Friday-Project: Christchurch Earthquake – 2 years later

Traveling to Christchurch, New Zealand recently, i was surprised to see in what bad shape the city still is almost two years after the february 2011 earthquake. The magnitude 6.3 quake killed 185 people and resulted in the 3rd largest insurance claim worldwide. The central area was most heavily affected and over 80% of all buildings in this so called „Red Zone“ can’t be fixed but must be taken down. It is said to be another 10 years before the city will be rebuild. I had not previously been to an earthquake desaster area and seeing how slow the rebuilding process is, especially since New Zealand is a first world country, made me think of what such a desaster must really mean for places like Haiti or Pakistan.

The remains of a downtown Building.

A worker hanging from the Pacific Tower overlooks downtown Christchurch.

View of a destroyed downtown appartement building.

Workers are transforming a former building to small rubble.

A man walks his dog past a heavily damaged house in a residential area.

Damaged thomb stones on a graveyard.