Two years ago, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck in Christchurch at 4:35am, extensively damaging the city.
It was the first of more than 10,000 quakes to hit the city, and despite the damage - which was worst in Kaiapoi, a town north of the city - locals counted their luck that no one was killed.
The quake was followed on February 22, 2011, by a 6.3-magnitude jolt which killed 185 people.
Cantabrians are on Tuesday recalling that initial quake, which would forever change the landscape of their city.
Two years on, the central city recovery is in full swing, with a new recovery blueprint and work to demolish and rebuild the CBD red zone.
Around the city, 190,000 houses have been rezoned, and 7779 properties have been zoned red.
But in the suburbs around the city homeowners still face delays and uncertainty about the future of their properties and are waiting to settle insurance claims and government offers to buy their properties.
“People have an expectation
and a right to expect that things will be resolved quickly. We’re moving very
quickly but not quickly enough for half of our customers.” EQC customer
services general manager Bruce Emson told Firstline this morning.
Since the September 4 quake, the Earthquake Commission has received 414,148 building claims and 93,337 land claims, and paid out more than $3.3 billion.
More than 21,500 homes have been repaired.
NZN