Tribute to Christchurch

22^nd February 2011 – New Zealand Darkest Day

It was heart breaking to know another massive 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck again near Christchurch on 22^nd February 2011 at 12.51pm. This time it was sad to note Christchurch was not as lucky as in the 4th September 2010 quake when it escaped miraculously without fatality. The death toll reported today was 75 and more than 200 missing and our PM John Key warned the number would continue to climb and that it was the darkest day of New Zealand L

It shattered my heart to watch devastating footages over TV, seeing injured people, smashed cars, damaged roads and collapsed buildings. I was especially taken back by the collapse of the 110 years old Christchurch Cathedral Church, the Christchurch iconic city landmark! I couldn’t believe, I was there 46 days ago happily traveling with my family on our Great Kiwi Road trip. We were there twice; first trip on 6^th January and then again on 19^th January.

During our first trip we went to Cathedral Square and the square was very busy and lively with tourists, a live band with great music. The weather was superb with clear blue sky and we were cheerfully posing in front of the Cathedral Church, the icon of Christchurch. I still remembered, for me to capture the peak of the whole Cathedral Church Tower; I had to lie flat on the floor. But now just too painful to see the whole spire as if been chopped down and the elegant interiors of the church now became piles of rubble. L

In fact, during our second stay, we did experience two aftershocks; one of which was quite major at 5.1 magnitudes. We were asleep but awakened with a sudden shaking of our bed at 6.am. That was my first earthquake related experience. However, that incident happened in a split second and subsided so fast that it didn’t pose threats at all and we just continued to sleep. Later in the morning, we found out this was the 3,907th aftershock to hit the city since the devastating 7.1 tremor on September 4 2010 and also was one of the biggest aftershocks and the first over magnitude 5.

With this post, I just wish to pay tribute to all Christchurch earthquake victims.  My prayer and thoughts are with all the people of Christchurch.  

Sharing with you the collage I made in remembrance of the Christchurch Cathedral Church.

The history shots to remember 

Cathedral Church - before and after the earthquake




The elegant interios of Cathedral Church - 06/01/2011



 After 22nd February 2011 earthquake



Christchurch Cathedral was heavily damaged in the earthquake 22/02/2011. Photo: Twitter - @tesswoolcock



Extracted from online news