A sign on the Kaiapoi Public Library and District Council Centre explaining that the temporary library and service centre has relocated. The sign reads "We have moved. The temporary library has moved to the Swim Club rooms beside the Kaiapoi Aquatic Centre corner of Cass and Davie Streets opposite Danley Square. The Kaiapoi Service Centre has move to the Kaiapoi Community Centre, 24 Sewell Street. Waiamakariri District Council.
A sign on a bus stop on Victoria Street reading, "Bus stop temporarily closed, please use the next available bus stop on Papanui Road. No: 29 Service, please use the bus stop on Bealey Avenue (west of Montreal Street)." Many bus routes were affected by the 22 February aftershock.
Within four weeks of the September 4 2010 Canterbury Earthquake a new, loosely-knit community group appeared in Christchurch under the banner of “Greening the Rubble.” The general aim of those who attended the first few meetings was to do something to help plug the holes that had already appeared or were likely to appear over the coming weeks in the city fabric with some temporary landscaping and planting projects. This article charts the first eighteen months of Greening the Rubble and places the initiative in a broader context to argue that although seismic events in Christchurch acted as a “call to palms,” so to speak, the city was already in need of some remedial greening. It concludes with a reflection on lessons learned to date by GTR and commentary on the likely issues ahead for this new mini-social-environmental movement in the context of a quake-affected and still quake-prone major New Zealand city. One of the key lessons for GTR and all of those involved in Christchurch recovery activities to date is that the city is still very much in the middle of the event and is to some extent a laboratory for seismic and agency management studies alike.
