The Clean Up

It's now February.

Driving down one of the main streets in the central city last night, it struck me how much we have to clean up in the city.

We're still tearing down buildings that were so badly damaged by the earthquake that it would be too dangerous to leave standing.

Manchester Street is a shadow of its former self.

The amount of churches that are closed because of damage is beyond belief. We were so lucky that the main Anglican church in Christchurch, the Christchurch Cathedral, was barely damaged. It is in the heart of Christchurch. When you think Christchurch, you think Cathedral Square.

The Cathedral of Blessed Sacrament, the main Catholic church in Christchurch, has been closed for months so that they can strengthen it.

Other, less fortunate churches, are closed and as far as I can tell, are just being propped up while committees decide what to do with them.

I'm not a religious person, but I have a huge appreciation for the architecture of churches, and it saddens me that so many have been badly damaged in the main earthquake itself, and the subsequent aftershocks. Especially the Boxing Day aftershock, that had the central city on lock-down once again.

We are still incredibly lucky. Not one death. Despite what Wikipedia claims, the death toll is still zero.

It is still a world first.

An earthquake of that magnitude should have harmed people. But it didn't. And it's a great show of how well the New Zealand Building Code works, and the standards our buildings have to meet when they are built.

The main purpose of the building code is to prevent the harm of people.


And it did just that.