Erstellt am: 23. 6. 2011 - 10:03 Uhr

Christchurch: Four months later, but still shaking

The psychological impact of months of quakes & aftershocks

Three months ago I was touring New Zealand's South Island, mainly via bus and car. I'd primarily organized the trip so I could be there to cover the early production of The Hobbit films, but then the Christchurch earthquake happened, and certain things no longer seemed so important.

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Probably owing to the coverage I'd seen, some weird subconscious part of my brain assumed that not just the city center, but the entire region, would show signs of massive destruction, as if a tornado had ripped through the South Island and just concluded in the heart of Christchurch.

It was, naturally, nothing like that at all. I took a bus from Nelson to Christchurch, and the route was very scenic, taking roads that showed no signs of damage through towns that showed no signs of damage.

Even when we got into Christchurch itself, we drove quite a long while through the suburbs, before I saw even the first broken window, fenced-off church, damaged road. Prior to this, it had never occurred to me just how unlikely it was, what terrible odds would lead to the historic centre of the capital of New Zealand's South Island being the victim of such a calamity.

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Finally, mere minutes before the bus would stop and let us off, we saw the beginnings of the chaos. The contrast was stark; one moment we were driving through pristine orderly streets, surrounded by new modern buildings, and the next moment it's a whole lot of destruction.

Mind you, warning bells had begun to ring. Locals had began to board the bus, appearing to be ordinary people leading ordinary lives, but if you looked more closely, it was all too clear: there was a haunted look in some of their eyes, and when you began to talk to someone, to ask for directions or whatever, the conversation inevitably led to the repercussions of the earthquake on their lives, and the lives of their loved ones.

Of course. All anyone had to do was take a walk down the street, and there it was- everywhere -reminders of that terrible day when everything changed. Churches missing entire walls and towers greeted us on one side, while on the other side businesses and apartment buildings stood fenced off, surrounded by piles of bricks and broken glass, often every singular window smashed in, as if by invisible rioters.

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Johnny Bliss, 2011

A sweet elderly lady on the bus told me of how, when it happened, she'd been thrown around the room, got her ribs broken, and then had to go to the hospital-- and she was one of the lucky ones. Shaking her head in bewilderment, she told me how she had lived here all her life, but now her house was ruined, and now she was thinking of moving away.

This is also understandable. If you'll recall, back in September there had been another earthquake, and while it was considerably less severe, and led to no fatalities, this marked the beginning of a waking nightmare: for the residents of Christchurch, every rumble of a passing truck could be the beginning of another quake or aftershock.

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Johnny Bliss, 2011

The whole historic centre was fenced off and guarded on all sides by military, making it a literal ghost town. Standing with your face right up against the fence, you could just see the main Christchurch cathedral at the end of the road, with its smashed parapets and collapsed tower, and the whole road leading up to it eerily silent, with empty restaurants and storefronts left exactly as they'd been, midday on the 22nd of February.

How can you relax in the face of such a disaster? I spoke with a freelancer who identified himself as Jamie (and who asked not to be photographed), about what it was like, both to live through such a disaster, and to try to pick up the pieces afterwards.

Johnny Bliss, 2011

How long did it actually last?

"It's hard to say. I mean, it would have been under a minute, but it's one of those things that you can't really answer, because at the time everything's moving around you, the walls are swaying, and you just think everything's going to crash down. It feels like it's going for minutes, but it could just as easily be ten to twenty seconds."

Where were you at the time?

"I was just out in the suburbs, one of the least affected areas, but still where the power got knocked out and liquefaction rose out of the ground, and just started flooding people's yards and the road…"

What is liquefaction?*

"It's hard to explain the actual liquefaction, because it's one of those things that you gotta see, and only then you actually get a bit more of an idea... Within a matter of minutes, things are just swamped in it. [Right after the quake hit], I packed up to go and check on my nephew, to make sure he was safe. I got there, and then another aftershock hit... and I was holding him at the time. So I look around, and there's liquefaction pouring out of the ground, and within minutes, it was up to fifteen centimetres deep next to my passenger tire. So you had to just get your car out of there, because otherwise everything would just get bogged in... If you look around town, some areas were really harshly affected, up to a foot and a half deep."

Do you have nightmares now about the earthquake? How does this affect your regular life?

Johnny Bliss, 2011

"Yeah, it definitely affects you. I mean, you always look at things differently, and you get sort of cautious about walking close to old structures or signs that could fall down, and you sort of have to change the way that you got things laid out because of it.

"It's one of these things, like sometimes you wake up midway through the night and you just don't know why. But later on you find out that a lot of other people woke up in the same time, and it's because there was an aftershock. Sometimes you just don't realize it... you just wake up.

"It's affected everyone that I know. Like, you go onto Facebook and a lot of people are still up at 2 or 3 in the morning, and they're just having issues with getting to sleep. It's screwed up a lot of people's sleeping patterns, and it's a real psychological thing, just for the fact that it's not something you can actually see, so there's nothing tangible. It can happen anytime, and just when you think everything's sort of settled down, BAM! You have another one, and it just turns everything upside down again."

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Johnny Bliss, 2011

The entire situation must have been pretty surreal.

"It wasn't really until I saw the cathedral… because I had no power or anything, so I had no news of what actually really happened. Bit by bit, you're sort of walking further and further, and you just see all this carnage and damage, and then you finally get into the actual city itself, and you see the actual heart of the city just lying there, in rubble, and then it does really sort of sink in, just how bad it is."

Johnny Bliss, 2011

But were most of your loved ones and friends okay?

"……. No. I did actually lose a mate who was a very, very talented artist, just an all-around good sort, and had a lot of potential... So it's feeling a bit rough. You wake up and you just feel like crap, no matter how much sleep you get, and the only thing that's able to get you through is the fact that at least the cafe is up and running again, because I mean… you look around you, and everything just feels like it's stopped, and it's nice to have at least one thing that feels normal."

Listen to excerpts from my informal interview with Jamie here:

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Johnny Bliss, 2011

Last week, on the 13th of this month, Christchurch was hit by yet another quake, this one measuring 5.7 on the Richter Scale, and followed by a second one of six kilometre depth. Although it caused significantly less damage, with only one death reported, there was nevertheless a fair amount of property damage. If you want to donate to help the people of CHCH, local government has set up a website to do so (right).