Rolleston/Burnham, South Island, NZ This used to be a perfectly straight and flat road!
Taken as the severity of the situation began to sink in to most of the people wandering around. Police, Fire and other emergency personal showed a fantastic response to how they dealt with the situation they had.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 29 May 2011 entitled, "Deconsecration and Destruction".
The partially demolished Ozone Hotel in New Brighton, with a digger in the background.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Destruction in the cordoned off red zone".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Destruction in the cordoned off red zone".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Destruction in the cordoned off red zone".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Destruction in the cordoned off red zone".
The destruction of the Royal Hotel on the corner of Norwich Quay and Canterbury Street.
Tourists checking out destruction caused by the magnitude 7 earthquake in Christchurch on Saturday 4-9-2010.
Morning Report comes from Christchurch as the city remembers the devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck a year ago tomorrow.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Earthquake and demolition destruction in Christchurch CBD. Rydges Hotel, Brannigans building and Clarendon Towers, Oxford Terrace".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "80 year-old Evan Ross from Richmond, Christchurch, is pictured looking around the destruction in the city".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "80 year-old Evan Ross from Richmond, Christchurch, is pictured looking around the destruction in the city".
Some parts of central Christchurch may have been hit by rogue seismic energy during last week's earthquake, amplifying the level of destruction.
A photograph submitted by Ginny Larsen to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "April 2011 Overwhelmed by the destruction of our city".
A digitally manipulated image of building rubble.
The destruction of the Radio Network building in Christchurch has prompted hopes that explosive demolition could be used to bring down other earthquake-damaged buildings.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch recovers after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake at the start of the week causing mass death and destruction across the city".
Digitally manipulated image of graffiti on a brick building on St Asaph Street. The graffiti depicts a sticking plaster over a broken section of the wall, with the words "I'll kiss it better". The photographer comments, "After the 22 February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch band aid plasters starting to appear in different parts of the city on damaged buildings. A year later most can still be seen. This one was once a whole plaster, but it has slowly broken up where it crossed the gap. The red bricks seen to symbolise the terrible wounds caused to the City and it's people".
One of the most potent symbols of the earthquake has been the massive amount of destruction caused to Christchurch's Anglican Cathedral, including the toppling of its spire.
When the Canterbury earthquakes brought about the destruction of almost all of the buildings in central Christchurch, it created a unique opportunity for an insight into the past.
The destruction of the Ground Culinary Centre on London Street. A digger is sitting on top of a pile of rubble. This site will soon be made into the Lyttelton Petanque Club.
A digitally manipulated image of damaged Music Centre. The photographer comments, "The destruction caused by the demolition of the heritage buildings damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes looks similar to the scenes in London during the second world war. The building was the Catholic Cathedral College, Christchurch. It was an integrated Catholic co-educational secondary school. It was founded in 1987, but its origins go back more than a 100 years earlier. The college was an amalgamation of two schools: Sacred Heart College for girls, and Xavier College for boys".
A short video-documentary featuring four Christchurch locals who reflect on the destruction of the city's CBD, and how it has changed what they value in a city. Produced with funding from NZ on Air.
A digitally manipulated photograph of twisted reinforcing rods amongst the rubble from the demolition of QEII. The photographer comments, "These rarely seen worms live in the pressurised earth under the foundations of buildings. They need a damp soil and be under at least 100 pounds of pressure per square inch. After the destructive force of an earthquake they swiftly rise to the surface through gaps in the rubble. Unfortunately they quickly die and then crystallise as hard as iron in the dry low pressure air".
It is hard to imagine the destruction which surrounds this area on such a beautiful clear calm sunny spring morning, It seems as if Christchuch has changed forever. I wonder how long it will take us to recover.
The level of destruction from the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes led to changes in the New Zealand seismic building code. The destruction showed that the NZ building codes did not fully performed to expectation and needed Improvement to ensure that impact of future earthquakes would be minimised. The building codes have been amended to improve buildings resilience to earthquake and other related extreme loading conditions. Rebuilding Christchurch with the new modifications in the seismic building code comes with its own unique challenges to the entire system. This project investigates the impact of rebuilding Christchurch with the new seismic Building codes in terms of how the new changes affected the building industry and the management of construction.
A view through a gap in the partially-demolished Crowne Plaza Hotel to the Forsyth Barr building.
Building rubble from a partially-demolished building is piled behind and partly against a large display window.