Christchurch after the Earthquake by Zander

            Earthquakes have always scared people. The fact that we can’t predict one coming is the main factor. In New Zealand, people knew that one was coming but they didn’t think that it would hit Christchurch; they thought that it would hit Auckland, or Wellington. But as we all know now, they were wrong. Our stay in Christchurch, New Zealand has been largely affected by the Earthquakes that struck Christchurch in June.

            The people of Christchurch have been pretty shaken up by the earthquake and I don’t blame them. But the really bad part of it is that they have started to destroy their community. In New Brighton, the place has been thoroughly Graffiti and Tagged. It has been spray painted. People have broken glass windows and torn down signs. The only thing that looks nice about it is the Library, and even that has been tagged. People aren’t as nice as in other places and there are a lot more homeless people. New Brighton was hit pretty hard by the earthquakes.  Most of it was red zoned.  Red zone means that the area has been said that it would be a waste of money to rebuild or the ground is unfit.  It is kind of sad that a whole city is ruined, and it has been like that for over a year.

            Christchurch, the city, was really affected. I don’t mean the people. I mean the city and buildings. When I drove through town you could see destroyed building as you go. It was red zoned and they are tearing it down. The Grand Chancellor building, the tallest building in Christchurch turned into the leaning tower of Christchurch. The picture below is of them taking the roof of it. There is tons of heavy machinery in the zone to help tear down the buildings. It is really sad to see a really nice City destroyed by an Earthquake. When we got there they had just finished building a mall made of sea trains.  It was really cool. It was built so all the businesses that had been destroyed by the earthquake could set up a temporary shop until they could be relocated them to a more permanent residence.

          Christchurch had to rebuild them so they made lots of plans. They put the plans of the new city on the internet so other people could see and comment/ make suggestions. They have been doing that for about a year, and when we left they had just published the final plan. Before then, nobody could do anything because they were unsure of what was going to happen next. The government has promise to pay everyone for their house, if it has been red zoned so they could buy a new one. There have been road repairs going on forever, so it is really hard to get anywhere. It is really depressing to see a really nice city in ruins. But it really helps that people are trying to fix it.

 In my stay in Christchurch, I learned a lot about Earthquakes and got to see what one can do to a city. It makes me really sad that one thing could ruin someone’s life so easily. It also makes me glad that I am not going to Japan on the world tour. Earthquakes happen to a lot of cities and I feel really sorry for them. But what matters is that you rebuild and be happy.