Christchurch, September 2010. In the aftermath of one of the largest earthquakes in our country's history, it would be hard not to concede we as a city have dodged a bullet. There was no large loss of life, or complete devastation of the entire city and surrounds, but that is not to minimise the earthquake's actual impact in any way, shape or form. Because there was quite significant damage to property, roads and infrastructure. A 7.1 tremor and to date, near 700 aftershocks, were never not going to cause widespread disruption and anxiety to the people of this region. It merely lends credit where credit is due. Thanks to the mostly stringent building codes implemented by the authorities on the advice of our planners and engineers, our CBD and surrounds largely still resembles a city, albeit a war torn looking one. Nor should we ignore the sheer stroke of good luck that the major tremor occurred in the early hours of a Saturday morning when most people were tucked up asleep in their beds. In other parts of the world this would not have impacted quite as much on the outcome, but our definition of housing including our multi storey arrangements lends itself to being far more forgiving than some of our earthquake prone friends.
Regardless of whether they suffered property damage, flooding, utility outages, looters or not, no one who was here in the region at 4.35am, September 4th will have escaped this experience unchanged.
As we continue to process what has happened to us and gradually come to grips with the legacy of destruction and emotional upheaval the quake and subsequent aftershocks have left in their wake, we will quite possibly dine out on this disaster for months and it is perhaps as part of the several stages of healing, appropriate that we do.
We have been confronted with our own mortality and that of our families and friends, always a bitter and unsettling pill to swallow. So much of the human psyche is entrenched in maintaining control for our own wellbeing - that of our day to day lives, routines and thoughts. A natural disaster such as this lays that all out in the open, peeled away and bare. There is no protection or certainty in disaster. You only have to look around at the problems of mental illness (including outside of traumatic events), particularly anxiety related disorders to see that. Anxiety is simply the fear of uncertainty. Unfortunately in life there is not much that is in fact certain.That is where the control comes in.
The big second change for the victims of this earthquake is loss. Loss of home and property(this includes damage), perhaps business, income, landmarks and places that we associate with different times in our life or our collective past. Some of the buildings that have/will have to be destroyed have been there our whole lives, and that of our parents and grandparents. Areas of historic, social and cultural significance such as the old borough of Sydenham with its shops have been swiftly taken from us. Strengthening and restoration not getting to them in enough time to properly preserve what once was. It is not hard to see why talk of heritage is such an emotive and reactionary topic in our city at a time like this. We all want to belong and have connections to our beginnings and roots. Architecture has always been a very real connection to that.
Our thoughts turn quickly to grief over what we have confronted and lost.
For me part of my grief was able to be quelled by a walk around our CBD and surrounds where I was reassured by how much in fact was still standing in my home town, albeit worse for wear.
This region does have much to be thankful for and as the aftershocks hopefully fade and time passes we will be quicker to remember those things and set about making our new reality.
Until the day comes for me when I am finally calm and at peace with what has happened here, I will be content to remind myself that yes, we did in fact dodge a bullet, which when you stop to think about it probably is still the biggest thing we should be grateful for.
