Post-earthquake progress in the Christchurch cental business district ~

Warwick Isaacs, who is in charge of demolitions in Central Christchurch, takes viewers for a quick look around still-closed areas of the Central Business District.  The purpose of this is to give those viewers not able to take the bus tours a chance to see beyond the barricades. 

While I appreciate being able to see it I wanted a better look at things: although I know this area well I found myself frequently scrambling to figure out which street we were looking at and which direction the vehicle was travelling in.  It's a sobering look and we see that once these operations are complete little will be left of what once seemed so permanent.

• Here is a link to a recent aerial photo of central Christchurch.

• And here is a link to another photograph taken of a similar area in 1972

On a more cheerful note, part of Cashel Mall is now open to shoppers after a mind-blowing makeover: from rubble to sparkle!  

• Christchurch earthquake: ravaged retail centre reborn, which was published in the Press on 30th October 2011.  Lois Cairns reports that "Christchurch's new [shipping] container mall enthralled shoppers yesterday".  Watch the video which gives a little look around.  It's fun and has a nice sound track of the buskers playing there.

I provide the link here to a heart-rending as well as heart-warming story about Nathan Pilkington and his daughter, Nevada, re-visiting the mall from which they had narrowly escaped at the height of earthquake chaos.

• Happy sequel to earthquake rescue which featured in the Timaru Herald on the 31st October 2011

Things are definitely looking up!

ALL MY ARTICLES ABOUT THE CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKES CAN BE FOUND ON THE PAGE LINKED TO AT THE UPPER RIGHT OF THIS SCREEN, OR VIA THE LINK BELOW: 

• Leigh's Christchurch earthquake articles ~ click here to find them all