A photograph of a shipping container on the footpath outside 392 Oxford Terrace. To the left, the Locke family's house has been partially deconstructed. Wire fencing has been placed around the outside of the property. The photographer comments, "The house was deconstructed over three weeks. The materials were then stored in the shipping container until the house was reconstructed at a new site".
A photograph of the house at 468 Oxford Terrace. The grass has been mowed but the dead grass has not been removed. The house number has been spray-painted on one of the windows.
A photograph of Donna Allfrey, her husband Lex, and their two dogs, Niko and Zeus, sitting on the front steps of their house on Oxford Terrace. A green sticker on the door behind them indicates that the house has been inspected and is safe to enter.
A photograph of a painting in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. The painting depicts heritage buildings which were demolished in Christchurch, as well as the year or era in which they were built.
A photograph of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. A green sticker on the front door indicates that the house has been inspected and it is safe to enter.
A photograph of an excavator demolishing Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Wire fencing has been placed around the house as a cordon.
A photograph looking through the door of the front room in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace to the lounge and kitchen. A bed has been placed in the middle of the lounge. There is graffiti on the walls of the kitchen.
A photograph of an excavator demolishing Doug Sexton's garage at 378 Oxford Street. Wire fencing has been placed around the house as a cordon.
A photograph looking through the door of the front room in Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace to the lounge and kitchen. A bed has been placed in the middle of the lounge. There is graffiti on the walls of the kitchen.
A photograph of Doug Sexton holding a memento created by artist Sarah Brown for the Shared Lines Sendai/Christchurch Art Exchange. Brown used found objects from Doug Sexton's house to create this artwork in a tobacco tin.
A photograph of the hallway of Donna Allfrey's house at 406 Oxford Terrace. To the right, a couch has been upturned and placed against a mantelpiece in one of the rooms.
A photograph of the house number spray-painted on the footpath outside Robin Duff's property at 386 Oxford Terrace. The photographer comments, "The numbers were spray-painted in front of all the properties in the Avon Loop in order to keep track of the property number after the mailboxes were lost or removed".
A photograph of Doug Sexton holding a memento of his house at 378 Oxford Terrace. The memento was created by artist Sarah Brown for the Shared Lines Sendai/Christchurch Art Exchange. Brown used found objects from Doug Sexton's house to create this artwork in a tobacco tin.
During 2010 and 2011, a series of major earthquakes caused widespread damage in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The magnitude 6.3 quake in February 2011 caused 185 fatalities. In the ensuing months, the government progressively zoned residential land in Christchurch on the basis of its suitability for future occupation (considering damage from these quakes and future earthquake risk). Over 6,000 homes were placed in the ‘red-zone’, meaning that property owners were forced to sell their land to the Crown. This study analysed patterns of residential mobility amongst thirty-one red-zone households from the suburb of Southshore, Christchurch. Drawing on interviews and surveys, the research traced their experience from the zoning announcement until they had moved to a new residence. The research distinguished between short (before the zoning announcement) and long term (post the red zone ‘deadline’) forms of household relocation. The majority of households in the study were highly resistant to short term movement. Amongst those which did relocate before the zoning decision, the desire to maintain a valued social connection with a person outside of the earthquake environment was often an important factor. Some households also moved out of perceived necessity (e.g. due to lack of power or water). In terms of long-term relocation, concepts of affordability and safety were much more highly valued by the sample when purchasing post-quake property. This resulted in a distinct patterning of post-quake housing location choices. Perceived control over the moving process, relationship with government organisations and insurance companies, and time spent in the red-zone before moving all heavily influenced participants’ disaster experience. Contrary to previous studies, households in this study recorded higher levels of subjective well-being after relocating. The study proposed a typology of movers in the Christchurch post-disaster environment. Four mobility behaviours, or types, are identified: the Committed Stayers (CSs), the Environment Re-Creators (ERCs), the Resigned Acceptors (RAs), and the Opportunistic Movers (OMs). The CSs were defined by their immobility rather than their relocation aspirations, whilst the ERCs attempted to recreate or retain aspects of Southshore through their mobility. The RAs expressed a form of apathy towards the post-quake environment, whereas, on the other hand, the OMs moved relative to pre-earthquake plans, or opportunities that arose from the earthquake itself. Possibilities for further research include examining household adaptability to new residential environments and tracking further mobility patterns in the years following relocation from the red- zone.
All this is "red zone" after the earthquakes and has to be demolished. The roof of my "old" house (now owned by the government) can be seen between the third and fourth river-side houses.
Transcript of Rodger C G Curragh's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of Sharon Heads's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
A copy of the CanCERN online newsletter published on 16 August 2013
A copy of the CanCERN online newsletter published on 15 February 2013
A copy of the CanCERN online newsletter published on 8 February 2013
A copy of the CanCERN online newsletter published on 1 February 2013
A copy of the CanCERN online newsletter published on 8 March 2013
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 29 June 2013 entitled, "What is cognitive dissonance??".
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. Weeds have grown near the fence and the grass has not been mowed. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that access to the house is restricted.
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. The garden is overgrown and one of the windows has been boarded up with plywood. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that the access to the house is restricted.
A PDF copy of pages 324-325 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Scaffold Pavilion'.
A photograph of a bow made out of curtains pinned to Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. In the background, the house has been covered in plastic sheeting. The photographer comments, "The bow is a memorial to Murphy's living room and her life in the house".
A photograph of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. The photograph was taken from the empty lot next door. The front of the house has been covered with plastic sheeting. Wire fencing has been placed around the outside of the property as a cordon.
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. The garden has overgrown and one of the windows has been boarded up with plywood. A yellow sticker on the door indicates that the access to the house is restricted.
A photograph of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. Plastic sheeting has been placed over sections of the house to keep it water tight.