December 2011 Christchurch earthquakes

So, I'm here in Christchurch, and it's pretty wild to think about what this city has been through. I was just reading up on the earthquakes that hit on December 23rd, 2011. It wasn't just one quake, but a series of them, starting at 1:58 PM with a magnitude 5.8, followed quickly by a 5.0, a 5.4, and then a 5.9 by 3:18 PM. All of these were pretty shallow, only about 7 to 10 kilometers deep, and they happened offshore, east of the city, under Pegasus Bay.

These quakes really stirred things up, causing a lot of liquefaction and flooding, especially in the eastern suburbs like Avondale, Bexley, Burwood, New Brighton, and Parklands. Parklands even lost its sewerage and water supply. I can't imagine how disruptive that would have been, with roads closing and sewage flowing into the Avon River. They even had to tell people to stay away from the estuary and beaches.

It's crazy to think this all happened after the devastating February 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people. The December quakes added to the damage, making things like the already-hit Christ Church Cathedral even worse – its rose window collapsed, and the western wall took more damage. The Hornby Clocktower building was so badly damaged it eventually had to be demolished. St John received about 140 emergency calls and treated around 60 people for things like falls and anxiety. Sadly, one person even died after tripping on ground made uneven by the shaking.

Power went out for 26,000 properties, and the telecommunications network got so strained that people were encouraged to text instead of call. Hospitals like Burwood even had to run on backup power. And get this – cliffs near Boulder Bay collapsed, and there was rock fall from the Port Hills, though thankfully, the worst of it hit protective shipping containers. The Student Volunteer Army even helped clean up the liquefaction. It just shows how resilient this city has been.