"New Normal" - An Eerie Homecoming and Travels in Strange Lands

It's been a few weeks since I've last posted much about the aftermath of the February earthquake here in Christchurch. What, with all the carnage in Japan, with the nuclear reactor, tsunami, and so forth, everyone has probably been having a bit of "disaster overload" recently.

A view down Colombo Street

(Taken "over the fence" after quite a few attempts)

Guts hanging out

Anyways, today I finally made it down to see some of the destruction in the CBD first hand (and with my trusty camera on hand of course). As they say, it's really not until you see some of these things first hand that you really can come to grips with the true extent of it.

(WARNING: more copious amounts of images within)


It's one thing to see the snippets the media present on the news every night. It's another thing to see the extensive footage of damage around town that was played during the memorial service (the video was at http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/video-inside-christchurch-s-red-zone-13-58-4071809 though probably not anymore? | BTW, I really liked the opening of that clip, how graceful and beautiful those diggers were in the early morning light... it reminds me of the opening to Australia's Rugby World Cup a few years back IIRC, where they had two diggers doing a kind of swan-lake ballet there in the stadium, a true testament to the skill that these guys have). But it's another kettle of fish just standing there, right amongst and beside the scenes of devastation, just meters away behind chicken-net fencing manned by an army unimog + checkpoint.

These were some of the scenes today, walking around in part of the CBD for the first time in 6 weeks, in a newly reopened part of the previous "Red Zone". Indeed, there were quite a few other people around at the same time, nearly all brandishing cameras too.

The damage inflicted is seemingly random. One building may be fine, but the ones around it may not be. And in some cases, the scale of the devastation is quite hard to comprehend. Looking at gaps in the landscape, where familiar sights once stood, and wondering what on earth used to be there, or whether there was really that many interesting buildings packed into that space that's now just a pile or rubble...

 

A multi-storey carpark used to span across this road. It collapsed and has since been cleared away...

Gaping holes where buildings used to stand, and yet others still stand tall and firm. Meanwhile, sightseers abound travel in from other routes, along the few functioning roads...

One of those not so lucky was one of our favourite restaurants, which has now been demolished. *sob*

Even then, the ones that have survived are in quite a grim state, existing in a threadbare stifled existence, with an eerie silence enveloping everything.

In places, the stench of raw sewerage wafts ominously in the air, and it's not too long before you see some cracked pavements, and nearby an open drain hole, with temporary pipes leading into it... not a nice sight to behold.

Otherwise, it was clear that we were in "seagull nation". They were everywhere, flying around in vast flocks, mournfully calling each other with a rather macabre sounding "aaarrrrkk aaarrk aaaaark aaark aark"

Around the perimeter, reminders that life is anything but normal are abound...

 It's kindof scary how this overbridge is only being propped up, and yet traffic is now allowed to flow on it...

 Even if they let you go faster, would you? There's far too much to take in to even drive that fast...

Finally, it seems not even the final resting places are safe...

 Avonhead Park Cemetery - many headstones have been wrapped with "danger - keep out" tape, while some have downright fallen over...

The "church" at Church Corner... one of many crumpled stone monoliths around the place...

I've got more photos from previous travels, but it's getting late now, so I'll save those for another post.