A photograph looking west down Dundas Street. Rubble has been stacked on both sides of the street. Several earthquake-damaged cars, recovered from the Smiths City car park, have also been stacked on the left. In the background two excavators are sorting through the rubble.
A close-up photograph of parts of the Townsend Telescope recovered from the rubble of the Observatory tower. The telescope was housed in the tower at the Christchurch Arts Centre. It was severely damaged when the tower collapsed during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
An article from the Media Studies Journal of Aotearoa New Zealand Volume 14, Number 1. The article is titled, "Heroic Radio: a study of radio responses in the immediate aftermath of the September 2010 Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand". It was written by Ruth Zanker.
A crack next to the Avon River caused by the ground slumping after the 4 September earthquake. A blue pipe has been laid over the crack. Many kilometres of these temporary water pipes have been run overground in Avonside to supply houses with water.
A gutter on Bracken Street in Avonside showing cracks from the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The edges of the footpath above it have fallen away, and the gutter has filled with the loose gravel which was used to fill pot holes in the road.
A photograph of a member of an emergency management team walking down Cashel Street. In the background is a crushed van, piles of rubble from earthquake-damaged buildings, and partially-collapsed scaffolding. Wire fences have been placed in front of the buildings as cordons.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the second story of the Observatory tower at the Christchurch Arts Centre. The front of the storey has collapsed, exposing the inside. A tarpaulin has been draped over the top and the roof of the building behind.
A photograph submitted by Raymond Morris to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "This painting of the ‘Frame workshop’ 456 Colombo St. Sydenham is by artist Raymond Morris. It is one of many paintings he has done of buildings demolished in the earthquakes 2010-2011.".
For the first time in November 2011, Christchurch residents finally had the opportunity to see the earthquake-damaged city centre on the Red Zone bus tours organised by CERA. The podium which formerly held the Godley statue. Behind is the Regent Theatre dome which has been removed from the building.
A digger demolishes Henry Africa's restaurant. The photographer comments, "A building housing a restaurant and a great little neighbourhood bar is finally coming down because of earthquake damage. The left half. Janes Bar and one of the upstairs flats were still standing today, but they'll be gone soon".
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 19 November 2012 entitled, "Christchurch: Trying to make sense of living here....".
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 17 July 2013 entitled, "ps, I love you too".
The lived reality of the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes and its implications for the Waimakariri District, a small but rapidly growing district (third tier of government in New Zealand) north of Christchurch, can illustrate how community well-being, community resilience, and community capitals interrelate in practice generating paradoxical results out of what can otherwise be conceived as a textbook ‘best practice’ case of earthquake recovery. The Waimakariri District Council’s integrated community based recovery framework designed and implemented post-earthquakes in the District was built upon strong political, social, and moral capital elements such as: inter-institutional integration and communication, participation, local knowledge, and social justice. This approach enabled very positive community outputs such as artistic community interventions of the urban environment and communal food forests amongst others. Yet, interests responding to broader economic and political processes (continuous central government interventions, insurance and reinsurance processes, changing socio-cultural patterns) produced a significant loss of community capitals (E.g.: social fragmentation, participation exhaustion, economic leakage, etc.) which simultaneously, despite local Council and community efforts, hindered community well-being in the long term. The story of the Waimakariri District helps understand how resilience governance operates in practice where multi-scalar, non-linear, paradoxical, dynamic, and uncertain outcomes appear to be the norm that underpins the construction of equitable, transformative, and sustainable pathways towards the future.
Creativity that is driven by a need for physical or economic survival, which disasters are likely to inspire, raises the question of whether such creativity fits with conventional theories and perspectives of creativity. In this paper we use the opportunity afforded by the 2010-2013 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquakes to follow and assess the creative practices and responses of a number of groups and individuals. We use in-depth interviews to tease out motivations and read these against a range of theoretical propositions about creativity. In particular, we focus on the construct of “elite panic” and the degree to which this appeared to be evident in the Christchurch earthquakes context. Bureaucratic attempts to control or limit creativity were present but they did not produce a completely blanket dampening effect. Certain individuals and groups seemed to be pre-equipped to navigate or ignore potential blocks to creativity. We argue, using Geir Kaufmann’s novelty-creativity matrix and aspects of Teresa Amabile’s and Michael G. Pratt’s revised componential theory of creativity that a special form of disaster creativity does exist.
A retaining wall on Sumner Road in Lyttelton that is made from local volcanic stone. A section of the wall has collapsed during the 22 February 2011 earthquake, and the bricks cleared away since. A road cone has been placed by the slip to warn drivers.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office walking down Lichfield Street towards the intersection of Madras Street. Buildings on either side of the team have been damaged by the earthquake and there are piles of rubble on the street in front of them.
Cordon fencing around the Arts Centre on Worcester Boulevard. A man with a hard hats and hi-vis vest on can be. Wooden bracing has been placed on the gable on the tower to limit further earthquake damage. There is a crane sitting inside the fenced area.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house on Bealey Avenue. The outer wall of the house has crumbled, and the bricks have fallen onto the footpath in front. In the background, the bathroom has been exposed, and a window is lying in the bath tub.
An outline, created in 2011, of the levels of service and condition of the horizontal infrastructure within the central city, providing a broad indication of damage, service levels provided to residents and business owners, and used to estimate the cost of repairs following the earthquake events.
A house on Avonside Drive showing damage from the 4 September 2010 earthquake. Numerous cracks in the masonry can be seen, and several sections of brick have fallen off the walls. The building's porch has also collapsed. A pile of dried liquefaction is visible in the driveway.
A house on Avonside Drive showing damage from the 4 September 2010 earthquake. Numerous cracks in the masonry can be seen, and several sections of brick have fallen off the walls. The building's porch has also collapsed. A pile of dried liquefaction is visible in the driveway.
A truck used to drain the septic tanks installed in front of Avonside properties to allow residents to use their toilets after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The truck's operator has parked it beside the Avon River on Avonside Drive while he takes a break from working.
A weather-damaged Chinese lantern fallen to the ground in Victoria Square. The Chinese New Year Lantern Festival was to be held on Saturday 26 February and Sunday 27 February 2011 but was cancelled due to the earthquake. The lanterns hung in Victoria Square until they fell.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The interior of a house at 464 Avonside Drive which has cracks and other evidence of post earthquake life. Large containers of drinking water have been placed behind the armchairs for the next time power and water supplies are interrupted".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The New York Sandwich Bar in New Regent Street with the door open. The shops in New Regent Street have fared relatively well in the earthquakes. Here, you can see there is still a lot of clean up work to do".
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house in Christchurch. The front and side of the house has collapsed, the bricks and other rubble spilling onto the garden, exposing the rooms inside. Emergency tape has been draped across the front of the property as a cordon.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing on the corner of Lichfield and Manchester Streets. In the background an excavator has been parked on the street. In the background is a large pile of rubble from several earthquake-damaged buildings.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Ruben Blades on the corner of Lichfield and Manchester Streets. The front and top-half of the building have collapsed and the rubble has spilled onto Manchester Street. There are also substantial cracks in the Lichfield Street facade.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking down Lichfield Street towards the intersection of Manchester Street. Buildings on either side of the team have been damaged by the earthquake. Plastic and wire fences line the street to the right.
A photograph looking west down Cashel Street towards the Bridge of Remembrance. Rubble from earthquake-damaged buildings is piled on the road in the distance. Wire fencing has been placed in front of a seating area to the left and around a building in the distance.