Christchurch earthquake September 2010: Two months on

Things have been relatively quiet recently, but two months on we are still getting aftershocks. Just after midnight we got a 4.2 and just before seven this morning we got a very shallow 4.1 which woke most people up. It reminded me of the bad old days in September when I was woken before my alarm on a daily basis. The first time that I slept right through until morning was wonderful!

Two months on and the rebuilding process has barely begun. The nightmare of red tape for doing anything with heritage buildings or any other work that needs consent is way more than I can go into here, but it is badly affecting a lot of people. It wouldn't surprise me at all if some building owners end up committing suicide because of the pressure they are under from all sides. Safety barricades are blocking the roads and preventing access to shops and businesses, people can't live or work in dangerous buildings, businesses can't reopen, the insurance companies won't pay out until they know what they're paying for, rebuilding can't happen without consent, consent can't be granted without money to pay for the consenting process, building owners can't pay out of their own pocket because they don't have any money left... It just goes on. I don't know what is going to happen to the unlucky folk caught in the middle.

I'm still waiting for the time to change on the clocks that were stopped by the first earthquake.The clock tower on the old train station on Moorhouse Avenue still reads 4.35ish on two faces (I think the other two read 6). It's a constant reminder of what happened.