Truthfully, I don't know what I expected to see in Christchurch? Disaster, deviation, destruction? Definitely.
After landing on our short 1hr puddle hopper from Auckland, we bussed into the centre of Christchurch. While walking 45min in an attempt to find a hostel, we stumbled across many MANY buildings that were destroyed & vacant. What we saw were the remains of buildings: windows smashed or boarded up, walls held up by sea containers, gates surrounding buildings that were now condemned, and shops with fixtures still inside totally abandoned. Very eerie!
After finding a hostel that had vacancy (2 hours of walking later), we dumped our heavy packs and decided to see the rest of Christchurch centre. Our photos not only show some of the deviation from the 2010/2011 earthquake, but also some of the rebuild efforts and unusual projects in an attempt to "restart" the city.
First building we came across. Weren't sure at first what the sea containers were all about...
then realized they were holding up what was left of the building...
Block after block, this is what we saw. We figured 80-90% of the buildings in the centre of Christchurch were affected.
Many of the historic churches in Christchurch are in need of serious repair:(
The following photos show some of the efforts being made to rebuild the city.
A temporary space. Crate-town is place were people can gather, grab a bite to eat from the surrounding food trucks, and listen to bands play. Pretty cool!
ReSTART
A sea container village set up in the centre to bring locals and tourists alike back into the city. Complete with coffee shops, clothing stores, restaurants, and toilets! -all made with sea containers.
Kayla was in New Zealand when that earthquake hit. She was actually on a bus headed into the city.
ReplyDeleteSad to see how much still not restored. I can't even imagine.
Helena