Children walking across the twisted Medway Street bridge.
The Medway Street footbridge in Richmond has warped beyond repair in the February 2011 earthquake.
The Medway Street footbridge in Richmond has warped beyond repair in the February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph captioned, "So it's been an eventful couple of years. I think the first earthquake, it was just so totally unexpected. You went to bed one night and when you woke up - in just a few seconds- everything was different than it had been before".
A photograph captioned, "I miss living here, right by the river. I'd been there for quite a long time, 12 years or so. I realize now I took it for granted a bit. I used to get a bit bored with having a big old house that was cold, difficult to clean, and perhaps hard to keep warm. But now, when I go back there, I miss living in a big house by the river with an open fire and a big lounge and everything. I had the park there on the other side of the river. And there was a little bridge down there where you could walk over to it. There was actually a circuit you could do, up to the New Brighton Bridge and back. Yeah, it was beautiful".
A photograph captioned, "Lovely big weeds, they're pretty aren't they. Amongst all this".
A photograph captioned, "It feels like it has been a really on-going process. We weren't in the head space for it really, because when you retire, you think you're in your retirement home and you're there to stay. You don't expect to have to move on. To do all this".
A photograph captioned, "We went to Nigel's place for breakfast and stayed for three months".
A photograph captioned, "In the 1930s the traffic in Gayhurst Road was so light that I can remember playing hockey and cricket with apple boxes for wickets. If a car or cart came along there was plenty of time to shift the boxes to let them past".
A photograph captioned, "My daughter grew up in this house. She's 10 now. She is going to miss it - and Dallington. It's where she's grown up, what she knows. She'll miss it alright. Me too".
A photograph showing the damaged streetscape of Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph captioned, "Nobody’s trained for this, you go to your lawyer and they can’t give you an answer because they've never faced this before, so yeah, even they are scratching around trying to find out".
A damaged house with cracks down the wall sits on an uneven surface.
Damage to a block of flats, with silt from liquefaction around the footpath, and road cones outside the property. The fence has been spray painted with the words "All units damaged. Keep out".
A photograph captioned, "The government's not stupid, they'll put three houses on each of these sections".
Its 12 years of accumulated stuff and I was thinking I was just going to get rid of everything. I had the feeling I didn't want to hang onto anything. We tried to get rid of a lot of stuff in a garage sale. Some of it went, some of it didn't. It's a long process".
A photograph captioned, "We get the young fellas to come in and do the upkeep on the government houses that have been sold. They cut down all the long grass and just tidy up all the fire risk sections. This one's easier cos the house is gone. If you keep it tidy it looks tidy from the road. There's people living here, and there's nothing worse than looking over your house and seeing grass this high".
A photograph showing St Paul's School's damage in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A red-stickered house which has separated from its foundations.
A photograph captioned, "So they gradually go".
A photograph showing earthquake damage in a Dallington resident's home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph captioned, "See, Dallington still is beautiful".
The front porch of a red-stickered house.
A red-stickered house with cracking on the stairs.
Damage to a block of flats, with silt from liquefaction around the footpath, and road cones blocking the driveway.
Damage to a block of flats, with silt from liquefaction around the footpath, and road cones outside the property. The fence has been spray painted with the words "All units damaged. Keep out".
Damage to a block of flats, with silt from liquefaction around the footpath, and road cones blocking the driveway.
A red-stickered house with an overgrown yard.
Residents living in Canterbury's red zones are praising Labour's plan to help them recover from the effects of the region's earthquakes.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 2 April 2011 entitled, "Day 40 - Inside the red zone".