22nd February 2011

28/02/15

Todays lesson Objective: The Christchurch Earthquake

It was recently the 4 year anniversary of the February 2011 earthquake

that hit Canterbury at 12:51pm with a magnitude of 7.1.

184 people died this day because of it.

(Que Erin and her geography brain)

New Zealand lies on 2 plate boundaries, the Pacific plate is subducted 

below the Australian plate in the north and visversa in the south, however

 this specific earthquake was caused by the alpine fault- 

a transform boundary where the plates rub horizontally along each 

other, building up pressure before finally releasing energy in the form of an earthquake. The country is split up over plates hence 

the stunning mountain ranges.

Someone once told us 'everyone will have a story to tell', in the week 

we have spent here, we learnt this couldn't be more true.

 It's hard to describe how much this natural disaster has affected 

both the people and the city, but 4 years on it still pains people

to watch and discuss what happened on the 22nd February 2011.

Once the initial shock wore off the feeling of fear that the people

of Christchurch felt is indescribable, there was no phone signal

or transport due to the bumper to bumper traffic and so

as a result no way of knowing whether family and friends

were safe and alive.

The city was falling apart around them due to the multiple

aftershocks and so your natural reaction would be to flee.

However this was not the case, as a community the public began searching for people who were trapped under the rubble, many were stuck for up to 6 hours.

Without the vital help from builders and construction

workers the number of deaths would have been significantly higher.

It's hard to do justice just how extreme and devastating

the earthquake was but to put it in perspective 4 years on 

many buildings are yet to be rebuilt and some are still waiting

to be knocked down.

It's hard to imagine what this once beautiful city looked like now that

such little is left.

 

The population of New Zealand is just 4% of what it is in Japan yet they have the same land mass, due to this there is a strong community feel
 and although there is a constant reminder everywhere you
look of what happened 4 years ago, the city is trying
 to make the best of what they have.

 The majority of the buildings either collapsed or were red zoned 

(this means they are unsafe to be used) after the earthquake and so

shopping centres, banks, police stations, everything you need in

order to have a city was no longer available.  So, some 

young students came up with the idea of a 're-start mall' which is where

they fill crates with clothes, cafes, banks and so temporarily

they have there own outdoor shopping centre.

 Despite this New Zealand is still one of the most beautiful countries
with plenty to do in Christchurch. We spent a day in naturally heated pools, sweating in 40 degree water and taking in the eggy (sulphur) air which was surprisingly relaxing. Living up to New Zealand's active reputation we visited "Adrenaline Forest"- similar to Go-Ape. Suspended up to 18m in the air, we flew down zip wires, balanced on wires and in Megan's case had to be rescued and abseiled down the tree! Lastly, a trip up Heathcote Valley on the gondolas (cable-cars) offered us a very windy view of Christchurch and the Southern alps.

 lots of love
Megan, Robyn and Erin
xxx