BLOG POST 27
We went on towards Christchurch which is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. It is home to 396,700 residents, making it New Zealand's third most populous city behind Auckland and Wellington.
Archaeological evidence has indicated that the Christchurch area was first settled by humans at about 1250. Christchurch became a city on 31st July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand. The Canterbury Association named the city after Christ Church, Oxford. The new settlement was laid out in a grid pattern centred on Cathedral Square.
The Avon River flows through the center of the city, with an urban park located along its banks. At the request of the Deans brothers—whose farm was the earliest settlement in the area—the river was named after the River Avon in Scotland, which rises in the Ayrshire hills very near their grandfather's farm
As we travelled towards the city we got a very descriptive picture of the city which unfortunately suffered a series of earthquakes between September 2010 and early 2012, On Saturday 4th September 2010, a magnitude 7.1 earth quake struck Christchurch and the central Canterbury region at 4:35 am. Located near Darfield, west of the city at a depth of 10 kilometres, it caused widespread damage to the city with minor injuries, but no direct fatalities.
Nearly six months later on Tuesday 22 February 2011, a second earth quake measuring magnitude 6.3 struck the city at 12:51 pm. It was located closer to the city, near Lyttelton at a depth of 5 km. Although lower on the magnitude scale than the previous earthquake, the intensity and violence of the ground shaking was measured to be IX (violent), among the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area and in total 185 people were killed.
Significant liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, producing around 400,000 tonnes of silt. The earthquake was felt across the South Island and parts of the lower and central North Island. While the initial quake only lasted for approximately 10 seconds, the damage was severe because of the location and shallowness of the earthquake's focus in relation to Christchurch as well as previous quake damage. Subsequently population fell and Christchurch main urban area fell behind the Wellington to decrease from second to third most populous area in New Zealand.
People from more than 20 countries were among the victims. The city's iconic Christchurch Cathedral was severely damaged and lost its spire.
The collapse of the CTV building resulted in the majority of fatalities. Widespread damage across Christchurch resulted in loss of homes, major buildings and infrastructure. Significant liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, and the total cost to insurers of rebuilding has been estimated at NZ$20–30 billion.
On 13 June 2011, Christchurch was hit by two more large after shocks There were no fatalities though it resulted in further liquefaction and building damage.
The city has been from then being experiencing a series of earth quakes
Following the earthquakes, over 1500 buildings in the city had been demolished or partly demolished by September 2013.
However the city has been experiencing rapid growth following the earthquakes, with the central city rebuild, which is outlined in the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, starting to ramp up, and massive growth in the residential sector, with around 50,000 new houses are expected to be constructed in the Greater Christchurch area by 2028, as outlined in the Land Use Recovery Plan (LURP).
As we went through the city we didn’t stop anywhere but came to realise the bravery of the people of Christchurch, their tenacity and will to re build and stay back in their beautiful city come what may
Christchurch we found in our fleeting ride all over the city was vibrant and energetic where regeneration, creativity and innovation thrived.
Amazing street art, innovative projects, a booming hospitality scene and state-of-the-art architecture all the while staying true to its heritage and traditional English feel, contrasting to empty lots,half demolished buildings and cordoned off areas
One could take time to explore the city by double-decker buses, vintage bicycles, gondolas, tram or classic Edwardian punt and discover bars, eateries and an eclectic mix of boutique shops by foot. The city’s award-winning Christchurch Botanic Gardens surely offers a relaxing inner-city escape
The serene Avon River flowed gracefully through the beautiful gardens before continuing through the CBD and out to sea.
Presently Christchurch is in the midst of an epic rebuild that has completely reconstructed the city centre, where over 80% of buildings needed to be demolished after the quake. We could see the scaffolding and road cones all over the city, could envisage exciting new buildings.
We finally arrived in Quality hotel Elms, Christchurch our hotel for that day.
