a long road ahead

Hagley Park

February 22, 2011.

 Just another ordinary day in Christchurch. Workers on their lunch break leave the office to grab a bite. Shoppers go about their daily business. Tourists at the cathedral - the majestic 19th-century beauty that came to symbolise a city - enjoy the view from the spire.

 Just another day, no different from the one before.

 Then, at 12.51pm, it hit.

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that brought a city to its knees and broke a nation's heart. Our darkest day. A disaster beyond comprehension that has left hundreds missing, scores dead and ruined countless lives. Hopes have faded and dreams have crumbled, much like that once-mighty cathedral. So many lives, so much loss, the sorrow is almost too much to bear. The little boy who never made it to his six-month birthday. The brother who was due to give his sister away at her wedding. The father who left home to get groceries, never to return to his wife and their children.

The girl in the rubble who texted her father in China to tell him she was trapped. The little sister whose loving brother just wants her to come home. These are the victims, these are their stories. And we will remember them.

Christchurch Press