yesterday I finally went into the centre of Christchurch and saw for myself the devastation of the earthquakes. I took a red zone bus tour, the only way you can enter the cordoned off areas, as a lot of the CBD is a working demolition site.
thanks to the efforts of the people who run the CHCH EQ Photos page, on facebook, I found I was able to cope with most of what I saw, as I’d seen the progress through their lens. however a few things still brought a tear to my eye.
this memorial to all those who lost their lives, which is located across the road from the site of the CTV building.
and of course the state of the Cathedral.
this is what it originally looked like –
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then, this was it prior to the June 2012 quake when the front was braced to try and protect the rose window. however, in the June quake the bracing actually banged into the front of the cathedral and destroyed the window-
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and this is what it looks like as of yesterday –
kiwirachfindinghome 