By Jeff Hampton Christchurch’s red-zoned suburb of Bexley is one of many areas of the city falling apart.
Abandoned houses in the eastern suburb are slowly sinking, falling into disrepair as the wrecking crews move closer.
The landscape of Christchurch has changed dramatically over the last year, with the central city skyline changing by the day as demolition continues.
There is change in the suburbs too, especially out east where hundreds of soon-to-be-demolished houses have been abandoned.
Long-term Bexley resident Philip Trowbridge is hanging on. Eventually he hopes to move to a new subdivision, also in the east.
“There's others worse than us... you only have to look at Seabreeze, some of them lost their house completely, some of them are heart-broken... at least we can live in here until we want to move.”
Seabreeze was the worst hit part of a suburb swamped by liquefaction.
Mr Trowbridge's garden-loving neighbours the Newsomes have also lived here a long time.
“You feel very depressed when you go out on the street and you know what a nice neighbourhood it was. Some of the beautiful homes they've had their whole lives, destroyed,” Bill Newsome says.
Corinne Newsome says they just cannot live on their land.
“We absolutely loved the area and just wished we could stay,” she says.
And it’s not just Bexley residents who are suffering.
Properties in Christchurch and Kaiapoi have been zoned red and will be demolished.
A total of 2100 hill properties are in the white zone and yet to be assessed, and 653 remain orange, still awaiting their fate.
Across the road from Avondale resident Barbara Seaton's house is a big slab of red zoned properties. She found it so depressing she decided to put up a fence to block the sight.
“I think it was my self-preservation really. I was getting quite distressed looking out at the red zone.”
Residents may be waiting a while as the demolitions could take months or years.
3 News