I was there. On Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12.51 pm. 6.3 magnitude earthquake. 5 Km in depth.
I was also there on Saturday 4 September 2010 for the 7.1 magnitude earthquake. 11 Km in depth.
In fact, the only time I wasn't in Christchurch from 2010 until 2015 was for around two months during the then upcoming Summer where I was on holiday overseas.
I haven't watched the Memorial, I don't think I can without crying. Maybe later today.
I was in a bar on the first floor for an administrative issue when the earthquake hit. It was nothing like the 2010 one. Even if you'd never experienced an earthquake until then like me, you would've known it was one, like I did. I didn't move, I just grabbed the bar and the two other people, who were there for the same reason as me, crouched down near the doorway, the man shielding the woman. We left the building as soon as we could and stood outside where a lot of other people were.
I texted someone "I'm fine". Afterwards, they said they didn't understand the text but then they felt the aftershocks up North and knew what I meant.
Luckily, I wasn't in the CBD, nor in New Brighton. I was in Riccarton and I lived in Upper Riccarton. I wasn't one of the 185 people who would die. We were told we could stay and wait for advice or go home. Even then I knew it was stupid, but since we were told we could be looked after, I stayed. The fact I didn't have to look after myself and someone else would was what I wanted. I wasn't even far from home by foot.
I don't even remember what time I got home. We were lucky. We never lost electricity, internet, water. I think we just sat around and had the telly on. I remember we went out to pick up fish and chips for dinner. Surprisingly, but also not surprisingly, they were open. The people who ran the place had that work ethic and business mind - the shop was packed. Aside from living in the aftermath of an earthquake, if we had wanted to go shopping, I think the supermarkets were closed.
At some point the news informed us about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and that was too much. It was overwhelming. Almost unbelievable, really hard to process. We sympathized completely, but we couldn't watch it.
One of the hardest and saddest things was Japan had sent people over to New Zealand to help USAR (Urban Search and Rescue, lead by the incredible Jim Stuart-Black) and then they had to return home to deal with their disaster and so did some of the Kiwis helping with the earthquake at home. Jim Stuart-Black wasn't at the Memorial in 2011 because he was in Japan. I think he was supposed to collect an award of some sort. He was awesome, he seemed to be very level-headed and when he did interviews, his demeanour wasn't stressed or angry, he answered to the best of his ability and knowledge. Note he made time for the interviews. I remember hearing the Japanese helping USAR were so shocked by what they saw in Christchurch, which was and still is saying something.
The funny thing was and is, there was no news for us in Christchurch. Nothing to update us on or that was relevant. Once they had told us its magnitude and its depth and to stay safe and other practicalities, that was pretty much the news. I think people not in Christchurch knew more than us, because everyone (in Chch) was trying to get their head around the situation that had just happened.
No one expected an earthquake to hit Christchurch the way it did. I was so angry when they found the fault line had been there thousands of years. How did they not know about it?
I had just had two months holiday and was told I had one extra month - aside from being irritated because I was ready to go back, it spoke to the severity of the earthquake in contrast to the 2010 one, where we had two weeks off because of the circumstances.
I decided to stay in New Zealand and not leave, because I had no reason not to: I had a connection and leaving would've been worse in terms of my future than staying. So I stayed.
I attended the Memorial in Hagley Park. Lots of people turned up and I remember Prince William speaking. It was a sunny day and I think lots of people were wearing red and black. It was emotional.
The earthquake in June was a mental shock because we all thought the earthquakes were over. My personal account of that earthquake is a story in itself. I was at the airport that time.
That was also the year of the Rugby World Cup and by God, Christchurch and New Zealand needed the All Blacks to win. I remember the day after seeing 'Fuck Yes!' spray-painted on a wooden fence, which wasn't entirely intact. Lots of the All Blacks playing then came from Christchurch or had links to it.
I signed a pledge in 2011 to not leave Christchurch and I did leave in 2015, but not because of the earthquakes. It was for professional and immigration reasons and I also had no connections like a family or a house or an insurance claim so in that sense I was free and unattached.
For a while after the earthquakes, especially when I was in Wellington and I got asked where I was from, there was that look. Impressed. Many must have thought, "I'm a Wellingtonian, but you're from Christchurch".
I think the people who have it hardest are the general population in Christchurch, especially the ones who are attached by family, owning a house and/or consider Christchurch their home they'll never leave because they've lived there so long. The council, the government, the insurance companies, all the authorities and officials are the ones making it harder and slowing down the reconstruction. Politics and economy. I loved Christchurch and have a certain connection with it, and I still do, but I have no reason to go back there, especially when there are still buildings whose current state are visibly a direct consequence of the earthquake.
Jacinda Ardern seems to be a good leader. Maybe she can make Christchurch's reconstruction progress.
- A.M.
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