A photograph of the earthquake damage to the windows of a building on High Street.
A photograph of closed businesses on High Street. Many windows have been boarded up with plywood and furniture still remains outside.
A fallen shop dummy lies in a window of Peaches and Cream. Spray-painted on the window is the word, 'Haz'.
A team of Fire Service and Search and Rescue personnel using a crane to check the Forsyth Barr building for people trapped by the 22 February 2011 earthquake. A sign reading, "Help" has been stuck to one of the windows and a window above has already been broken by the team.
A photograph of 'We Won't Need Legs to Stand', an installation by Sam Eng. The installation was displayed in the window of the COCA gallery when the remainder of the building was yellow-stickered.
A photograph of 'Screensaver', an installation by Ed Lust. The installation was displayed in the carport of the COCA gallery when the remainder of the building was yellow-stickered.
A bollard covered in tattered posters. The photographer comments, "After the Christchurch February 2011 earthquake no more adverts were pasted onto this advertising pillar. Over a year later the posters are starting to peel off and reveal older ones. It seems that the constant addition of new posters was keeping everything in equilibrium, but with no new posters everything is literally falling apart".
Photos taken in Lyttelton following the February 22 earthquake. File ref: CCL-2011-03-05-After-The-Earthquake-P1110505 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries
Located on the edge of two tectonic plates, New Zealand has numerous fault lines and seismic risk across the whole country. The way this risk is communicated affects whether people prepare effectively or at all. Research has shown that perceptions of risk are affected by slight changes in wording, and that probabilities commonly reported by experts and media are often interpreted subjectively based on context. In the context of volcanoes, research has found that given a certain probability of a volcano in a specific time window, people perceive risk as higher in later time intervals within that window. The present study examines this pattern with regard to earthquakes and aftershocks in the New Zealand context. Participants in both Wellington (N = 102) and Christchurch (N = 98) were presented an expert statement of earthquake risk within a given time window in Wellington and aftershock risk in Christchurch, and asked to rate their perception of risk in specific intervals across the time window. For a Wellington earthquake, participants perceived risk as incrementally higher toward the end of the 50 year time window whereas for a Christchurch aftershock, risk perception increased slightly for the first three intervals of the 12 month time window. Likelihood of preparing was constant over the time windows, with Wellington citizens rating themselves more likely than Christchurch citizens to prepare for either an earthquake or aftershock, irrespective of current level of preparedness. These findings suggest that people view earthquakes as more likely later toward the end of a given time window and that they view aftershocks very differently to scientific predictions.
A photograph of severe cracking along the windows of the SBS bank on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street.
A photograph of severe cracking above a window of the SBS bank on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street.
A photograph of severe cracking along the windows of the SBS bank on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the windows of the Concrete Club on Manchester Street.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the windows of the Concrete Club on Manchester Street.
A photograph of severe cracking around a window of the SBS bank on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street.
A photograph taken through a window of The Burrito Company restaurant on Armagh Street. The window is broken and glass has spilled into the restaurant. The floor of the restaurant has risen in the centre. Small stones from an unknown source have scattered across the floor on the left.
The damaged Mona Vale Gatehouse. The tiles have come loose on the peaked roof and broken windows have been boarded up.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the awning and windows of Smith's Bookshop on Manchester Street.
A photograph of a window of Peaches and Cream with the word "No" spray-painted on the glass.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The missing rose window in the Christchurch Cathedral".
Christchurch Sept 4th Earthquake
A photograph of the badly-damaged Press building, viewed from Worcester Street. Windows have been boarded up with plywood and straps are being used for reinforcement.
A photograph of the former Government Life building in Cathedral Square. Shop windows on the ground level have been boarded up with plywood.
A photograph of a building on the corner of Colombo Street and Oxford Terrace. Many windows are broken and scaffolding has been erected up the side.
A photograph of a window of the Cranmer Centre. The masonry around the windows has been removed and placed on pallets below.
A close-up photograph of a broken window of the John Bull Cycles building on the corner of Colombo Street and Tuam Street.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Salvaged windows from the historic Warners Hotel, Cathedral Square".
A photograph of a window of Piko Wholefoods on Barbadoes Street. A red sticker has been taped to the window, indicating that the building is unsafe to enter.
Boarded up windows on the former Christchurch City Council building in Tuam Street. The photographer comments, "This guy always meets his sales target".
A photograph of the Art Gallery Apartments on Gloucester Street. Windows on the second storey of the building have broken.