Seconds from disaster: Christchurch

Have you ever been seconds from disaster?

Well in 2011 I was seconds from being involved in a life changing event; something that would have probably not caused much harm to me but would have really shook me up, literally. In June 2011 I was in New Zealand where I had been undertaking some field work for my dissertation and did some travelling around the South Island. When we arrived into Christchurch we had an opportunity to see the damage that had happened as a result of the two deadly earthquakes that had occurred the September and February before. The September quake had no direct casualties but was a 7.1 Magnitude quake and caused significant damage. The 6.3 Magnitude earthquake that occurred in the February was an aftershock of considerable size but at a much shallower depth and affected the central district of Christchurch during the day when people were at work. The quake killed 185 people in one of the nations deadliest peacetime disasters.
 
 

The whole centre looked like a warzone,
all cordoned off for around ten blocks

The damage from this quake was considerable and it was sad to see that the heart of the city had been torn out and the whole centre of Christchurch was a no-go area cordoned off. With buildings destroyed and empty with some skyscrapers at precarious angles. There was spray paint on pavements, doors and walls showing whether there had been casualties and that the buildings were clear. This was months after the quake and there was still no work allowed to be done in the centre. Churches were in ruins and shops closed, tourists that once visited for its beautiful centre, shops and trams were now visiting to see the devastation. All around cracks in the pavements could be seen and everyone seemed to have left the centre. The large shopping outlets on the edge of the city were now the central business districts.

With the earthquake causing much damage and our supervisor being in the University that had been badly damaged we were expecting to be told that the dissertation may not go ahead. But it did and we didn't realise how risky it was being in Christchurch with their being hundreds of aftershocks of a variety of sizes over a week.



There were many churches were the towers and spires had
fallen, been destroyed or removed for safety and preservation.

It was June the 13th and we had returned to Christchurch from Kaikoura were we had been for a few weeks doing field work. We were to collect our campervans which we were to be using to travel around the South Island. We had collected our vehicles and visited the large shopping centre to collect food and supplies. The store was huge and had food stacked up very high in what looked more like a B&Q style store than a supermarket.



All buildings had these markers showing the date they were
checked whether there was casualties and that the building
was clear.

The time was about 1.30pm and we had collected all the food and had just began to leave Christchurch. It took us about 4-5 hours to get to our next destination which was Lake Tekapo. We arrived at the Tekapo Springs, were there were was outdoor heated pools and an ice rink. As we arrived and booked our activities we noticed the news channel and there had been a significant aftershock that had hit Christchurch.

The earthquake was as large as the February quake at 6.3 Magnitude and hit at 2.20pm. only about half an hour after we had set off! In fact we were probably still travelling in an area that had been affected by significant shaking. A preceding earthquake of 5.9 mag had occurred minutes before. Meaning it was less time between us leaving and the quakes hitting. The earthquake produced severe shaking that registered VIII on the Mercalli Scale and destroyed building and added to damage. 54000 homes were without power and $4.8billion (US) of additional damage. There was one fatality and 48 injuries. There was also significant soil liquefaction. Falling debris was the cause of most injuries and more casualties were avoided due to good evacuation procedures.


Many of the buildings had their walls ripped down.
Even months after the disaster there was no signs of repairing.

It was weird to think that we were literally within an hour from being in Christchurch itself from these quakes and what an experience that would have been. It was the fact that we were travelling in a vehicle that we felt no ground motions but if we were not moving we would have definitely felt it. We had been in a huge supermarket moments earlier which would have been a frightening experience in a large quake.



The skyscrapers in the centre looked to be tilting at precarious
angles.

When we arrived back in Christchurch around 2 weeks later after our travels we were aware of the chance of aftershocks. I felt a small 2.1 quake as I had just led down in bed and was felt by a few others. But there was nothing as large as the big quakes. It would have been a once in a lifetime experience, but very scary and it would have been very chaotic not knowing what to do if we were still in the centre. We were happy to be away from that place and being safe.

 

It was an extraordinary experience and it was strange to think that we were literally seconds from disaster.