I think I was in my own little world last February when Christchurch, NZ got his with a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, which caused 181 deaths. I somewhat remember hearing about it, but I didn't know how widespread the damage was. It was the 2nd deadliest natural disaster, and the third costliest earthquake in world history (quoting Wikipedia on that fact). Besides the February 2011 earthquake, Christchurch suffered a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in the fall of 2010, and a large aftershock of the Feb. 2011 earthquake in June with a 6.0 magnitude quake. The February quake was the deadliest, mainly because a large TV station building collapsed and caught on fire, killing lots of people.
Anyways, after I got into Christchurch this afternoon I went to a pub to watch the Melbourne Cup, which is Australia's biggest horse race. The Melbourne Cup is a bigger deal to the Aussie's and NZer's than the Kentucky Derby is to us. They call it "a race that stops a nation" because it is held annually in the afternoon of the first Monday in November and everyone takes off work to watch it. The Melbourne Cup is surrounded by a series of races and parties that culminates in a week long party. Unfortunately, I get into Melbourne right when the festivities end. The Melbourne Cup race this year was incredible, it was the closest finish in a horse race I have ever seen. Here is a picture of the photo finish so you can see just how close it was.
After watching the Cup I wandered around downtown Christchurch for about 30 minutes by myself.. literally. I'm not exaggerating when I say the only two people I saw during my walk were two NZ army members who were regulating traffic (which there was none). As I wandered through the city I passed flattened lot after lot that had been fenced off. Every pub, hotel, business, and apartment building that I walked by was completely empty. Even the pub I went to had a sort of ominous feel. I felt like the people in the pub were all of the locals that had the guts to stay after the quakes hit. They all seemed to know each other and had sort of a strange solemn camaraderie with one another. One sign in the pub read "In honor of the strangest year in Christchurch history, we will be offering $7 pints the week of November 26-December 1. God Bless Christchurch."
Here are some pictures of some of the ruins I walked by from the earthquake:
 |
| Only surviving thing from a church that was destroyed |
 |
| You see these fences blocking streets off all over the city, it's a real pain to get around in a car because so many streets are closed |
 |
| Here are the only two people I saw walking around town, two members of the NZ army |
No comments:
Post a Comment