At 12:51 on February 22nd 2011, Christchurch experienced a devastating earthquake which resulted in 185 deaths and the collapse of two large multistory buildings. There was serious damage to many churches and shops and to thousands of houses. Subsequently more that 80% of the buildings in Christchurch CBD, including many treasured heritage buildings have had to be demolished for safety reasons. Up until a year and half later we were still experiencing aftershocks almost daily. More than 10,000 until they stopped.
Luckily my home was almost untouched by this tragedy, all of my family are fine and we lost only minor possessions with minimal damage to our house. My parents were not so lucky and their house was extensively damaged and eventually written off.
Christchurch is rebuilding! We already have many new buildings although the city
centre still has a lot of empty lots.