We divested ourselves of our luggage, the room was spacious and had a heat pump which we saw for the first time ,we could open the windows for fresh air and could hear birds chirping cheerfully
We then went for window shopping down the Papanui Road , there I spotted a street name Sydenham ,immediately remembered Sydenham’s chorea seen in Rheumatic heart disease , we could see buses going to the city centre ,
We did a small souvenir shop survey ,bought some trinkets and we then went in search of Indian restaurant ,there were many, some one suggested the Maharaja Indian restaurant ,this was a home converted to a restaurant ,owned by an Indian not surely a Maharaja of course.
There to our pleasant surprise we found many non Indians suited and booted relishing our biryanis and curries with our chappatis ,it was very gratifying for us to watch them, after a hearty Indian meal which was surprisingly quite cheap ,we returned to our room to rest
We went on towards Christchurch which is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. It is home to 396,700 residents, making it New Zealand's third most populous city behind Auckland and Wellington.
Archaeological evidence has indicated that the Christchurch area was first settled by humans at about 1250. Christchurch became a city on 31st July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand. The Canterbury Association named the city after Christ Church, Oxford. The new settlement was laid out in a grid pattern centred on Cathedral Square.
The Avon River flows through the center of the city, with an urban park located along its banks. At the request of the Deans brothers—whose farm was the earliest settlement in the area—the river was named after the River Avon in Scotland, which rises in the Ayrshire hills very near their grandfather's farm
Nearly six months later on Tuesday 22 February 2011, a second earth quake measuring magnitude 6.3 struck the city at 12:51 pm. It was located closer to the city, near Lyttelton at a depth of 5 km. Although lower on the magnitude scale than the previous earthquake, the intensity and violence of the ground shaking was measured to be IX (violent), among the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area and in total 185 people were killed.
Significant liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, producing around 400,000 tonnes of silt. The earthquake was felt across the South Island and parts of the lower and central North Island. While the initial quake only lasted for approximately 10 seconds, the damage was severe because of the location and shallowness of the earthquake's focus in relation to Christchurch as well as previous quake damage. Subsequently population fell and Christchurch main urban area fell behind the Wellington to decrease from second to third most populous area in New Zealand.
People from more than 20 countries were among the victims. The city's iconic Christchurch Cathedral was severely damaged and lost its spire.
The collapse of the CTV building resulted in the majority of fatalities. Widespread damage across Christchurch resulted in loss of homes, major buildings and infrastructure. Significant liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, and the total cost to insurers of rebuilding has been estimated at NZ$20–30 billion.
On 13 June 2011, Christchurch was hit by two more large after shocks There were no fatalities though it resulted in further liquefaction and building damage.
The city has been from then being experiencing a series of earth quakes
Following the earthquakes, over 1500 buildings in the city had been demolished or partly demolished by September 2013.
However the city has been experiencing rapid growth following the earthquakes, with the central city rebuild, which is outlined in the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, starting to ramp up, and massive growth in the residential sector, with around 50,000 new houses are expected to be constructed in the Greater Christchurch area by 2028, as outlined in the Land Use Recovery Plan (LURP).
As we went through the city we didn’t stop anywhere but came to realise the bravery of the people of Christchurch, their tenacity and will to re build and stay back in their beautiful city come what may
Christchurch we found in our fleeting ride all over the city was vibrant and energetic where regeneration, creativity and innovation thrived.
Amazing street art, innovative projects, a booming hospitality scene and state-of-the-art architecture all the while staying true to its heritage and traditional English feel, contrasting to empty lots,half demolished buildings and cordoned off areas
One could take time to explore the city by double-decker buses, vintage bicycles, gondolas, tram or classic Edwardian punt and discover bars, eateries and an eclectic mix of boutique shops by foot. The city’s award-winning Christchurch Botanic Gardens surely offers a relaxing inner-city escape
Presently Christchurch is in the midst of an epic rebuild that has completely reconstructed the city centre, where over 80% of buildings needed to be demolished after the quake. We could see the scaffolding and road cones all over the city, could envisage exciting new buildings.
We finally arrived in Quality hotel Elms, Christchurch our hotel for that day.
We did a small souvenir shop survey ,bought some trinkets and we then went in search of Indian restaurant ,there were many, some one suggested the Maharaja Indian restaurant ,this was a home converted to a restaurant ,owned by an Indian not surely a Maharaja of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment