gathers no moss: Christchurch

We went to Christchurch today. We had planned to go to a museum or two, but most of the things to see are downtown. We decided to go down there to check it out. I hadn't been there, and I had heard that some of the city center was closed off. I figured there would still be shops and people outside the cordon, and that we could browse around a bit. I had seen some chimneys down in the area around my town, and there is a church down the road that lost its steeple. But that was really all I had seen of the damage and it didn't register that things were much worse.

I was really unprepared for the state of things in the city. It seems like the earthquake went off directly underneath downtown. The entire city center was closed off, empty, and eerie. It was like the beating heart of the city had been surgically removed.

We parked on a side street near a fence that closed off a bridge over the river. We walked around looking for the parking meter machine. As we were about to put coins in, a lone lady from across the street yelled "don't bother, they haven't checked the meter since February."

I figured there would be a place to get a coffee, but there wasn't anything open at all. It seemed like every building had a red tag on it that meant that it was condemned. I peeked in the window of a coffee shop and there were cups and plates on the tables, and a dusty newspaper dated Feb. 22, 2011 (the quake happened on Feb. 23). It was like Pompeii.

We walked around the cordon, satisfying our morbid curiosity. There is a big casino on the edge of the city center and it was open. It was a bit of a shock to see some people milling about. We asked if there was coffee inside, and indeed there was. We went upstairs to the bar and ordered. While standing there waiting for our order, there was a rumble and the ceiling shook. Everyone looked up and halfheartedly moved toward the door. Later I looked at the http://www.geonet.org.nz/ site (chock full of interesting geological info) which said that it was a 4.4 quake, 6km deep, and 10km from Christchurch. That's really shallow, and really close.

I think we flatlanders have the impression that an earthquake is an isolated event. But it's really a long process. There's the initial shock, then as the force transmits down that fault and on to other faults, there are continuous aftershocks. They decrease in intensity and frequency over time, but they've been going on nonstop in Christchurch since the February quake there (and since September along the fault in Darfield 30 miles away, which had the 7.2 quake last year). There have been many thousands of aftershocks since those quakes.

The twin shocks we felt in Ashburton were 5.5 and 6.2 magnitude. The February quake was a 6.3. What's troubling now is that the clock is reset for the aftershocks. They will now decrease over time, but buildings that might have been saved before Monday are now beyond repair, and there's really no timeline on when the quakes will quit. We saw some scaffolding that was mangled from falling walls. It looked like crews had been trying to stabilize the structures when the big shock hit on Monday and stamped out any hope.

We walked the rest of the way around the city and I snapped some photos. One striking sight was the Catholic church, which looks like it is barely standing. Out in the large courtyard in front of the church, workers had carefully tagged and stacked stones that were recovered from the church. I guess the intent was to restore the building and put the stones back into place. But looking at it, it seemed obvious to us that there was no hope at all. Huge cracks ran up the facade, and the massive structure looked like it could come apart at any minute. I imagine the Monday aftershock broke a lot of hearts.

Well, here are some grim pictures.

planet of the apes