Flowers poking out of the top of all the orange road cones lining damaged city roads were a reminder that today was a special day indeed. One year ago at 12:51pm a devastating earthquake struck the city, and 185 people lost their lives, with 115 perishing in the CCTV building, and of these, 64 were foreign language students. The earth shook, buildings toppled down in the central city business area, the Christchurch Cathedral suffered massive damage, as did other churches. Thousands of homes were damaged, some destroyed outright, and many others sustained anything from severe to moderate damage. Water and sewer pipes ruptured, electricity failed and roads were cracked or sinkholes appeared. Police and ambulance personnel were joined by members of the public and all worked tirelessly to find people trapped in the rubble, and Australia, Japan, USA and Canada sent earthquake recovery teams. Memorials took place in Hagley Park and throughout the city today. Two minutes silence took place at the exact time the earthquake brought the city to it’s knees, and 185 Monarch butterflies were released, one for each person who lost their lives. It is an honour for us to be in the city of Christchurch at this time, and to be able to spend time with my son. We can remember quite vividly trying to get in touch with him on that fateful day, with the overloaded phones being out of action. What a relief when we finally made contact, and heard that he had not been injured at all. The whole country joins with Christchurch in remembrance today.
It was time to leave the delightful “Mousehole” today and travel down to Tai Tapu in southern Christchurch. The Rhodes Park Domain is a large grassed area so there was plenty of room for the four of us. The domain is surrounded by lovely mature trees, and is next door to the local golf course.
The entrance to the domain is through a handsome brick memorial arch which honours those local men who lost their lives in the war. A plaque on the arch reads “This park of 70 acres was presented to the residents of the Tai Tapu district with the goodwill of Sir R Heaton and Lady Rhodes”. The donation was obviously made in remembrance of their own family members as the name Rhodes appears twice on the memorial.
Areas of sand in the domain and surrounding streets showed that this area of Christchurch did not escape from the earthquakes, as the sand is a sign of liquefaction when the water table is forced to the surface as a result of ground movement during earthquakes.
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