The state of emergency in Christchurch has just been extended until midday on Wednesday. In latest developments Canterbury Civil Defence is now warning people to prepare for potential flooding, only two days after the major earthquake that caused widespread damage to much of the region.
It's more tha 10 weeks since the seven point one magnitude Canterbury earthquake but the region continues to be shaken by aftershocks.
Part of the parapet of this building was shaken loose by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit Christchurch on 4 September 2010.
Part of the parapet of this building was shaken loose by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit Christchurch on 4 September 2010.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Stock buyer Bill Laurence, seen at the Stratford stock sale, was shaken up in his Christchurch home when this month's earthquake struck".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Stock buyer Bill Laurence, seen at the Stratford stock sale, was shaken up in his Christchurch home when this month's earthquake struck".
At 4.35 a.m. on the 4th of September 2010 Christchurch residents were shaken awake by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake, the largest earthquake to hit urban New Zealand for nearly 80 years. It was a large earthquake. On average the world only has 17 earthquakes a year larger than magnitude seven. Haiti’s earthquake in January 2010 was magnitude 7.1 and Chile’s earthquake in February was magnitude 8.8. Although it was a big quake, Christchurch was lucky. In Haiti’s earthquake over 230,000 people were killed and in Chile 40,000 homes were destroyed. Happily this was not the situation in Christchurch, however the earthquake has caused considerable damage. The challenge for the Landscape Architecture community is to contribute to the city’s reconstruction in ways that will not only fix the problems of housing, and the city’s urban, suburban and neighbourhood fabric but that will do so in ways that will help solve the landscape problems that dogged the city before the earthquake struck.