds of terror turned to minutes of panic, hours of anxiousness, days of despair and weeks of disbelief.
The sights, the noise, the smell and the sounds of February 22 are something I will never forget.
Three months and thousands of aftershocks later, those sickening emotions are still raw. Families continue to grieve, businesses work to restore operations, and we still live in a state of uncertainty, rocked by constant aftershocks. Our lives are on a knife-edge, but the sadness that seeped through our souls is slowly dissipating as a new sense of vigour envelops the city.
We will build a better city because this is our home.
I am incredibly proud of our achievements to date. More than 10,000 residents joined the council at the Share an Idea forum to have their say on rebuilding the city; we have reduced the number of residents using chemical toilets to 10,000; we have begun recycling the six million tonnes of rubble; we have begun work on a temporary housing village in Linwood Park.
Our biggest challenge surely lies in maintaining our spirit and drive in the face of an incredibly daunting task. We must take this tragedy and turn it around.
I want to send two messages to the people of New Zealand. The first is simple. Thank you.
The support we have received has been overwhelming. We have had young school kids organising coin trails, nanas knitting winter hats, and everything in between.
Second, we cannot be complacent. New Zealand is the product of a collision of two tectonic plates. We cannot ignore the seismic reality of the country we live in.
We all must learn lessons from what Christchurch has endured and invest wisely to protect our people.
By Bob Parker
Our thoughts, our prayers and our aroha are with the people of Christchurch today. As a business, we wrap up a three-month fundraiser today, for staff and contractors down there who were directly affected, and who have lost homes and property, but not hope. And it is that sense of hope that gives optimism that a new and better Christchurch will arise from this tragedy.
Kia kaha Christchurch!
1 comments:
Caught up with Bob and Jo at a gold star award for our Chief the other night and although the destruction of their City has taken a physical toll on them both they are still on top of the game and we were so lucky that we had people such as Bob Parker, Rodger Sutton and John Key in place on Feb 22nd and not some of the alternatives as we gird our loins for the rebuild.
Our City and region is well served and the sum of the support and commitment to our future from people such as you and yours is so empowering, and for that I say a big thankyou.
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