Eight months living in the Residential Red Zone

Eight months living in the Residential Red Zone - seriously, how did we survive?!

21 October 2011, 6:52 PM

Corner of Avonside Drive and Retreat Road, walking home from work: eight months after Feb 2011 earthquake, & shortly before finally leaving the Residential Red Zone (property I rented was condemned & demolished). This photo captures many challenging aspects of Red Zone life: portaloos, hazard fences, wonky powerpoles, temporary water supply (see the blue pipes), badly damaged & partly-patched roads, constant flooding, and of course the ubiquitous roadcones.... Not visible are the warm solidarity & support between neighbours, residents' hardy DIY/Kiwi ingenuity approach to overcoming ongoing problems, and the sadness we felt in leaving - even after all of 2010-2011's disastrous events. Looking back a decade later, I honestly don't know how we survived the whole experience; almost seems surreal in retrospect. Guess it just shows hows how incredibly adaptable human beings can be!

Creator: Anna@Aotearoa (Anna Stevens)

Area: East / Avonside

Source: View in canterburystories.nz

Reference ID: CCL-DW-118921

Uploaded by: Anna@Aotearoa

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License

This material has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. Please contact Christchurch City Libraries if you have any questions relating to the use of this material or wish to order a hi resolution copy for commercial purposes. It is the responsibility of the user to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.