crazyscot

We were in town this weekend sorting out appliances and furnishings and so forth, and paused to stickybeak at some of the repair work. The change across the city is quite marked: where we are in the NW there is very little damage, just the occasional bracing here and there, whereas in the north-central there is enough rubble and dust about that the wind trivially whips up clouds of the stuff. (We haven't been into the eastern suburbs, which we hear are in a very sorry state.) We were struck by the amount of damage and destruction in the central city, which is still partially cordoned off. Some of the main streets have fencing taking sections out of the traffic lanes because of unsafe buildings or walls.

We visited not the central cathedral, but the Catholic basilica which is outside of the cordons. The building has been shored up in a MacGyverish fashion with shipping containers and what looks like bales of hay; they are taking the dome down gradually, presumably to keep it safe like they have done with a number of church spires around town.

As we walked around a couple of blocks, there were a number of rubble sites and some further red-stickered buildings with scaffolds and shoring. Portaloos here and there indicated a lack of functional sewerage; yet a couple of blocks to the south were a couple of supermarkets carrying on as if nothing had happened and one of the main thoroughfares.

Kia kaha, Christchurch.