Christchurch Quake - May report

It isn't all over
I think for most people outside of Christchurch the earthquake is old news. Surely we must be getting back to normal by now? But the answer is no. It is by no means over. And some people think that the people on the less affected side of the city have normal life, but that is not true either.

To start with the newspaper is full of the earthquake and the recovery. There are the complaints from business people who can’t get back into the centre city to retrieve their stock to start somewhere else. There are articles on what the city should look like after we demolish possibly half the buildings in the centre city. There are appointments of people to run the recovery. Roger Sutton was appointed CEO of CERA, which was an extremely popular appointment. He took a serious drop in salary to do it, as he had been head of Orion power company before. Then there are the scientific discoveries of new faults under the city, and out to sea, and a leaked announcement that there is a 23% chance of a magnitude 6-7 in the next twelve months. (The spurious precision of the probability does have me wondering if the scientists in question understand mathematical models and people’s perception of probabilities.)

Then there are the roads. These are very sad. Many of the main roads have had the bumps taken out and are patched. Cracks have been sealed with tar, leaving a web-like pattern over the road. The less busy streets have unpaved sections, and the quiet streets still have the bumps. The main roads are clogged, and you have to think carefully about which route to take and at what time to avoid gridlock. And it’s sad to think that visitors might think that this is what our city is normally like.

And there is the spectre of power cuts and further after-shocks. The little shocks are pretty usual now, but still can get your heart racing. We had a meeting on the fourth floor of an unfamiliar building at work, and there were some noises from the lift or trolleys or similar that had us all jumpy for the first few episodes. The fragile power network has frequent cuts, which worry older people especially who are left cold and bored.
People hug more, and are more flexible in some areas, but more brittle in others. Our sense of security has been eroded. Things that we thought were permanent just aren’t. Nor do we feel entirely safe in other places as they aren’t prepared for an earthquake. They might think they are, but we know differently. Everything still takes longer, and most people are more forgetful.

People in the eastern suburbs are living in sub-standard houses with limited heating and draughts making it difficult to stay warm in the looming winter. Gardens are still covered by silt. Many are still using chemical toilets. The main swimming pools for the east-side, QE2 and the Centennial, are broken, so children are left without places to learn to swim or to have an inexpensive afternoon of fun. A lot of the sports grounds are broken up, or the club rooms are, or there is temporary accommodation being built on them, so the sports programme for winter is seriously diminished. Many of the things that make life interesting and fun, particularly for the old and the young, are not available.

Work-places have sprung up in the suburbs in total and necessary disregard for zoning laws. Accountants, consulting firms and small industries are run from houses in residential areas. People have to share offices and take turns at coming in to work. At university we gradually are getting buildings back in use, so the timetable is very fluid. When shopping you always have to check that the place you intend to go to is still there. Some of the suburbs, such as Hornby, are booming, as the empty building and shop space is being taken up by displaced businesses.

One hard thing for many people is the loss of the central city. It has been said that the city has a black hole in the centre. The view from the hills at night makes it obvious. There is this worry that we won’t get it right when we rebuild, and it will never be nice again.

Life is not how it used to be and it never will be.