Christchurch

We spent a night in Christchurch on our way south.  We just had a few hours to explore, so we decided to take a loop through the downtown.  Our walking map had a large block in the middle of town labeled Re-start. The center of town is still recovering from the 7.1 earthquake in 2010 which was followed shortly by the 6.3 earthquake of 2011. We parked by the Christchurch art gallery, a very modern building that was built in 2003 to survive earthquakes.

The gallery was not open when we walked by, but the outside was pretty interesting.

We walked a block closer to the center of town and got our first view of Christchurch Cathedral, although we didn't know what it was.

The Christchurch Cathedral occupies the very center of the city and it was badly damaged in the earthquakes.

After the 2010 earthquake a steel structure was erected to support the rose window, but during the 2011 quake that steel support took out the entire wall.

The building is unsafe, but litigation is holding up any progress that might be made in either restoration of demolition. So the pigeons have a nice home.

The arch deacon decided that demolition was the answer and it was begun, but the parishioners wanted the church restored.  Structural engineers have determined that the building can be restored and made earthquake safe, but the church does not want to shoulder the entire cost, so for six years it has been in limbo.  Elsewhere massive rebuilding has begun.  Steel frame buildings are going up all around the downtown area,

and cranes dot the skyline.

On the way back to the car I saw this message on the side of the art gallery. "Everything is going to be alright."

Earthquakes in New Zealand are a fact of life.  The 7.3 magnitude 1929 Murchison earthquake caused a landslide that blocked the Maruia River.  The river had to cut a new course and the Maruia Falls are the result.

 Not a bad result for the river, but it was devastating to the people who lived in the region.