Weeping for Christchurch

Written By: - Date published: 4:27 pm, March 15th, 2011 - 13 comments
Categories: disaster - Tags: ,

Sometimes we take comments here and put them up as posts. Here’s one from long time contributor vto:

How much can people take when it comes to one disaster after another?

A venture into the CBD to check on some decades of work brought an already brimming well of emotion to overflow. People only have so much capacity. What will be its expression.

Crumbled buildings, broken buildings, leaning buildings, you could almost see the history and lives spent in them, laughter and tears of the years, spilled onto the streets, lying desolate. Shattered dreams drifting like lost ghosts. Shattered lives abandoned and running.

I weep.

13 comments on “Weeping for Christchurch ”

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  1. Anne 1
    15 March 2011 at 5:26 pm

    I can’t really think of the right words to say to you vto. It’s going to be a long time before the scars heal.

    anti-spam: lowest.
    Perhaps that is where the people of ChCh are at… and the way can only slowly go up from now on.

    • Descendant Of Smith 1.1
      15 March 2011 at 6:08 pm

      Some of my staff have returned from helping out in Christchurch this week and one of the things that made an impression was the sight of people standing at the cordoned off fences staring in with tears rolling down their faces.

      I guess in some respects the fact that people are showing such emotion openly and publicly is a good thing but it certainly is a tough time for all.

      Amongst all the sadness and tragedy they also came away with an overwhelming sense of people helping and supporting each other, people appreciative of the effort that others have made to help out – both locals and outsiders, and a very strong awareness of people doing their bit. Things such as the 76 year old turning up with his shovel to work alongside the students clearing silt, the firms proving apples and water and food to those waiting in queues, the collective action of many people from all over the country who just rolled their sleeves up and go on with it without worrying about am I going to get paid, the willingness of some people from out of Chch to put themselves forward to get support for people who are simply too shattered to fight for themselves and so on.

      It wasn’t all perfect but there what many many people just helping cause they could.

      For those of us elsewhere we have found that simple gestures of empathy, and courtesy to those that have come from the area make such a simple difference to people. Sometimes just a willingness to be hugged sometimes a steer in the right direction.

      All the best to all those who are in someway directly or indirectly involved.

    • Rosy 1.2
      15 March 2011 at 10:09 pm

      Like many others my son hasn’t managed to get back into his place in the CBD. It’s like this part of his life is written-off along with job and home. Moving on is easy in theory but so much harder in reality, especially as your imagery so clearly evoked, for those who have life-long ties to the place .

  2. grumpy 2
    15 March 2011 at 6:48 pm

    Well put vto. The earthquake has shown up all that is good and bad about New Zealand.
    No doubt over the next weeks and months these points will be well aired but for those of us who live here it’s just a matter of surviving either individually, as a family or trying to hold a business together to keep people employed.
    The over the top media coverage is a distraction and overshadows the real effort ordinary people are making, all day every day.
    Good on ya vto.

  3. big bruv 3
    15 March 2011 at 9:29 pm

    Well said vto.

    But remember mate, they are only buildings, they can always be replaced and memories can never be taken away from you.
    Take solace from your health and well being, Christchurch will rise again.

  4. dad4justice 4
    15 March 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Don’t weep vto, just grab a shovel and get to work on the clean up.

    But big bruv you hate Christchurch. You have stated that several million times on kiwiblog. What a twisted wanker. [deleted]

    [lprent: The rest of this ‘discussion’ with d4j and bb has been moved out of this thread to OpenMike.

    d4j has a 2 week ban for stalking onto the site (especially on this post) and causing us work.

    And dad, if I see you here in any guise before the 30th, I will start adding to the ban doubling the ban each time (ie next I add 4 weeks, then add 8 weeks, then add 16 weeks etc) until I see enough to be bothered tracking your IP’s and locking you out.

    Lets see if you can control yourself this time for the next two weeks. You achieve it periodically. ]

  5. Zorr 5
    15 March 2011 at 10:04 pm

    I am looking forward (if that is the appropriate way to put it) to when me and my wife return to Christchurch later this year to see her parents. So much of what has happened won’t become reality, at least for myself, until I get to see the damage first hand of the areas of town I know best.

  6. felix 6
    15 March 2011 at 11:28 pm

    Oh the ironing. Bruv having a bleat about someone else ruining threads.

    Beaut words vto.

  7. lprent 7
    16 March 2011 at 12:58 am

    The Voice Of Reason had something to say that was on topic but got caught in the d4j/bb squabbling.

    … so cheers, VTO, great sentiments, beautifully expressed.

  8. vto 8
    16 March 2011 at 9:12 am

    Thanks r0b, it was quite a day. The heart was leading the way that’s for sure. Cheers to the other comments too – I hope Anne has it right in that we are at the lowest, skidding along the bottom for a bit before beginning the rise back up.

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